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.