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.