4 - ‘An Absolute Pariah in the Whole World’

Summary

Three months after returning from India, Lee was standing on the steps of City Hall to proclaim that Singapore would be ‘forever a sovereign democratic and independent nation, founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of her people in a more just and equal society’. He mentioned India no fewer than three times on that momentous 9 August. Yet, for all Lee's goodwill and for all the burden of history, independent Singapore and India seemed to have very little in common just then. Their foreign and military policy aims were substantially different; their economic strategies could not have presented a greater contrast. Size, geography, demography and culture set them apart. However, being then ‘an absolute pariah in the whole world,’ as Abraham says, Singapore needed India's helping hand for political survival. And so, India was the first name that came to Lee's lips when a reporter asked about independent Singapore's diplomatic representation: ‘Off-hand I would say India, perhaps Pakistan. I am not sure whether we can afford to have two missions for India and Pakistan.’ The second instance when Lee spoke of India was in the context of the India–Pakistan war which had moved from Kutch to Kashmir. It was a ‘delicate question’ but his ‘sympathies’ were with India.

I do not know the rights and wrongs of it, although I have heard both sides and I know the Pakistanis are pressing very hard the United Nations Security Council resolution—the plebiscite and so on; it was promised eighteen years ago. But the Indians are my friends. They were the first non-European Commonwealth country to recognize Singapore. The Pakistanis, I am sorry to say, although President Ayub and his government have always been very friendly to me, and we have been friends to them, have not recognized us yet.

Though some Indians may have thought he sounded a little guarded, AIR made great play of the statement.