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Salient. Victoria University Students Newspaper. Vol. 38, No. 4, 1975

Not so Far Away

Not so Far Away

Dear Sir,

I was sitting in Civic Square the other day, quietly reading the last Salient and munching my way through a packet of fish and chips.

I was part way through thesstory on the oppression of dissidents by Lee Kwan Yew's government in Singapore and thinking how far away and unreal it was, when I reached over to grab one of my paua fritters. Underneath the fritter was Muldoon's column in the March 11 issue of Truth and guess who the leader of the opposition was praising? None other than Lee Kuan Yew himself.

'Their sense of purpose in the cause of economic progress is an object lesson to New Zealand, as it is to most western countries' said friend Rob. 'Lee Kuan Yew can tell his workers there will be no wage increases this year because if Singapore does not remain competitive they will be out of their jobs. No wonder they are building the modules, for the Maui gas platforms.'

I can't say I enjoyed the rest of my greasies all that much as I thought about the next Prime Minister of New Zealand and his affection for a man like Lee Kuan Yew. That night I made a point of buying a student from Singapore that I knew a drink. I figured that by the time he gets his degree and goes back home we'll be up against the same thing over here so we might as well get together and enjoy the couple of years we've got left.

Yours sincerely,

Max Routledge