The Rhetoric
“Once in a while, Think Centre says they want to go to the Speakers’ Corner and they want to plant 100 flowers there, let the 100 flowers bloom…It’s a signal speak, speak your voice, be heard.
– PM Lee Hsien Loong, National Day Rally, 2004The Reality
“We do ourselves a great disservice if we import unthinkingly and wholesale fashionable and hollow abstractions. So do not believe those few Singaporeans who tell you that with democracy, human rights and press freedom a hundred flowers will bloom and Singapore will prosper.”
– Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, Sydney Morning Herald, Aug 1, 2001