Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023) • Hacker News Board

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#151

Post by teleforce » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 8:04 PM UTC

freewestpapua wrote: post #105

teleforce wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naturally they inter-married, the first wave from out of Africa people (e.g Perak man) and the second wave from the Taiwan diaspora [1]. This as you probably know happened over many thousands of years. The word one to ten in most Austronesian countries from Madagascar to Hawaii, spanning more than 17,000 km or 10,000 miles (about half of earth's perimeter of 40,000 km). These countries main languages including Malaga…

> Naturally they inter-married, Earlier you claimed 'originally settled by Malays' now you're saying Malays inter-married with the actual indigenous population. That's like saying European Americans inter-married with actual native population and therefore European Americans are now the first peoples in America. I'm unsure if it is worth discussing further with someone that would manipulate facts in this way. I'll al…

>Earlier you claimed 'originally settled by Malays' now you're saying Malays inter-married with the actual indigenous population.

I said what you have quoted of me previously:

"The people who originally settled in the Malay Archipelago several thousands years ago were successful maritime explorers."

>you started talking about 'land grab by Chinese immigrants in Singapore' which is unrelated to the claims you originally made.

Please check your own comments regarding land grab (see below), that's why I asked you about that, I didn't mentioned about land grab earlier but you did. But since you have mentioned it yourself in the comments that's why I asked your opinion because we are in Singapore OP topic. If you do not want to answer the question that's fine with me, however personally I think it's very much relevant to the topic at hand.

>>I hope this information will help you and others correct your misunderstanding and stop spreading such disingenous claims intended to enable land grab by settlers.

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#152

Post by HDThoreaun » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 8:04 PM UTC

IncreasePosts wrote: post #135

rayiner wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The location is good, but there are many strategically well located places that are poor today. The people aren’t meaningfully different than the countries around Singapore. A 75% Chinese supermajority, maintained for decades through selective immigration controls. But China itself was as poor as India into the 1990s, while Singapore was rapidly developing long before then. LKY chalked it up to good, pragmatic polici…

It also strangely helps that Singapore has almost no natural resources to exploit. So, their only resource is what the humans provide. That lead them to invest heavily in professional training instead of using their humans to pull metal out of the ground and ship it off somewhere else.

Singapore's location on the straight of malacca is one of the most valuable resources in the world. #2 in container throughput worldwide even though they barely manufacture anything.

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#153

Post by tim333 » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 8:13 PM UTC

JadeNB wrote: post #6

ggm wrote: post #3

Weaponised the court system to repress union backed opposition, despite having been engaged with the union movement in his early years (as I understand it) It is a kind of workers paradise. If you're well behaved and don't shout you get a good education, health system and housing. 95% owner occupied is pretty damn good. Huge dependence on south Malaysia migrant workers shuttling over the bridge every day, so it's "ho…

> Many people would feel safer in Lee Kwan Yew's Singapore than in the USA. Better housing and health policy, less graffiti and street violence. Of all the things wrong with the USA, when picking just two, it seems strange for one of them to be graffiti. I have lived in the USA all my life, in some more and some less urban areas, and even from the people most afraid of cities I have never heard graffiti mentioned as…

Graffiti tends to be a visual indicator of lawlessness and petty crime.

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#154

Post by tim333 » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 8:18 PM UTC

Der_Einzige wrote: post #64

jdw64 wrote: post #33

Lee Kuan Yew is praised by Western academia because of 'benevolent authoritarianism' — in other words, the idea that a small elite should rule over the workers. In fact, his policies were authoritarian and dictatorial. Despite Singapore's geographical advantages, Lee's achievement in transforming it into a great financial hub is certainly a testament to his capability. However, when you consider his track record 'Ope…

Please modify your AI writing prompt to avoid semicolons, and the EM dash.

Don't you think the EM dashes might be a useful indicator of AI slop to avoid, if that way inclined?

