Lee expresses concern over militancy growth in SE Asia
Lee expresses concern over militancy growth in SE Asia
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew told Malaysian legislators on Tuesday of his concern that Muslim extremist groups were taking root in the region.
"He genuinely seemed concerned that extremist Islamic elements could take root in Singapore like here, saying the battle against this must be kept up relentlessly as this sort of thing can keep cropping up," commented a member of a backbenchers club which met with Lee on Tuesday.
"He said compared to last year, Southeast Asia was calmer this year with the resolution of political conflicts in the Philippines and Indonesia. But this militancy thing is a new threat," said the legislator, who requested anonymity.
Malaysia's Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak told Lee on Monday about efforts to bust an Afghan-inspired militant group Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), which police say is involved in murder, robbery and religious terrorism.
Mahathir said at the weekend KMM had formed networks with likeminded groups elsewhere in the region. Indonesia and Malaysia have Muslim majorities, while other countries in the region, most notably the Philippines, have sizable Muslim minorities.
Ten members of the hitherto unknown KMM were rounded up a month ago and are being held under a security law allowing detention without trial.
One of the men is a son of the spiritual leader of Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), the largest party in Malaysia's mainstream opposition.
PAS says it is against militancy and its leaders say Mahathir is behaving like a dictator and the men should be tried if there is evidence against them.
But Lee, who has described PAS as a potentially destabilizing force in the region should it ever win power, was concerned over the links to the Islamic party, according to Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
"He stressed this clearly during our discussion," Muhyiddin said, according to Bernama news agency.
Malaysia and Singapore reached breakthroughs on Tuesday on several long-time disputes, from water supply to the construction of new transport links, after their veteran leaders met in a tough bargaining session.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Lee made a surprise announcement to a news conference that they had settled issues bedeviling relations between the two countries for years.
These included guarantees that Malaysia would keep supplying water to the island city-state after 2061, which had been in doubt.
Singapore had asked for a guarantee of 750 million gallons (2.85 billion liters) per day beyond 2061. Malaysia agreed to less half that, 350 million gallons per day, and the fees will rise 15-fold.
Mahathir said that Malaysia would never cut off Singapore's water supply, but that the fee would be reviewed every five years after 2061.
"We have assured water supply after 2061," Lee said. "This is a tradeoff for long-term security"
Singapore agreed to Malaysia's proposal that the road causeway linking the countries would be demolished and replaced with a bridge and undersea tunnel after 2007.
They also resolved disputes over the use of Malaysian-owned railway land in Singapore, requests by the Singaporean air force to use Malaysian air space, and withdrawals from Singapore's central provident fund by peninsular Malaysians working in Singapore.
Lee said officials from both nations would meet to fill in the blanks of an agreement for Mahathir and Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to finalize and sign. No deadline was given, but Mahathir said that he would like to do it as soon as possible.
"It's been a tough deal, because Dr. Mahathir is not somebody you can take for granted, and he has driven me back as far as I can go," Lee told the press.
Relations between Malaysia and its tiny but prosperous neighbor have often been prickly since Singapore was ejected from the federation of Malaysia in 1965, two years after it was founded.
Lee is recognized as the founder of modern day Singapore and is widely credited for transforming the former British colony into one of Asia's wealthiest countries.