Senior Minister Lee blasts Asian leaders

Senior Minister Lee blasts Asian leaders

SINGAPORE (AP): The Asian financial crisis would have been much milder if Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian leaders understood how quickly markets act on their words, Singapore's most prominent politician told Newsweek magazine.

"Had the leaders been part of the information age, the end result wouldn't have been half as bad," Singaporean Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew was quoted as saying in an exclusive interview with the magazine published in this week's issue.

He then gave examples of how Southeast Asians leaders' actions and words caused negative reactions from investors and traders.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was "enraged by the devastation of his stock market and currency," Lee said, according to the published interview.

Mahathir "vented his anger at currency speculators, especially (American financier) George Soros and the Jews. That caused a further downturn for all currencies and stock markets in the region."

The magazine quoted Lee as saying that then-Indonesian President Soeharto "allowed his son to reopen a bank and his daughter to reinstate a power station that had been canceled as unnecessary.

"The market said, 'Look, the president is not serious about his reforms.' So the rupiah spiraled down and affected everyone else," Lee said in the interview.

He also mentioned that the former Thai prime minister, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, had agreed with the International Monetary Fund to close some 50 finance companies and banks.

"He didn't close them," Lee said. "The market lost confidence, and the Thai baht went through the floor and affected all currencies in the region."

"... Had they understood and taken seriously the reactions of fund managers, the damage would be less than half of what it is," Lee said.

Lee, who is credited with building up this city-state of 3.1 million people into an economic powerhouse during his years as prime minister, remains one of Asia's leading politicians.