Word: lees
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Control. When the Federation of Malaysia, consisting of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, was formed last September, the new nation gave a slight numerical edge to the Malays-42% of the 10 million population as opposed to 38% Chinese. The leader of Singapore's Chinese community, Lee Kuan Yew, was a firm backer of the multiracial federation. As Prime Minister (in effect, mayor) of Singapore, "Harry" Lee, though nominally a socialist, had kept Singapore wide open to free enterprise, and fought the Communists hard. At the same time, he did much to help the city...
...Lee also challenged the Tunku's U.M.N.O. in national policies; while he did not get very far, the Malays resented it. Party polemicists, who were not encouraged by the Tunku but not sufficiently curbed by him either, falsely charged that Lee was proCommunist, demanded his arrest, burned him in effigy. One leaflet distributed in Singapore bluntly advised: "Before Malay blood flows in Singapore, it is best to flood the state with Chinese blood." It was this sort of racist prodding that contributed to last week's violence...
...Singapore's racial split widens to include the whole federation, not even airplanes will be any help. The feud between Malays and Chinese could then become a greater threat to the federation than Sukarno. To prevent all Malaysia from running amok, Lee and the Tunku called on all Malaysians to cooperate with the central government. "The first phase of the rioting is over," Lee said. "Our business now is to restore confidence. If order isn't restored...
...Twisted. Kesey has given himself space for some funny, sharply drawn minor characters and some fine logging scenes. But there is too much of the tedious Lee, too many thrown-in anecdotes. The book suffers from a Thomas Wolfish effort to be as big and brawling as the country it describes. The attempt blurs Kesey's view of his real theme-the weakness of the strong and the persistent tensility of the weak...
...view is there. And the best of it is the dim understanding that comes to Lee and the townspeople: they can't stand for Stamper to win, but they feel cheated and confused when he begins to lose. But Kesey understands that intolerable as a good man may be to men and gods, his defeat is even more so. Perhaps in that paradox is the twisted tragedy...