Malaysia needs time to restore ties with S'pore<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia yesterday accepted an apology and
\noffer of a retraction from Singapore patriarch Lee Kuan Yew for
\nremarks which triggered a political row, but said restoring ties
\nto their former level would take time.<\/p>\n
\"The Malaysian government accepts the unreserved apology
\ntendered by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and views positively his
\nintention to retract the offending paragraphs,\" Foreign Minister
\nAbdullah Ahmad Badawi said after a cabinet meeting on the issue.<\/p>\n
\"However, it should be acknowledged that this episode has
\ndeeply hurt Malaysians of all sections of society and the
\nrestoration of the old level of relationship would take time,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
The Malaysian cabinet held its weekly meeting two days after
\nLee promised to withdraw remarks in a court document branding
\nsouthern Malaysia's Johore state, linked by a causeway to
\nSingapore, as \"notorious for shootings, muggings and car-
\njackings.\"<\/p>\n
The remarks were contained in an affidavit backing defamation
\nsuits filed by the 73-year-old Lee with Singapore's High Court
\nagainst a defeated opposition candidate, Tang Liang Hong, who
\nsought refuge in Johore after allegedly receiving death threats
\nin Singapore after general elections in January.<\/p>\n
Lee, who led Singapore to independence from Malaysia in 1965,
\nsaid on Monday he had told his lawyers to strike out \"the
\noffending words\" from his affidavit which unintentionally became
\npublic, sparking outrage in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
While the Malaysian government and opposition have accepted
\nLee's apology and proferred retraction, a non-government
\norganization in Kuala Lumpur called for a picket yesterday
\noutside Singapore's diplomatic mission here.<\/p>\n
\"The current row over the disparaging remarks on the crime
\nrate in Johore by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew has distracted
\nattention from the real issue -- the systematic and savage
\npersecution of those who express opinions contrary to the PAP
\n(People's Action Party) government,\" said the Voice of the
\nMalaysian People, SUARAM.<\/p>\n
The group urged Singapore to \"stop persecuting political
\nopponents.\"<\/p>\n
Lee's PAP has ruled predominantly ethnic Chinese Singapore
\nsince 1959. The island broke away from the Malaysian federation
\nin 1965 amid a dispute over Kuala Lumpur's preferential treatment
\nof Malaysia's native Malay majority.<\/p>\n
Malaysia's national news agency Bernama said in a commentary
\nyesterday that despite the cabinet decision to accept Lee's
\napology, \"the damage to bilateral relations has been done\".<\/p>\n
It said diplomatic relations were perceived to be \"at their
\nlowest ebb, given the fact that just about every Malaysian feels
\ninsulted over the remarks\".<\/p>\n
It said Lee was also \"insulting the intelligence of his own
\nSingaporean fellow citizens who travel by the thousands across
\nthe causeway daily to Johore, and feeling more free than in their
\nown country in the process\".<\/p>\n
\"This is because among other things they can chew gum in
\nJohore and even throw rubbish as they once in a while do.\"<\/p>\n
Squeaky-clean Singapore bans the sale of chewing gum, but it
\nis an open secret that Singaporeans source their chewing gum from
\nmerchants in Johore.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/malaysia-needs-time-to-restore-ties-with-spore-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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