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#155

Post by HDThoreaun » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 8:20 PM UTC

Der_Einzige wrote: post #65

shellfishgene wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Over the following decades, Lee built a strong government that was backed by a competent and virtually corruption-free civil service..." This part of the history, only mentioned in this one sentence, is the most interesting and relevant for other countries, and is really what sets Singapore apart from other countries in the region.

The idea that Singapore isn't corrupt is one of the biggest lies of all time. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62m7xrd2z0o https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/10/spanish-couple...

That's not corruption.

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#156

Post by mytailorisrich » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 8:36 PM UTC

ux266478 wrote: post #149

mytailorisrich wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singapore is an enclave that emerged because of multiculturalism in Malaya caused by mass immigration from China, actually.

It would be more appropriate to say it emerged (as a sovereign nation) because of anti-multiculturalism, to be perfectly clear. Otherwise, it would still be a part of Malaysia.

You mean a reaction to multiculturalism...

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#157

Post by hirako2000 » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 9:45 PM UTC

SanjayMehta wrote: post #57

hirako2000 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about Singapore but Malaysia's racism is not complicated. It is discrimination into law. It makes things rather clear. About discourse of course there is not discussion to have.

The most amusing part of Malaysia's discrimination is in the term "bhumiputra," which is Sanskrit for "son of the soil," but today it's used for Malay muslim. All these lands were Dharmic originally, all the way to Japan, before the various cults arrived.

Just look historicaly. Sorry of you feel entitled to whatever land.

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#158

Post by quickthrowman » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 9:45 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #144

quickthrowman wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the 60s the Chinese diaspora in SEAsia experienced violence by locals who didn’t like the success of the Chinese. I’m not super familiar with Chinese history, but this jumped out at me. How were other countries jealous of Chinese people during the decade of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution? Famine, death, destruction, etc. Am I misunderstanding something?

I was referring to the Chinese diaspora who had left China over decades and even centuries -they had become successful in SEAsia and were often responsible for commercial progress in those places. The sixties were times of conflict all over the world and in SEAsia the Chinese diaspora in those countries found themselves the targets of the frustration of “natives”. I say natives though the Chinese diaspora was born an…

Thanks for replying, that explains a lot and now it makes sense!

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#159

Post by itsthecourier » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 10:12 PM UTC

after being flagged and down voted for mentioning Lee Kuan Yew views on Multiculturalism, I reiterate my comment with a direct quote to keep ynews truthful and not polarized towards the left:

"They are implacable in wanting to put down all who do not agree with them."

"What role does Islam itself play in fueling Islamic extremism? Muslims want to assimilate us. It is one-way traffic…They have no confidence in allowing choice.12 Samuel Huntington sent me a piece he was writing in Foreign Affairs called the “Clash of Civilizations.” When I saw him, I said, look, I agree with you only where the Muslims are concerned, only there…Hinduism, Chinese Confucianism or Communism, Japanese Shintoism, they are secular really. They know that to progress, you must master science and technology…But the Muslims believe that if they master the Qu’ran and they are prepared to do all that Muhammad has prescribed, they will succeed. So, we can expect trouble from them and so, it happened.13 Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate Islam is exclusive."

Re: Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)

#160

Post by itsthecourier » Fri, Jun 05, 2026, 10:17 PM UTC

itsthecourier wrote: post #159

after being flagged and down voted for mentioning Lee Kuan Yew views on Multiculturalism, I reiterate my comment with a direct quote to keep ynews truthful and not polarized towards the left: "They are implacable in wanting to put down all who do not agree with them." "What role does Islam itself play in fueling Islamic extremism? Muslims want to assimilate us. It is one-way traffic…They have no confidence in allowin…

"but open immigration policies also carry risks. New waves of migrants will be ethnically different, less educated, and sometimes unskilled…It will gradually dawn on governments that immigration alone cannot solve their demographic troubles and that much more active government involvement in encouraging or discouraging procreation may be necessary."