Lai Tha Chai
Singapore
“I appreciate that the renewal of old estates takes time, as mentioned by my colleague, the Member for Bo Wen. But, Sir, do you know that HDB has been carrying out the relocation exercise since the 1970s in Henderson? Today, more than 10 years later, HDB has not built even a unit of new flat in the constituency.”
“Publications (10) That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead IE-03 of the Main Estimates. Psychological Defence Unit (11) That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead IF-03 of the Main Estimates.”
“Confucius says, "Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness. (" ") We try to be righteous. To repay virtue with virtue and we treat those who oppose us in a just way. Whereas those who have showered on us benefits and showed virtue to us we must repay in kind.”
“Perhaps it is too little for SBC, so much so that the people in charge of SBC have to push out their chest and say, "If you don't give us money, then we will have to embarrass you and make you lose face", as the slang goes.”
“On the other hand, if he thinks the money is of use to him and is of benefit to his members of family and he is also sure that after 10 or 20 years this saving will be good for his family, just like the CPF which after a period of accumulation can be used for purchasing of flats, on this account I will support the scheme. 6.04 p.m.”
“Sir, I notice that the Minister of State of Education has just answered the question which I intend to raise. So I do not think I should waste your time by repeating my question and getting the Minister of Education or his Minister of State to give the House the same answer. Because of this, I do not wish to speak on the amendment.”
The complete record
Every one of 103 lines we hold for Lai Tha Chai, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 3.
“But this does not mean that "The Voice of the Revolution of Malaya" will be without its latent influence. At least, in recent years, the increasing Communist forces along the Malaysia-Thailand border is a reminder and food for thought for us. Mr Speaker, Sir, there is a world renowned historian who tried to revise certain teachings of communalism by playing down the destructive forces of communalism. However, in between the lines of his book traces of communalism lurk throughout. The Biafran war in Nigeria is the most tragic event in the history of civilised man and the tragic civil war in Cyprus between the Greeks and the Turks is still lingering on. The May 13th incident resulting from the general elections in Malaysia, though described by some people as a storm in a teacup is by no means an insignificant cause for concern for us when compared with the incident of banishment of British Asians in Uganda. As far as the world situation is concerned, the bipolarisation of the world by Russia and the United States has almost become something of the past. Instead a new complex world has emerged, a world in which the Chinese, the Russians and the Americans are vying with one another for spheres of influence, a world which is more radical, amorphous and complex. Some countries for ideological reasons try to broaden their sphere of influence by taking sides with other countries; others, due to racial conflicts in certain countries try to take sides with countries with closer blood affinity. Some, because of economic interests or conflicts, are forced willy-nilly to take sides as their economic interest dictates. It is by no means clear who is right and who is wrong in such melee, as much as there is no distinction between the white and the black.”
“Hitherto, those who touched on the history of the development of newly emergent countries used to put the blame on colonialism for every evil, as though by castigating the ugly figure of colonialism, they could help fulfil the task of nation building smoothly. Even now outside this House, the Barisan Sosialis is still harping on the outdated old tune of anti-colonialism. Fortunately enough, the people of Singapore are not as naive and obstinate as the Barisan Sosialis, otherwise we would not have a Singapore as prosperous as we have today. Mr Speaker, Sir, my point is that as we enter into the early 1970s, the threat we may face from colonialism will diminish, while the two-pronged attack we may face from Communism and communalism will increasingly be greater. However, of the forces of Communism and communalism, the forces of communalism seem to become the centre of attention of the world. During the conflict between the U.S. and Russia, the Russian chief delegate at the United Nations made a lengthy speech lasting some 14 hours, a feat which can hardly be repeated. The late U.S. Secretary of State, Foster Dulles' grand strategy of anti-Communism has gone into the waste-paper basket by President Nixon's visit to Peking. Even the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is also on the decline and now thrown into disarray. On the other hand, the Czechoslovak incident and the Hungarian uprising together with the Sino-Russia ideological polemics are the first symptoms of division in the world Communist movement which has led to the dismantling of monolithic world Communism.. Mr. Speaker, Sir, therefore, in the new decade of the l970s, the threat from world Communism that we may face will be less and secondary as compared with that posed ten years ago.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the speech delivered by the President at the opening of the First Session of this Parliament has, to my mind, clearly outlined the concept of development for Singapore in the 1970s. If, with the confidence and support of the people, the Government can implement its policies and achieve its objectives of nation building, then at the end of the 1970s, our Republic will be more prosperous than ever before. That is why I am very optimistic about our future. I strongly feel that the evolution of our nation is unique. To my mind, in the 1950s when the anti-colonial movement was at its peak, the fight against colonial forces was not the hardest part in our efforts at nation building. This is especially so after the Bandung Conference in the mid-fifties. At that time colonialism was already on the decline, and the last counter attack by colonialism was only a dying struggle. Following this historical development, the anti-colonial struggle in this favourable setup in Singapore was able to keep up with the trend of the time and thus by the end of the fifties we were able to enter the phase of a self-governing state without any difficulty. Having crossed the threshold of self-government, as all the Members of Parliament here know, we could very easily have wiped out the remnant forces of colonialism and achieved independence. However, because of our geographical position and other factors our course of development was not a straight-forward one. In other words, in the last twenty years, apart from struggling against the oppression of colonialism, we also had to face the challenges of Communism and communalism.”