Malaysia, Singapore struggle to mend fences

Malaysia, Singapore struggle to mend fences

By K. Baranee Krishnaan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Singapore has signaled it wants to
mend ties with Malaysia but stinging remarks by Senior Minister
Lee Kuan Yew during a visit this week to Kuala Lumpur might not
help.

Singapore's founding father ended a four-day visit to Kuala
Lumpur on Thursday saying he was more optimistic than when he
arrived that the sibling states could settle thorny differences.

But in unusually candid remarks, he said Malaysia's handling
of jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim was an
"unmitigated disaster" and that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
had committed blunders over Anwar that had cost him dearly.

"We will have to wait to see the reaction of some people to
those comments," Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the
Malaysian Strategic Research Center think-tank, told Reuters.

"If we don't see negative reaction, then there are some strong
feelings on both sides that the two countries have to move on and
try to settle their differences."

He was referring to concerns that Lee's blunt assessment of
the two-year-old Anwar saga could rile Malaysia's leaders, who
have repeatedly lashed out at countries including the United
States that have called Anwar's sacking and imprisonment unfair.

Lee told a news conference before his departure that Mahathir
had clearly blundered in dealing with his one-time protege Anwar.
"He (Mahathir) made an error of judgment, several errors of
judgment, which I felt were most unfortunate," Lee said. "I think
Dr Mahathir paid a very heavy price, and I feel sorry for him."

Lee's comments were among the most openly critical by a
Singapore minister of Malaysia's handling of Anwar, whose sacking
and imprisonment have exposed deep political divisions and
triggered unprecedented anti-government protests.

Mahathir recently labeled as "enemies" those countries which
criticized the guilty verdict earlier this month in Anwar's
sodomy trial and the nine-year jail sentence which he received.

Twenty-four hours after Lee spoke, Mahathir had still not
reacted. But Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar spoke favorably of
Lee's fence-mending visit, his first in 10 years.

The official Bernama news agency quoted Syed Hamid as saying
on Friday that Lee's trip marked "another beginning" of sincere
attempts to strengthen bilateral ties and the "climate had been
made right" to resolve problems.

Issues dividing the two states include Malaysia's supply of
water to Singapore, relocation of customs and immigration
facilities for Malaysian rail passengers to Singapore and
withdrawal of Malaysian funds from Singapore's pension scheme.

Lee said on Thursday: "I think there'a chance. And if we can
work out the nuts and bolts, assuming that there is such enough
give, well in two months or three months the two prime ministers
can meet and put our problems behind us and move on."

Politicians and diplomats said Lee appeared surprised by the
level of political turmoil in Malaysia.

Lee, who was Singapore prime minister for 31 years before
stepping down in 1990 to become an influential government
adviser, said he was "dumbfounded" during his visit to see
authorities re-enacting an arms heist disputed by the opposition.

"Although Lee never used the words 'crisis of credibility',
his various comments directly or indirectly point to his concern
about the worst credibility gap suffered by any government in the
43-year Malaysian nationhood," said Lim Kit Siang, national
chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party.

In private, Lee did not disguise his concern over turmoil in
Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and a
political resurgence by Moslem conservatives, analysts said.

"Lee Kuan Yew was told that UMNO would be considerably
weakened if Mahathir did not step down before the next general
election," said an executive who met Lee.

"He said if that was the case, he couldn't imagine the PM
being so daft as to hang on."

UMNO, Malaysia's ruling party since independence, has been
split badly by the ouster of Anwar and lost ground to the Islamic
conservative Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) in polls last year.

Others who met Lee said the Singapore leader was being his
usual frank self and his mission to Kuala Lumpur was to
understand Malaysia from a Singapore perspective.

"His aim was to get a better understanding of the current
political situation, " said Wong Chun Wai, an editor at The Star
newspaper who met Lee with other mainstream media editors.

"This will help him to prepare the next prime minister of
Singapore to handle the Malaysian government. I think to me, that
was the crux of the whole thing," Wong told Reuters.