Lee Kuan Yew's words on relations with Malaysia

Ever since Mahathir is back as the PM of M'sia, relations between S'pore and M'sia have seemingly taken a turn for the worse.

First there's M'sia's flip-flopping over the High-Speed Rail project, being conducted over the media instead of direct Govt-to-Govt talks.

Then now the apparent revival of one of Mahathir's favourite pet peeve - the Water Agreements.

Should S'poreans panic?

If you were old enough to have known about his antics tactics as the 4th PM from 1981 to 2003 in dealing with S'pore, you would have recognize that the current situation is very similar to what he was doing when he was the 4th PM.

We have to remember that Mahathir is an extremely shrewd politician who has made a come-back as PM again despite being out of Govt for more than 15 years. If anything, he is a master at using rhetoric to shape public opinion for his own purposes.

So let Mahathir rant on and on about his unhappiness with whatever deals.

Notice that he only rants to the media. Yet the S'pore Govt is still waiting for official communication on the HSR project. So efficient. M'sia Boleh ya?

We just have to recognize that that's just one of his antics tactics to cast S'pore in an unfavourable light to M'sians, and make us a convenient bogeyman/scapegoat/whipping boy to pin whatever policy failings of his administration; to rile up and enlarge his political support base, and to manipulate public opinion to pressure and bully S'pore.

My opinion is that S'poreans should just chill.

Our position on the High-Speed Rail project, the Water Agreements and whatever other bilateral dealing we have with M'sia have been made very clear by the SG Govt.

Mahathir knows his hands are tied by the agreements. Should Mahathir decide to unilaterally change or cancel any agreements, he is well aware that the consequences of such an action would be much more damaging to M'sia than to S'pore.

While S'pore may suffer some short-term losses/pain, Mahathir knows that he would have effectively destroyed all of M'sia's credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of the world. No one would dare to invest or do business with M'sia after that.

So let's all just be calm, carry on and let the SG Govt settle lah. World Cup is on now leh..

Lee Kuan Yew's quote reference: From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965-2000, Volume 2 (See here)