Singaporeans cannot disavow ethnic roots with China and India: PM Lee
China, India and religious affinities, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Wednesday as he appealed for cohesion in his last major speech before stepping down from the leadership of the prosperous city-state in two weeks. «Social cohesion is important and race, language, and religion are traditional fault lines that will never go away for Singapore. While huge efforts have been made to build a shared Singaporean identity, the nation will always be subject to external forces that pull different segments of its population in different directions,» Lee said as he delivered the keynote address at the May Day Rally.
«We cannot disavow our diverse ethnic roots and religious affinities — Chinese Singaporeans with China, Indian Singaporeans with their various ancestral homes in India, Malay Singaporeans with the rest of our region, and with the global Muslim Ummah,» Lee said impressing on the citizens of prosperous island state nestled in the heart of Southeast Asia.
«They can be vulnerabilities, yet we do not want to lose these rich cultural and historical heritages,» the 72-year-old Lee said.
«Racial and religious harmony would continue to be a work in progress, but Singapore must also be conscious of other potential divisions.
»These include tensions between the haves and have-nots, Singaporean-born and naturalised citizens, political conservatives and liberals, and current and future generations, which can be exploited politically," Lee, who will hand over the premiership to his Deputy Lawrence Wong on May 15,
