Par Avion

Praise of Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore must be taken with a spoonful of salt. His People's Action Party has been in power since 1959; he was the secretary-general of the party, elected unopposed by the very cadres he appoints. Until 2011, he was the senior minister in the cabinet, with his son as the PM and his daughter-in-law run­ning the nation's sovereign wealth fund. Please reflect on the treatment meted out to lone opposition leader J.B. Jeya­ratnam, jailed on trumped-up charges and made bankrupt by Lee's stringent libel laws. Under a veneer of pseudo-democracy lies a one-party dictatorship with no respect for human rights and minorities.

Dr Rajah, Leeds, in The Sunday Times

Malaysia is indeed an example to the world for religious tolerance. In the ’50s I was serving as an engineer in Johor, where we were servi­cing military vehicles. We employed many civilians—Chinese, Malays, and Tamils in particular. Everyone worked well together. There were plenty of religious holidays to take into account, and around Ramadan, when food is forbi­dden during daylight hours, it was common to find a mech­anic asleep while pretending to repair the underside of an armoured car.

Michael Kirk, Caernarfonshire, in The Sunday Telegraph

If Jeremy Clarkson had been a woman he’d have been sacked from the BBC years ago on looks alone.

Jennifer White, Nottinghamshire, in The Sunday Telegraph