We, the undersigned, request for the full, unreserved and public apology to the people of Singapore from Mr Lee Kuan Yew, NRIC No. S0000003E of 10 Oxley Rise, Singapore 090001, elected Minister Mentor of the Singaporean Parliament, which we very much deserve over the spate of remarks that he made in an interview to the National Geographic magazine(http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/singapore/jacobson-text/3). The remarks in contention from the article are "Over time, the MM says, Singaporeans have become "less hard-driving and hard-striving." This is why it is a good thing, the MM says, that the nation has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants (25 percent of the population is now foreign-born). He is aware that many Singaporeans are unhappy with the influx of immigrants, especially those educated newcomers prepared to fight for higher paying jobs. But taking a typically Darwinian stance, the MM describes the country's new subjects as "hungry," with parents who "pushed the children very hard." If native Singaporeans are falling behind because "the spurs are not stuck into the hide," that is their problem."

It is especially deplorable that such insensitive remarks can be issued forth from the very person responsible for the social engineering of our Nation to the state of being it is today. By forcing through dubious policies that have largely tanked, such as the Stop At 2 policy, Graduate Mothers scheme, Mr Lee Kuan Yew's irresponsible attempts at altering the demographics of our society have left the present leadership no choice but to import foreign workers in such large numbers in such a short period of time in order to make up for the shortfall in labour requirements. This has led to widespread disgruntlement and social unrest in amongst the citizenry.

To then turn around and put the blame on the citizenry for being "less hard-driving and hard-striving" is utterly reprehensible, when Singaporeans are already clocking one of the longest working hours in the world, but yet their wages continue to slip (source:http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20100105-189718.html). This act of hitting at Singaporeans through the international media, of the very people he had been elected to serve, in the midst of what many claim to be the worst recession in this present era, shows an appalling lack of empathy to the hardships of the citizenry. 

We, the citizens of Singapore, did not elect him into his current position, pay him one of the highest salary amongst all the politicians in the world, only to have him talk down to us.

The phrase "the spurs are not stuck into the hide" is a term used only for animals, and I think I speak for all Singaporeans when I say that I certainly do not approve of him saying that. In order to assuage this grievous insult he has inflicted upon the collective psyche of the Singaporean people, we ask that a full, unreserved public apology be made if he hopes to retain any semblance of goodwill amongst the citizenry.

The Undersigned.