"Year by year, the Chinese tide rises. So too the desire of the Chinese-educated [in Singapore] to assert their stronger position because they share a reflected strength. We go that way, we will be destroyed. We stay where we are -- bilingual, working language English, everybody level playing field. Or be prepared for big trouble. We are not anti-China but we are Southeast Asian and we remain a Southeast Asian nation. We cannot be otherwise."
- Lee Kuan Yew, "Why Chinese chauvinism will destroy S'pore: SM", Straits Times, 31 December 1996.
This was an important reaffirmation of Singapore's multiracial credentials, something which would have been especially welcomed by the ethnic minorities.
- The Price of Victory, Derek da Cunha
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