Malaysia avoids uglier row with Singapore

Malaysia avoids uglier row with Singapore

By Jacqueline Wong

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Malaysia's acceptance of Singapore elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew's apology for a critical remark showed there was little to be gained from a protracted diplomatic feud, analysts said on Wednesday.

The Malaysian cabinet accepted Lee's apology on Wednesday and his promise to have the offending remark deleted from an affidavit he filed in pursuit of a libel case against a Singapore opposition politician.

"If Malaysia had pushed harder by not accepting, demanding more to be done, this would have aroused Singapore's national pride," said Bruce Gale, analyst with HongKong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy.

He said Malaysia's various groups had spoken out strongly against Lee's remark about a Malaysian state, and if the cabinet had chosen not to accept the apology, the situation would have deteriorated.

"If you push it too far, Singaporeans would have come back with a national response," Gale said, adding that Lee had already noted he was in the wrong.

Lee, prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, called the Malaysian state of Johor "notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings".

On Monday, he said he would ask a local court to delete that remark from his affidavit to follow up an unreserved apology, which some Malaysian politicians and many newspapers had suggested was inadequate.

They had wanted a full retraction, and there was some dispute in Singapore over whether Lee's promise to delete the Johor jibe amounted to a retraction.

A political scientist said Lee had gone as far as he could to end the row. "What could be gained from not accepting?" he asked. "He has applied to retract the statement and it's up to the courts now."

The political scientist, who asked not to be identified, said Malaysia's acceptance should end the diplomatic row.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told a news conference after the cabinet meeting that it would take time for the wound to heal.

"It should be acknowledged that this episode has deeply hurt Malaysians of all sections of society and that restoration of the old level of relationship would take time," he said.

Gale said relations would be strained for a while but that he expected little long-term damage from a row, which began when Singapore opposition politician Tang Liang Hong fled to Johor soon after losing in the January general elections.

Tang was the focus of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) campaign. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong called him a "Chinese chauvinist" who threatened multi-racial harmony.

Tang called Goh and PAP colleagues who repeated the charge liars, and fled to Johor saying he had received death threats.

Goh and his colleagues sued Tang, saying they had to uphold their integrity. Earlier this month, Tang lost 12 of 13 cases because he did not present a defense. A 13th case is pending.

Gale said one signal of when the diplomatic row would fade would be how long Malaysia allowed Tang to stay.

Permission to linger there and hold news conferences would be one way of "irritating" Singapore, Gale said.