MM Lee speaks again on Malay-Muslim integration:“Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate.”
When asked how they could integrate, he [MM Lee] said, “Be less strict on Islamic observances, and say: ‘Okay, I’ll eat with you.’”
“I think we were progressing very nicely until the surge of Islam came, and if you asked me for my observations, the other communities have easier integration — friends, inter-marriages and so on – than Muslims.”
Interview with Charlie Rose, 28 March 2011:
At 31:57 mins of the video:
MM Lee: "I said in that book (“Hard Truths”) that I think that the Malays, that Muslims should be relaxed and eat together with the others."
Charlie Rose: “And it created a firestorm and your son said, the Prime Minister, differed with you.”
MM Lee: “That’s right.”
Charlie Rose: “So, were you right or was your son right?”
MM Lee: *laughs*
MM Lee: “He has to be right because he is the Prime Minister.”
Charlie Rose: “But ... but?”
MM Lee: “But you ask the average person in the street whether what I've said is true."
Charlie Rose: “And they would say?”
MM Lee: “You ask them.”