FTP Yahoo
A war of words has erupted between Singapore and Malaysia’s
former leaders.
Ex-Malaysian prime minister
Mahathir Mohamad said
yesterday that racism in Malaysia is a result of Singapore’s
two-year membership there, and not because the island was “turfed
out” as suggested by the Republic’s founding father
Lee Kuan Yew recently.
Rebutting recent comments made by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew,
Tun Dr Mahathir wrote on his blog, “With the background of
Singapore’s activities in Malaysia in the short three (sic) years
of its membership, can we really believe that if it had not been
‘turfed out’, race relations would be better in Malaysia?”
“While Kwan Yew (sic) talks about his belief that all ethnic
communities should free themselves from the shackles of racial
segregation in order to promote fairness and equality among races,
he also said that ‘once we are by ourselves (out of Malaysia) the
‘Chinese become the majority’.”
His remarks were in response to comments Mr Lee made in an
interview with The New York Times in
which he compared how Singapore and Malaysia handle race
relations.
Mr Lee had expressed that Malaysia would have achieved much
of what Singapore had accomplished if it had accepted a
multi-racial base, and described Malaysia as being in a “most
unhappy situation”.
“I think if the Tunku had kept us together, what we did in
Singapore — had Malaysia accepted a multi-racial base for their
society– much of what we’ve achieved in Singapore would have been
achieved in Malaysia. But not as much because it’s a much broader
base. We would have improved inter-racial relations and an improved
holistic situation,” Mr Lee said in the NYT interview,
referring to
Tunku Abdul Rahman.
The 85-year-old Dr Mahathir rejected the view, claiming it was
“not supported by facts of history”.
“Before Singapore joined the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak to
form Malaysia, there was less racial politics in the Federation of
Malaysia,” he wrote.
Dr Mahathir claimed that after Singapore became a part of
Malaysia in 1963, Mr Lee reneged on a promise that the
People’s Action Party
(PAP) would not participate in Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak
politics and attempted to displace the
Malaysian Chinese
Association (MCA) in the Alliance by appealing to
Chinese sentiments in the Peninsular.
“Of course the slogan was ‘Malaysian Malaysia’, which implied
that the Chinese were not having equal rights with Malays. If this
appeal to Chinese sentiments against the Malays was not racial, I
do not know what is racial,” Dr Mahathir said.
Instead, he took aim at Singapore politics, claiming “whether
the PAP admits it or not, the party has always been led and
dominated by ethnic Chinese and has won elections principally
because of Chinese votes. The others are not even icing on the
cake,” he said.
“Amnesia is permissible, but trying to claim it is because
Singapore had been ‘turfed out’ for the present racial politics in
Malaysia is simply not supported by facts of history,” he
added.
In Malaysia, opinions were mixed in response to both leaders’
remarks.
The Straits Times reported that Umno Youth
chief Khairy Jamaluddin said on Monday that Mr Lee’s comments
were “ill-informed and coloured with historical bias.”
On the other hand, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid
Ibrahim felt that Mr Lee’s comments were a “historical statement”.
Selangor executive councillor and opposition politician Teresa Kok
agreed, saying Singapore is ahead of Malaysia because it placed
merit above race considerations.
MCA president Chua Soi Lek admitted that race relations are
not as good as they should be. But he told
Bernama it would be unfair “to say that Malay leaders
always harp on Malay superiority”.
Tan Sri Khalid said both Dr Mahathir and Mr Lee had the right to
express their opinions on the issue.
“You can’t say Singapore has progressed while Malaysia has not.
Malaysia’s progress is subject to several constraints, and so is
Singapore’s,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
“The future is not about that, it’s about how we can
work together,” he adds.