Singapore Leader's Remarks on Anwar Case Unlikely to Harm Ties : Malaysia Shrugs Off Lee's Criticism  
International Herald Tribune
August 21, 2000
Michael Richardson 

Muted Malaysian reaction to criticism by Lee Kuan Yew, the senior minister of Singapore, of the government's handling of the Anwar Ibrahim indicates that the fragile relationship between the two countries will not be seriously damaged by the comments, officials and analysts said Sunday.

Mr. Lee himself sought to defuse any adverse reaction. In a weekend interview with Reuters he said his remarks during a visit to Malaysia last week about the controversial arrest of Mr. Anwar, the former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, in September 1998 were not intended as criticism of the Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad.

Mr. Lee ended his first visit to Malaysia in ten years on Thursday with a news conference in Kuala Lumpur in which he said that the Anwar matter was "an unmitigated disaster" and that Mr. Mahathir had made "several errors of judgment which I felt was most unfortunate."

Analysts said they had expected that Mr. Lee's blunt assessment would rile Malaysian leaders because Mr. Anwar's firing and imprisonment have exposed deep political divisions in Malaysia and triggered unprecedented anti-government protests.

Mr. Mahathir and other senior officials have repeatedly lashed out at countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia, that have called Mr. Anwar's treatment unfair and questioned the independence of the judiciary in Malaysia.

Mr. Lee did not raise such questions and said he felt more sorry for Mr. Mahathir than he did for Mr. Anwar, who is now serving the first of two consecutive jail sentences, which total 15 years, after convictions for abuse of power and sodomy.

Still, Azizah Ismail, the wife of Mr. Anwar and head of an opposition party campaigning for his release, said that Mr. Lee's comments would "help our cause because he did mention that there's a series of judgment errors that the prime minister has made."

Lim Kit Siang, the chairman of another Malaysian opposition group, the Democratic Action Party, said that although Mr. Lee never used the words "crisis of credibility," his comments "directly or indirectly point to his concern about the worst credibility gap suffered by any government" in the 43 years since Malaysia gained independence from Britain.

But, uncharacteristically, Mr. Mahathir did not react to Mr. Lee's criticism, while the Malaysian foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, hailed the visit by Mr. Lee as a new beginning of sincere attempts to further strengthen ties between the two neighbors.

Mr. Lee told Reuters on Saturday that he did not expect repercussions from his remarks Thursday and that relations with Malaysia seemed set to improve.

"I've had some feedback from our High Commission in Kuala Lumpur and the vibes are good," he said.

Issues dividing the two countries include the future supply of Malaysian water to Singapore, relocation of customs and immigration facilities for Malaysian rail passengers to Singapore, withdrawal of Malaysian funds from Singapore's pension system, and use of Malaysian airspace by the Singaporean Air Force.

Mr. Lee said that, in referring Thursday to a conversation he had had with Mr. Mahathir about the Anwar case, it had not been his intent to criticize the Malaysian prime minister. "My purpose in explaining my conversation with him, now that the Anwar trial is over, was to register my view that he paid a very heavy price for being too loyal to the people who served him, in particular the inspector-general of police."

International concern about Mr. Anwar's arrest under the tough Internal Security Act was compounded when he appeared in court with a black eye and complained that he had been beaten in captivity.

The former inspector-general of police, Abdul Rahim Noor, later admitted hitting Mr. Anwar when he was blindfolded and under arrest. Mr. Noor was sentenced to two-months in jail for the beating.

Mr. Lee said that it was Mr. Noor, not Mr. Mahathir, who had ordered Mr. Anwar's arrest under the security act and that Mr. Mahathir had nothing to do with the assault.

Yet Mr. Lee said that the way the arrest was handled gave the impression abroad that Mr. Mahathir had given the arrest order that resulted in the assault against Mr. Anwar.

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