--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I had a good personal relationship with…" description: "\"I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I used him, in the sense, that he... He made a statement in 1980, and he said in that statemen..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fd/bob-hawke-7891_asia_i-had-a-good-personal-relationship-with_2000820.jpg" --- # I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I… ![“I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I used him, in the sense, that he... He made a statement in 1980, and he said in that statement that, "If Australia keeps going the way it is, it will finish up the poor, white trash of Asia." And he was right, because we were just going…” quote by Bob Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fd/bob-hawke-7891_asia_i-had-a-good-personal-relationship-with_2000820.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fd/bob-hawke-7891_asia_i-had-a-good-personal-relationship-with_2000820.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fd/bob-hawke-7891_asia_i-had-a-good-personal-relationship-with_2000820.jpg) > “I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I used him, in the sense, that he... He made a statement in 1980, and he said in that statement that, "If Australia keeps going the way it is, it will finish up the poor, white trash of Asia." And he was right, because we were just going backwards.” [Bob Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hawke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote warns that Australia's policies were leading to economic decline and social degradation, likening the nation to the poorest parts of Asia. **In simple terms:** Australia risked becoming impoverished and marginalized. Key Takeaway Address policy direction to avoid decline. Themes politics economics social criticism Mood concerned critical Type political social commentary When to use this quote - government policy review - public debate - media analysis - community activism Key Concepts development inequality national identity Questions to Reflect On - What policies could reverse this trajectory? - How can societies balance growth with equity? A Different Perspective The statement may overgeneralize and ignore positive trends. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asia/) [Australia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/australia/) [Good person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-person/) [Personal relationship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal-relationship/) [Personal relationships](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal-relationships/) [White trash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-trash/) [Yew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yew/) ## Related quotes > [“Two opinion pieces written by local author Catherine Lim in The Straits Times in 1994 were good examples of the political climate in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/two-opinion-pieces-written-by-local-author-catherine-lim-in-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“that “the first lesson of civilization” is “obedience,” and that freedom “breaks down altogether” without “skilled administration,” are the very lessons Lee Kuan Yew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/that-the-first-lesson-of-civilization-is-obedience-and-that-freedom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Elon Musk (of Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity), Jeff Bezos (of Amazon), and Reed Hastings (of Netflix) are other great shapers from the business world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-dalio/elon-musk-of-tesla-spacex-and-solarcity-jeff-bezos-of-amazon-and-reed/) [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) > [On the way back from Mumbai to go meet with President Xi in China, I stopped in Singapore to meet with a guy named…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-biden/on-the-way-back-from-mumbai-to-go-meet-with-president-xi-in-china-i/) [Joe Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-biden/) ## More by Bob Hawke > [ Brian Mulroney, myself, \[and\] Rajiv Gandhi; I think that was the real core \[of the Commonwealth \]. 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She was too much in the Russian camp for my liking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hawke/i-had-no-time-for-indira-gandhi-she-was-too-much-in-the-russian-camp/) [Bob Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hawke/) > [I wrote a letter to our Australian newspaper about three weeks before the invasion and I said, "Osama bin Laden must be on his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hawke/i-wrote-a-letter-to-our-australian-newspaper-about-three-weeks-before/) [Bob Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hawke/) > [I can't speak with authority about Emeka Anyaoku. 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Ott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-e-ott/) [Browse all 770 Asia quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asia/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I used him, in the sense, that he... 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