Lee visits Malaysia to boost bilateral ties
Lee visits Malaysia to boost bilateral ties
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew arrived in Malaysia on Monday for his first visit in a decade, and Malaysia's foreign minister said he hoped for progress in settling long-standing disputes.
Lee, who drove up from Singapore, was greeted on arrival at his hotel in Kuala Lumpur by Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar. His four-day visit includes talks with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Relations have often been prickly since Singapore was ejected from the federation of Malaysia in 1965, two years after it was founded.
Among contentious issues at present are water supplies to Singapore, customs, immigration and quarantine arrangements on a railway linking the two countries, withdrawal of pensions by Malaysian workers in Singapore and the use of Malaysian airspace by Singaporean aircraft.
Syed Hamid said he hoped Lee's meetings with Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin on Monday night and with Mahathir on Tuesday "will bring some useful and productive decisions for our bilateral relations."
He said the visit also underscored the need to strengthen ties.
The Malay-language Berita Harian said Lee's visit was important in helping resolve bilateral issues since he was still influential and his trip would have been approved by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
"We hope his visit this time would open a new chapter towards a deepening in bilateral relations, apart from boosting regional prosperity and stability in general," it said in an editorial.
But the newspaper said the republic must discard the kiasu syndrome -- literally meaning "fear of losing" in the Hokkien dialect.
"No one will like it if it sees itself as the best and exudes the arrogance that it has left others far behind. This is the type of belief that made actions by Singapore ... seen as belittling or mocking its neighbors," it said.
The daily also questioned Singapore's high defense spending, citing its $4.8 billion bill in 1998 compared to Malaysia's $1.5 billion, Thailand's $2.1 billion and Indonesia's $5 billion. It said this created uneasiness among neighbors.
No issues
"I have no issues to raise," the Television Corporation of Singapore quoted Lee at the weekend as saying, dampening speculation of any deals to resolve longstanding disputes between the two nations.
Malaysia's media said the visit was significant because it might be the last by modern Singapore's founding father, who is seen as still retaining influence a decade after he stepped down as prime minister.
"Analysts see the visit as a soft sell to mend fences, renew ties with important Malaysian leaders and for Lee to see himself the sea of changes that Malaysia has been through," The Sun newspaper said in a commentary on Sunday.
Lee was prime minister of Singapore from 1959 until 1990 when he stepped down and was named senior minister. The 76-year-old patriarch is a key adviser to Prime Minister Goh and a frequent emissary and spokesman of Singapore.
Lee said his visit was to see recent developments in Malaysia such as the new Kuala Lumpur airport, the Petronas Twin Towers and the Putrajaya federal administrative center.
Lee enraged Malaysia in 1997 when he described the country's southern Johor state which borders Singapore as "notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings". A year later, he wrote a book accusing Malaysian politicians of instigating race riots in his country which killed 23 people in 1964.
Lee was accompanied by his wife and 10 officials on the visit which the Malaysian government said was aimed to "enhance" bilateral ties.