我们是新加坡公民， 誓愿不分种族、言语、宗教， 团结一致， 建设公正平等 的民主社会， 并为实现国家之幸福、繁荣与进步， 共同努力。
据报章报道，2009年8月19日，当时担任内阁资政的李光耀罕见地在国会发言，目的是要在新加坡种族平等的课题上把国会带回现实中。
8月18日，在辩论国家政策时，官委议员维斯瓦提出的政府施政应维护信约原则的动议。在他的发言中，他为新加坡的种族间和谐共处与所有种族皆有平等机会而感到骄傲。可是，他对政府强调种族类别，例如设立各族的自助团体，发出混合的讯号而提出了质疑。
李资政反驳了这位官委议员提出平等对待所有种族的说法，认为那是虚假和有缺陷的。指明政府对各种族的处理方式时，他指出新加坡宪法给予马来人特别地位，而不是每人都平等对待。
为了提醒大家原来的起步点，他指出公民信约是在上世纪60时代种族紧张时期的背景下起草的。新加坡那时刚刚被马来西亚踢出来，如果占据多数人口的新加坡华人，像马来西亚多数民族马来人对待那里的少数民族华人那样对待马来人，在新加坡的马来人会特别感到脆弱与毫无把握。
在这个背景下，当时文化部长拉勒南尽力强调‘不分种族、言语与宗教’。
李资政提醒国会，宪法第152条指定政府的责任是‘要一直照顾新加坡少数民族与宗教的利益’。它特别提到政府必须接受原住民马来人的特别地位，保障他们的政治、经济、教育利益。
他直率地说，新加坡要做到平等对待所有民族，可能不需要几百年，但也需要几十年。因为这个原因，他不把公民信约看成是维斯瓦所说的意识形态，而是一种报负。
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We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based
on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress
for our nation.
On 19 August 2009, it was reported that the then Minister Mentor Lee Kuan
Yew, in a rare intervention in Parliament, rose yesterday to 'bring the House
back to earth' on the issue of racial equality in Singapore.
On 18 August, Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Viswa Sadasivan had
tabled a motion for the House to reaffirm its commitment to principles in the
National Pledge when debating national policies. In a speech, the NMP had
expressed pride in Singapore's inter-racial harmony and principle of equal
opportunity for all races. However, he questioned if the Government was sending
out mixed signals by emphasising racial categories, for example, through ethnic
self-help groups.
Mr Lee rebutted as 'false and flawed' the arguments by the NMP calling for
equal treatment for all races. Spelling out the Government's approach to the
treatment of different races, he pointed out that the Constitution of Singapore
itself enjoins the Government to give Malays a 'special position', rather than
to 'treat everybody as equal'.
To 'remind everybody what our starting point is', he pointed to the racially
tense period of the 1960s, the circumstances in which the Pledge had been
written. Singapore had just been
thrown out of Malaysia. The Malays in Singapore were feeling particularly
vulnerable, unsure if the Chinese majority here would treat them the way the
Malay majority in Malaysia had treated the Chinese minority there.
Because of such a backdrop, the Pledge crafted by then Culture Minister S.
Rajaratnam took pains to emphasise principles that would be 'regardless of
race, language and religion'.
Mr Lee also drew the House's attention to Article 152 of the Constitution,
which makes it the Government's responsibility to 'constantly care for the
interests of the racial and religious minorities in Singapore'. In particular,
it states that the Government must recognise the special position of the
Malays, 'the indigenous people of Singapore', and safeguard their political,
economic and educational interests.
For Singapore to reach a point where all races could be treated equally 'is
going to take decades, if not centuries', he said bluntly. For this reason, he
sees the Pledge not as an 'ideology', as Mr Viswa put it, but as an
'aspiration'.
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