S'pore slams paper for Mahathir snipe

S'pore slams paper for Mahathir snipe

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore said on Sunday a local newspaper editorial was "rash, unwise and inappropriate" in its comment on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The Business Times editorial published on June 18 said that parties in Mahathir's governing coalition had a "very low propensity for renewal".

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's press secretary Ong Keng Yong said in a letter to the Business Times, to be published on Monday, that it was unwise for Singaporeans to join the preelection public debate on Malaysia's future.

Outraged Mahathir hit out hard at Singapore on Saturday.

"I don't like to say these nasty things, but Singapore papers have a habit of passing nasty comments on us and we keep quiet because we are very nice people," Mahathir said. "But if they like to pick a quarrel with us, we are ready to have a quarrel with them," he told reporters in Malaysia.