Race issue moves to center of S'pore campaign<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): The sensitive issue of race moved to the
\ncenter of Singapore's poll campaign yesterday when top government
\nleaders trained their guns on an opposition candidate for
\nallegedly espousing Chinese chauvinism.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew
\nwarned that this multi-ethnic island's \"racial fault lines\" would
\nbe disturbed if lawyer Tang Liang Hong won election.<\/p>\n
They likened Tang to Australia's controversial anti-
\nimmigration MP Pauline Hanson, at the center of a widespread race
\ndebate involving Asians.<\/p>\n
Goh, 55, told a People's Action Party (PAP) rally that he was
\nstaking his personal prestige on the outcome of Thursday's poll
\nin the district of Cheng San from where Tang is running for
\nparliament on a Workers' Party ticket.<\/p>\n
\"You want this man to get into parliament? I am not going to
\nallow him and therefore I am entering the arena to contest
\nagainst him through the (PAP) candidates in Cheng San,\" Goh, 55,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"It is a choice for the people -- whether they believe my
\npolicies are the right ones for Singapore or whether they want
\nSingapore to go that (Tang's) way,\" he told the lunch-time rally
\nin the financial district.<\/p>\n
PAP leaders charged that Tang, 61, unknown in the political
\narena until last week, holds extreme views on the promotion of
\nChinese language and culture.<\/p>\n
In past speeches, Tang has reportedly said there were too many
\nChristians and English-educated Singaporeans in the cabinet and
\ncivil service and that the Chinese-educated were left out of the
\nmainstream.<\/p>\n
The issue has given a racial tinge to the campaign for
\nThursday's general elections in the island of three million
\npeople, 77 percent of whom are ethnic Chinese, 14 percent Malay
\nand seven percent Indian.<\/p>\n
\"This is a very sensitive problem, pitting one language
\nagainst another, and you need to balance this carefully, in order
\nto hold the whole place together,\" Goh said.<\/p>\n
\"Tang Liang's views are dangerous because the fault lines
\nbetween races would always be there,\" Goh said, citing the
\nexamples of Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
The fault lines in Singapore have been obscured by years of
\naffluence and economic growth but if it enters a prolonged
\nrecession and people of various races have to compete for jobs,
\n\"you may begin to see the fault lines clearly, \" he warned.<\/p>\n
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew told reporters after the rally
\nthat racial disharmony was not an immediate problem, and placed
\nit against the background of a growing China.<\/p>\n
\"We have got to see this problem in the context of 10, 15 to
\n20 years,\" said Lee, prime minister for 31 years until 1990 and
\nthe architect of Singapore's much-envied economic success.<\/p>\n
He said Tang was not a danger in himself, but \"the danger is
\nin the context of a growing China.\"<\/p>\n
\"Let us face it -- in 30 years it is going to be a very
\npowerful country and a powerful language.<\/p>\n
\"We are in danger if we go along with the tide, because year
\nby year ... the Chinese tide rises. So (does) the desire of the
\nChinese-educated to assert their stronger position because they
\nshare a reflected strength.<\/p>\n
\"We go that way, we would be destroyed,\" Lee warned. \"I have
\ngot no doubts in mind... One, our internal divisions will destroy
\nus. Two, there will be external forces out to destroy us...\"<\/p>\n
Tang has denied being anti-Christian and said the PAP had
\nlabeled him a chauvinist to frighten voters and prevent him from
\nentering parliament. He has threatened to sue Lee and Goh, and
\nboth dared him to commence legal action.<\/p>\n
The Workers' Party urged the PAP to elevate the campaigning in
\nthe last two days \"from haranguing opposition candidates\" to
\nfocus on issues.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/race-issue-moves-to-center-of-spore-campaign-1447893297",
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