This long running ABC News series of special reports/documentaries explores different aspects of life in the United States, featuring the most prominent ABC News correspondents of their times.

“This program examines the growing rift in Southeast Asia between native inhabitants and the overseas Chinese, who maintain loyalty to their land of birth while living in other Asian countries. It concentrates on the situation in Singapore, a Malayan nation and important Asian financial center which is home to a large Chinese population, and a budding conflict between native Malayans and the Chinese immigrants who refuse to be assimilated to their new home. Highlights include the following: comments from Singapore parliament member Dato Abdul Hamid, who decries the reluctance of some Chinese to identify themsleves with their new culture; the harsh life and work conditions endured by most of the Chinese immigrants; footage of the opulent lifestyle enjoyed by a small percentage of Chinese who comprise the upper crust of Singapore society; a performance of the mawkish ballad “Lover’s Tears” by Asian chanteuse Ruby Wah before a well-heeled Chinese audience in a Western-style restaurant in Singapore; footage of earnest young Chinese political activists giving speeches to throngs of their fellow immigrants, warning them of the British, the Malayans, the West, and integration; comments from Singapore’s Minister of Culture S. Rajaratnam, who asserts that the cultural tie to mainland China is felt most strongly by the older generation; footage of a Chinese opera in Singapore, which provides a cultural link to China; footage of a Chinese university in Singapore — which may be communist-controlled — which is looked upon with scorn by the Malay; David Marshall, former chief minister of Singapore, recalls the contempt the Chinese have endured historically, which informs their refusal to relinquish their traditions; Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore, comments on the Chinese population in Singapore; and an editorial solution to the problem which is relayed by the program’s narrator.”