Who bitch slaps who? The Malaysian papers have been universal in reporting our fearless leader’s disappointment with LKY’s reply to his demand for an explanation. Like the Pope’s ‘apology’, LKY only regrets causing a ‘great deal of discomfort’, and as Syed Hamid points out, doesn’t really apologize for his remarks.
You know what the newspapers should’ve done? They should’ve printed LKY’s letter in full. Let Malaysians decide for themselves what LKY’s told Badawi. That’s for the best, isn’t it? After all, LKY has allowed his letter to be printed in the Straits Times, in full (allowed, as in “deignedâ€, is to assume that the Straits Times begged leave of MM Lee to print his reply; I’m sure that’s not the case, ya?)
But our leader can’t, really, print LKY’s letter in full for a host of reasons that will become apparent. So they’re left to fume and stamp their feet. Our PM, his expression changing when asked about LKY’s reply (according to the NST lah; witness the drama!), said he “noted the contents†of the said letter.
And you know what? That’s all Badawi can say, given the contents of the letter. LKY’s reply is, in my opinion, a brilliant checkmate; thank various UMNO members for giving LKY and the Singapore government the ammunition for such a move. The text of his letter is available at the Malaysian Bar Association website, here, and the most interesting bit is this little snippet:
On numerous occasions UMNO leaders, including Dr Mahathir and many others, have publicly warned Malaysian Malays that if they ever lose power, they risk the same fate as Malays in Singapore, whom they allege are marginalised and discriminated against (see Annex*). And from time to time, when Malaysian politicians attack Singapore fiercely over some bilateral issue, some of them tell us privately that we should just accept this as part of Malaysian politics and not react to these attacks.
And the annex lists a litany of diatribe spouted by chauvinist, Malay politicians holding up the bugbear of “the state of Singaporean Malays†to their audience for political mileage. It appears Malaysia’s own UMNO politicians were being racist, bigoted and trading innuendos about the fate of Malays under the allegedly ‘supremacist’ Chinese. Have these UMNO politicians no shame? Well, LKY doesn’t think they do, anyway, and neither do quite a number of Chinese Malaysians, I’m willing to bet.
Apart from the usual “Oh, Singaporean Malays are marginalized, too”, UMNO has called on MCA and Gerakan to defend our peculiar sort of apartheid. It must’ve been painful for them to have come out so strong defending the official party line, but then again, I suppose MCA members aren’t really marginalized, eh? Almost every other Chinese person in Malaysia I know seems to disagree with them on this score - my friends, at least. And if locals aren’t enough, how about compliant ang moh locals? Cue Paddy Bowie (or something).
Oh, well. I know the dust won’t settle for some time, so when our raging lunatics over at BN calm the hell down, maybe they’d like to take a look at the Annexed list provided by LKY in his reply to Badawi, eh? Go, go read it. You won’t regret it. :)
Comments (13)
i think LKY quite smart one.
this morning i saw nst online got publish the letter, but i just checked, no more oredi. kena sound, maybe heh
whats the paddy bowie story? got summary ar? heh
some ang moh lady now citizen in malaysia supporting badawi by, basically, saying LKY got it wrong. hehehe.. short and sweet summary. more over at howsy’s blog entry. desi’s also got an entry on this ang moh.
ohh.. just scanned thru. blah too long, lazy to read
hey i’m going back hometown this weekend, u wanna drive up to batu pahat or not? haha
the smartest thing that the bapa mertua did is to lay that matter to rest.
If it was to drag on, SM Lee would easily be able to swat him down, just like how he did in his brilliant “apology” letter.
it’s like we kena pukul pun tak sedar. masih nak jerit “he’s sorry! he’s sorry!”
in his letter, with the seemingly innocent p/s, he had free air time to point out our own stupidity with some major newspapers so stupidly headlining it as “I’m sorry”.
really tabik this old man.
and of course, the stupidest thing the politikus did was to pick a fight with SM Lee.
btw, i’m sorry for any one of you who are not able to understand what i am saying.
wah the site blacked out, for a moment there… hmm..
@suanie: hmmm your hometown’s in BP issit? i’m chained to the desk till i’m done with my papers. :(
@lulu: and think of what expats in singapore will say when they read that long, long list….
Best part of LKY’s reply: “PS: The fact that you have written to me is now well publicised. As I have been asked about my reply, I will have to release my letter to the media after you have received it.”
Political damage to retired senior statesman of Singapore: ZILCH
The look on Malaysian PM’s face as he realizes he’s been challenged to publish a letter in the papers that condemns him to hypocrisy: PRICELESS
@xypre: DUDE! Haven’t kept in touch because I sold out! :P
i wonder is badawi now regretting that he wrote to LKY? that he asked LKY to explain his remarks? maybe badawi is nowhere as smart as LKY so he shouldn’t have write in the first case. methink LKY was only too happy to receive AND to reply back badawi’s letter via a letter (black and white, see) released to the press.
way to go, harry lee kuan yew!
I hope sometime in future, they can produce a 148-epsiode drama on Cross-causeway relations.
Today’s NST reiterates the government’s stand:
“We’re pissed off, but whatever. Let’s move on.”
Since the letter’s in the public domain, perhaps our newspapers should publish LKY’s reply in FULL? Oh, and the govt tells LKY:
“Don’t be notti again, hor?”
pfffft.
seriously i still think it’s a tug of war between lky and tm. lky having the last laugh.
btw yeah i’m from BP … nvm whenever u come to KL just gimme a holler :D
LKY: 1
BN: 0
When will our half-baked BN politikus learn NOT to challenge a 1st class Cambridge-educated lawyer on these kinds of issues?
Considering BN refects us, it is just an embarrasment to us now. That’s why I’m bent on voting them out come next GE (hey, one can wish, can’t one? :P)
Neways, read LKY’s biography, “From Third World To First”, and its sequel. Great read. Especially on the early years when Singapore was in the Malaysian Federation.
Talking about books, feel really bad. I’m going to get down to buying a copy of Syed Akbar Ali’s new book (he wrote “To Digress a Little”, it’s an interesting read I reviewed over here) and reply emails..!