Analysis of Post-Colonial Nationhood Challenges

And it must be that way.

But at the end of it all,

why have all these countries gone down?

They have taken power over from the

British, the Dutch, the French,

the Belgians, and look at the Congo.

Look at Nigeria.

Forty-five million people.

They don't enjoy our standard of living. Vast natural resources.

About twenty persons per square mile.

Why?

I've asked myself this often. Why?

Because

I must know the reason. Otherwise, I cannot fulfill my simple

elementary function as a minister of the Singapore government.

And I tell you there are many reasons.

First, the will to be a nation.

If a group of human beings do not want to together constitute a nation,

nothing can make them other than superior force.

That's what the Dutch and the British did with their empires

and the French.

Whether you like the other chap or not, I say that you together constitute

my colony. And you are all British subjects

or French citizens or

Dutch protected persons and so on.

Now, each one of them

have taken over.

And a heterogeneous lot have taken over.

And that

variegated group must agree that they want to be a people.

From the rest in the region, preserving our

tolerant, permissive

society, our own way of life and very high standards.

But to do that, you must have the will, the capacity to express

your desire in an effective way. In other words, you must have

leadership.

There's no use saying, you know, the Nigerian people believe so and so.

Which Nigerian people?

East Nigeria, West Nigeria, Midwest Nigeria, North Nigeria?

The Congolese prime minister or the Congolese president says so and

so. Does he represent

the 12 million people of the Congo? Nobody has taken a proper census yet.

Nobody knows how many tribes there are.

Well, assuming that he does represent the 12

million people

of the Congo,

is he in a position to express and implement their

will? In other words, he having decided he signs a decree,

decree

number 1,551, that all

mercenaries of European origin shall be expelled from the Congo.

Now, you tell me who will implement that

decree that all the non-Congolese soldiers who have been brought

there by so many people, the Belgians,

Tchombe

and the Katangis and so on, must get out of the Congo.

Now, who implements that? The United Nations

is going to send chaps there

to serve writs of summons. You know, we serve writs of summons on our

Barisan chaps and say, here you are, Dr.

So-and-so, please appear in court on Wednesday.

And he doesn't appear in court. Well, then we issue a warrant for his arrest.

Then he appears and he is granted bail.

Then the time comes for him to appear for trial.

The boy has disappeared

because he's committed several other offenses. So we say, right, you forfeit.

Where is the father and the mother who stood bail? All right,

pay $500.

Now, you tell me, assuming that I'm the president of the

Ruritanian Republic, I say all

foreigners will clear out.

Then I say, right,

UN Secretary General, please send 10 divisions to clear out all

foreigners.

You see,

at the end of it all, one sunny day,

all mortars will be falling down on the palace or the istana here, you know, just

like they do in Saigon. You know how Ngo Dinh Diem died?

It's an ignominious ending. Mortars,

shells, commandos, his own chasing him.

So he ran under the palace walls to escape.

Caught,

carried in a jeep, shot in a rice field, disposed of.

Collapse.

Now, that's very sad, isn't it?

You must have the will and the wherewithal.

In other words,

a well-oiled, well-maintained machine must be kept

to allow

the people at large to express their will

as represented by certain groups of persons who in

turn

can exercise their mandate with efficacy.

And when they say, yes,

those boys will no longer be given bail because they've broken up

court benches,

disgraced the magistrate, humiliated

the dignity of our courts. And the next time they do this, they

are no

longer given bail and they stay in the lockup until their

trial.

Now, all this requires

an elaborate machinery of which each and every one of you

tonight

is an important

wheel within that machine. Without you,

my colleagues and I cannot govern

because you

and in turn the people in every one of the villages in the 51

constituencies, every street understands that.

Therefore,

today we can meet