KL says memoirs will not strain ties

KL says memoirs will not strain ties

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The memoirs of Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, will not strain good relations with Malaysia, the foreign ministry here said on Friday.

Malaysia reacted angrily to Lee's first volume of memoirs, published in 1998. It took issue with his portrayal of some personalities and events leading to Singapore's ejection from the Malaysian Federation in 1965.

But the ministry said the second volume, to be launched on Lee's 77th birthday on Saturday, should be seen as Lee's view of history and not the official viewpoint of the Singapore government.

In the second volume of From Third World to First, Lee says the risk of a coup by Malaysian troops stationed in Singapore, and the danger that racial riots in Malaysia could spill over, drove Singapore to "feverishly" build up its army with Israel's assistance after independence in 1965.