Lee Kuan Yew goes off messages — is this why no video footage is available?  Straits Times:

Speaking at the National Orange Ribbon Celebrations in Bishan, MM Lee told the crowd he would dispense with the speech prepared for him by one of the ministries.

The Minister Mentor went on to speak passionately for half an hour about the challenges Singapore faced from its earliest days, to build trust between the races.

He said the first important decision the Government made was to break up the old racial enclaves and scatter Singaporeans among neighbours of various races when it resettled them in the public housing estates it built.

Singapore has come a long way since but MM Lee stressed on Saturday that it was not yet a nation.

‘Over time we have become one community with many races, many cultures… Are we a nation yet? I would not say we are,’ he said. ‘We are in transition. But we will always progress provided we know where we are and what we have to do to get there.’

To drive home his point, he even took aim at the multi-racial performances at the event. They were a contrived effort which represented an ideal. ‘This is an ideal which we may never completely reach, but because we have this ideal, we will continue to make progress,’ he said.