Unity
key to making it through economic crisis, leaders stress
South China Morning Post March 1, 1999
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Singapore
TOP officials said at the weekend only unity would help people
ride out the economic crisis and escape social and racial unrest that has
hit the city-state's neighbours.
"If you follow what is going on around us, you will understand why we have to be united," Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times.
Mr Lee said television was filled with pictures of riots and demonstrations in neighbouring Indonesia, adding: "Anybody who watches news or reads the newspapers, knows that we are in the middle of a major storm."
He said Singapore was "very different - peaceful, orderly, tackling our problems systematically and cohesively. We are different because we are united. To keep Singapore different, and unharmed by the storm, we will need to work even more closely together."
Chinese make up 78 per cent of Singapore's 3.1 million population, with 14 per cent Malay and seven per cent Indian. Racial riots in the 1960s pitted the Chinese against the local Malays.
Malays proportionally have been worst hit by increased unemployment in Singapore.
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, speaking at a local event on Saturday, also told Singaporeans they must be "very cohesive", local media said.
"I can sense that Singaporeans are now much more united," he said.
Published in the South China Morning Post. March 1, 1999.