“Of course there are Chinese millionaires in big cars and big houses. Is it the answer to make a few Malay millionaires with big cars and big houses? How does telling a Malay bus driver that he should support the party of his Malay director (UMNO) and the Chinese bus conductor to join another party of his Chinese director (MCA) - how does that improve the standards of the Malay bus driver and the Chinese bus conductor who are both workers in the same company? If we delude people into believing that they are poor because there are no Malay rights or because opposition members oppose Malay rights, where are we going to end up? You let people in the kampongs believe that they are poor because we don't speak Malay, because the government does not write in Malay, so he expects a miracle to take place in 1967 (the year Malay would become the national and sole official language in Malaysia). The moment we all start speaking Malay, he is going to have an uplift in the standard of living, and if doesn't happen, what happens then? Meanwhile, whenever there is a failure of economic, social and educational policies, you come back and say, oh, these wicked Chinese, Indian and others opposing Malay rights. They don't oppose Malay rights. They, the Malay, have the right as Malaysian citizens to go up to the level of training and education that the more competitive societies, the non-Malay society, has produced. That is what must be done, isn't it? Not to feed them with this obscurantist doctrine that all they have got to do is to get Malay rights for the few special Malays and their problem has been resolved.”

—  Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew in the Parliament of Malaysia, 1965 http://maddruid.com/?p=645
1960s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Of course there are Chinese millionaires in big cars and big houses. Is it the answer to make a few Malay millionaires …" by Lee Kuan Yew?
Lee Kuan Yew photo
Lee Kuan Yew 72
First Prime Minister of Singapore 1923–2015

Related quotes

Mahathir bin Mohamad photo
Terry Pratchett photo
A. P. Herbert photo

“Bus driver, bus driver, the sirens have gone,
The bombs may come down, but the buses go on;
Bus driver, I know you won't think me a snob
If I whisper: "Bus driver, I don't want your job."”

A. P. Herbert (1890–1971) British politician

"Seeing It Through", London Transport poster by Eric Kennington (1944).

Anthony Burgess photo
Jerry Stahl photo

“To me, God is like this happy bus driver.”

Jerry Stahl (1953) American writer

Source: Permanent Midnight

Ben Croshaw photo

“I feel bad when I'm the only person on the bus. It's like I'm the only person who showed up to the driver's birthday party.”

Ben Croshaw (1983) English video game journalist

28 June 2010
Twitter

Rachel Maddow photo
Richard Brautigan photo

“Thinking hard about you
I got on the bus
and paid 30 cents car fare
and asked the driver for two transfers
before discovering
that I was
alone.”

Richard Brautigan (1935–1984) American novelist, poet, and short story writer

"30 cents, Two Transfers, Love"
Rommel Drives on deep into Egypt

George Orwell photo
A. P. Herbert photo

“How proud upon your quarterdeck you stand,
Conductor, Captain of the mighty bus!
Like some Columbus you survey the Strand,
A calm newcomer in a sea of fuss.”

A. P. Herbert (1890–1971) British politician

"Seeing It Through", London Transport poster by Eric Kennington (1944).

Related topics