Merger with Malaysia not on my agenda: S'pore PM

Merger with Malaysia not on my agenda: S'pore PM

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong reaffirmed yesterday that a merger with Malaysia was not on his political agenda, after the prospect of reunification stirred an emotional debate in both countries.

"Malaysia and Singapore are two different countries, two different societies, and want to remain so," Goh said at a teachers' day rally, adding that both were successful economies with a bright future.

Goh's remarks followed an angry reaction at the weekend from Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who hit out at Singapore leaders for raising the "bogey" of a forced merger as a warning to Singaporeans.

"The reactions on the subject of remerger with Malaysia on both sides of the causeway were instructive," Goh said.

"As I have said before, remerger was never on my political agenda," he said. "Singaporeans have also signaled that they want to remain as Singaporeans."

In his speech, copies of which were distributed to the press, he made no reference to Mahathir's weekend remarks that Kuala Lumpur was offended by the comments of Singaporean leaders.

Mahathir cited a suggestion that Singaporeans had rejected the idea of reunification as they favored a harmonious multiracial society with meritocracy as its guiding principle.

"They are only trying to show that Malaysia is bad and did not practice meritocracy and that Singaporeans will be punished with a merger with Malaysia if they did not perform," he was quoted by the press here as saying.

"It implied as though we do not have racial harmony and meritocracy and that it happens only in Singapore," Mahathir said.

He charged that Singapore did not really follow meritocracy, saying Malays in Singapore were discriminated against and not given high posts in the armed forces or the opportunity to become air force pilots.

The prospect of reunification was raised in June by Singapore elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew, who said Malaysia was fast catching up with Singapore in economic terms and suggested the two countries could be reunited if Malaysia put merit above race.

Lee, 72, brought predominantly ethnic-Chinese Singapore into the Malaysian federation in 1963 as British colonial rule came to an end, but the city-state was expelled just two years later amid friction over racial rights.

When Goh referred to the merger idea at an August 18 national day rally, sections of the Malaysian media saw it as an attempt to jolt Singaporeans out of complacency about the island's economic success.

In his speech yesterday, Goh cautioned that there was "no guarantee that life will always be tranquil and pleasant in future" for the city-state recognized as one of the world's most successful economies.

"So we are on our own: 650 square kilometers, three million people, no natural resources, no oil, maybe not even enough water."

But he expressed confidence about Singapore's ability to maintain its success, noting that it had the economic infrastructure it lacked when it separated from Malaysia.

"If we could succeed in the last 31 years, we should do even better in the next 31 years with the resources and people we now have," he said. "But this is provided the Singaporeans born after 1965 have the values and skills and the commitment and determination to take Singapore to greater heights."