Australia, NZ pass parliamentary motions to mourn a ‘friend’

SINGAPORE — The governments of Australia and New Zealand have passed parliamentary motions to mourn the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, as a testament to the high regard for the former Prime Minister’s achievements and his contributions to promote bilateral relations with these key partners.

Below is the motion by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and excerpts of the parliamentary debate in New Zealand:

Motion by Mr Abbott on Tuesday

I move, that the House record its deep regret at the death of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore, on March 23, 2015, and place on record its acknowledgement of his role as the founding father of modern Singapore and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Mr Lee did not just lead his country; he also made his country. In the mid-1950s, when he first came to prominence in Singapore, his country was poor and friendless. Today, it is rich and well connected. It is one of the great success stories of the modern world, thanks to the ideas, drive and judgement of Mr Lee and thanks to the talents of the Singaporean people that he unleashed. It is a remarkable economic success story. It is one of the most remarkable economic success stories in history. Within a generation, Singapore has moved from the Third World to the First World.

Singapore under Mr Lee blazed a trail that has been followed by other countries in our region — by Taiwan, South Korea and, most recently, China. He was once asked which of his decisions had made the biggest contribution to Singapore’s success. ‘Making English the common language’ was his response. This not only defused ethnic tensions in Singapore, but also gave the country easy entry into the global economy. He also maintained Singapore’s British-based common-law legal system and ran an utterly clean and corruption-free administration.

One statistic tells the story of modern Singapore. In 1965, the nation’s gross domestic product per head was about one-third that of Australia. Today, Singapore’s GDP per head is almost double that of Australia. In the 1980s, when Singapore was surging ahead and Australia risked stagnating, he said we risked ending up as — to use that phrase — “the poor white trash of Asia”. That phrase stung because we feared it might be true.

I have to say that a quarter century of reform under Mr Bob Hawke and Mr Paul Keating and then under

Mr John Howard and Mr Peter Costello restored our position but, if we are to avoid his prophecy, the challenge for this generation is to ensure the age of reform in this country has been merely interrupted, not ended.

The relationship between Singapore and Australia is strong and growing stronger all the time, thanks to Mr Lee and his successors, especially his son, Singapore’s current Prime Minister and friend of Australia, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, who should receive our deepest condolences today.

Today, two-way trade between Singapore and Australia is about A$30 billion (S$32.3 billion) a year. Singapore is our fourth-largest source of inward investment. Every year, about 300,000 Australians travel to Singapore and, every year, about the same number of Singaporeans travel to Australia. About 100,000 Singapore citizens are alumni of Australian universities and Singapore is a military ally of Australia. Under the Five Power Defence Arrangements, Singaporean forces regularly exercise and train in this country.

We share a language and much institutional architecture with Singapore. The country and Australia are natural partners and I hope that, over time, our relationship with Singapore will be as easy, close and familial as it has long been with New Zealand. And, if so, that too will be part of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy. He did not just build Australia, but also spurred this country at a critical time in our history to be better than we might have been.

Today, we mourn Mr Lee’s passing but, forever, we will celebrate the life of this great nation builder and leader of our time. I acknowledge the presence today of the Singapore High Commissioner and hope he will pass on to his government and country the condolences of the people and parliament of Australia.

Honourable members: Hear, hear.

Excerpts of the New Zealand parliamentary debate on Tuesday

Mr Bill English, Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Prime Minister: I move, that this House express its sadness at the passing yesterday of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, aged 91. As one of Singapore’s founding fathers, Mr Lee led Singapore to independence in 1965 and remained its Prime Minister until 1990. Due to his unwavering determination and vision, he guided Singapore’s growth and development, making it the world leader among small countries that it is today. Mr Lee was a long-time friend of New Zealand and a supporter of New Zealand’s role in South-east Asia. He was also instrumental in establishing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). New Zealand and ASEAN celebrate our 40th anniversary this year. On behalf of all New Zealanders, we would like to express our condolences to Mr Lee’s family and the people of Singapore, who have lost a father with his passing.

Mr Phil Goff of New Zealand Labour Party: Can I join the Acting Prime Minister on behalf of Labour in expressing our condolences to the people of Singapore and, in particular, to his family and son, the current Prime Minister of Singapore, on his passing?

Mr Lee Kuan Yew was an extraordinary figure. I remember when he gave a speech on television in 1965 — and I think I was a 12-year-old, a child at that time — he spoke with such power and emotion about why he was taking Singapore out of Malaysia and, decades later, I still remember that as the first political speech that ever impacted me in that way.

I remember the former Prime Minister for another reason and that was when I had dinner with Mr Lee at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2008. I explained to the then Minister Mentor that my mother was a great admirer of his. He looked at me somewhat quizzically and said: “Why would that be the case?”

I explained that in 1977, as a student who had gone six years without a haircut, I was given my first haircut when passing through Singapore by the

customs officials at the airport as the price of entry. My mother congratulated him on achieving something that nobody else had been able to do for years before that time.

Ms Tracey Martin, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First: As we acknowledge his passing, Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s given name in Chinese means “light and brightness”. We would respectfully suggest that the world is a little less light and a little less bright after his passing.

Mr David Seymour, Leader of ACT New Zealand: Mr Lee Kuan Yew was an extraordinary man who ruled in a constitutional arrangement that I suspect very few, if any, in this House would have a lot of patience or support for. But all of that is only a preamble to paying tribute to what he did for Singapore, a country that in the 1960s was a recipient of foreign aid from New Zealand and, today, has twice the gross domestic product per capita that we do.

It is a tribute not only to the great man, Mr Lee, but also to the approach he took to open markets, free trade, a flexible labour market and tolerable taxes that have allowed the people of Singapore, who had no natural resources to speak of, to become so prosperous.

The motion was agreed to.