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.