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### A: Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Tengku Abdul Rahman has said that you were pleased and wanted to get out of the Federation. And yet in your last Monday's press conference, you broke down. Where, would you say, the truth lies?### B: Did the Tengku say I was pleased? |
### A: He said this yesterday### B: Where? |
### A: He said you wanted to get out and that you are pleased to get out.### B: No, no, no. I haven't seen it in the press. |
### A: He said this at a press conference yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.### B: Well, I am sorry to hear that because I do not want to believe that the Tengku would utter something which is not truth. |
### A: His actual words were.### B: He knows my positions; and he knew how close it came to a real collision because my colleagues were not prepared to give way. You know, half my Cabinet were born and bred in Malaya. Their families are there. You mean to tell me you can abandon them like that? And they are abandoned n... |
way. Supposing Mr. Menzies were presented with an ultimatum by the American President that either Victoria gets out or the ANZUS pact is not valid. You think Mr. Menzies |
will be pleased and happy? It is easier for me. My family is here; born, bred, there; their families still there. How do they face their families? And they signed, you know. And I |
would not have signed unless they all signed. I am not the Tengku, I am not a prince. I cannot just sign it, and they signed with the utmost reluctance. And for them, when they |
look back at that moment, it will be a moment of anguish. It is going back on everything we fought for and believed in. And I do not care what nobody else says. |
### A: Mr. Lee, were there any reasonable alternatives that the other members of your cabinet put forward at the time that looked as if they had a chance, other than complete secession?### B: I met the Tengku on Saturday, the 7th at half-past 12. I remember it distinctly. The appointment was supposed to be at 12 o'cloc... |
### A: There seems to be some contradiction here though, Sir. And is it a fact, for instance, that Dato Ja'afar Albar wanted to suspend the Constitution and rule by edict and possibly to jail you. And in fact that the alternative that was suggested was either that you resign from here or separation?### B: Well, those w... |
### A: This was the alternative then that was given.### B: No, no, ,no. |
### A: Is it what Dato Ja'afar Albar wanted?### B: Well, of course, that was what he wanted, isn’t it? The man cannot think beyond the next election. |
### A: The Tengku said yesterday that he was in control, sir, and in his letter he said he wasn't. Where do you think, the truth lies there?### B: No, it is not fair. You had better ask the Tengku. As far as I am concerned, I hope he is in. Syed Ja'afar Albar, now that he is out, I hope the Tengku will ensure that. The... |
### A: Sir, the Tengku has said he wanted utmost secrecy and that he feared bloodshed. Now, is that the reason why you went along with him from the secrecy point point of view? Did you fear bloodshed?### B: Yes, surely. |
### A: Did you fear that troops would be sent down?### B: No, no, no. Not that troops would be sent down. |
### A: Or that it would be a matter that they would possibly try and take over the government here and ....### B: No. We are not afraid of that. Let us say that they take over the Government and rule by edict. Right? Some of my colleagues will be away. We will have a government in exile. We were prepared for that. Prin... |
### A: Mr. Prime Minister, we've dealt with the problem of separation and what would happen if you went to jail. But what about the situation if you personally were to resign? Do you think that would have helped the attitude between Singapore and Malaya? Do you think it would have made it any better? Kept the Federatio... |
### A: And did you agree with this?### B: I think that's right. You see, Singapore knows all of us. We've been looking after Singapore now for nearly seven years. They know us as a very closely-knit group. They also know the individual idiosyncracies or differences of style between the ministers. I do not think Singapo... |
### A: Then it was suggested , Sir, that you do resign, and you rejected this?### B: No, no. I didn't reject this. I was prepared to resign. But my colleagues could not accept it because they would be a worse position. Mr. Tan Siew Sin openly said in Parliament that there can be no co-operation with Singapore as long a... |
### A: About the future of Singapore, Sir, as long as confrontation continues, Singapore's economy suffers. If confrontation does continue, how do you feel Singapore's economy can be assured### B: Singapore has a very resilient, enterprising and resourceful lot of people. Everybody thought and perhaps the Indonesians m... |
### A: What do you think the chances are now, Sir, for the common market idea between Singapore and Malaysia?### B: Well, you know what the Agreement says. Annex 'J' which |
were the provisions for a common market, has been cancelled. It was at Mr. Tan Siew Sin's personal insistence that clause be inserted in the Agreement. But the Tengku agreed to a clause that there will be either a joint council or Committee for economic co-operation. I've told the Tengku that without eoconomic co-opera... |
### A: What will happen then, Sir, with tariffs on rubber coming across the border? What will happen if Malaya goes ahead with its idea of this steelworks which they have been considering.### B: Tariffs on rubber? |
### A: Yes. What then would happen if tyres and things and tariffs at the border?### B: No, no, no. Let's get this clear. They have no seaport that can export their rubber. The bulk of their rubber is exported via the Singapore harbour by rail or road to Tanjong Pager by ship all over the world. They've got Port Swette... |
### A: Would you say, Sir, that Indonesian trade with you is worth four hundred million a year approximately, if the total was eight hundred million before? And would you say that there has been a flow of liquidity from Singapore over the last six months? And therefore, would you try and re-open trade with Indonesia in... |
### A: But the Tengku is telling you not to trade with them.### B: You know, sometimes the Tengku says these things without knowing the full story of what we have said. |
### A: But the Prime Minister, he said in the last few days. He said it to some of us the day before yesterday. He repeated it again to a group of Japanese journalists yesterday, and he said specifically that if you opened trade negotiations with Indonesia, or if it is permitted that the Indonesians opened a Consulate-... |
### A: Well, he mentioned both things.### B: Let me put it in another way. |
### A: There was an implicit threat in what he said.### B: Yes, that's the trouble, you see. Everytime a phrase is put in the form of a threat, my position becomes more difficult. I do not want to jeopardise Malaysia's security because my watersupply comes from Johore. |
### A: He said he wouldn't take this action, but he said he would take others which he wouldn't disclose.### B: You mean... |
### A: He said Malaysia must be forced to do something if Singapore did anything with Indonesia which would endanger Malaysia and it would be a highly hostile act to trade with Indonesia. He was then asked, would he cut the water pipeline. He said, no, he wouldn't do that. He was asked what he would do, and he laughed ... |
### A: What do you think he could do, sir?### B: I don't know. There are quite a number of things, and to each one of them there are quite a number of counters. But this is a waste of time talking about these things, isn't it? Let me first answer Mr. Muccoll. Look, Britain still has an Ambassador in Djakarka, isn't it?... |
### A: We're not talking about steel, Mr. Prime Minister, We're talking about liquidity in them. Liquidity has been going out of Singapore over the last six months?### B: Oh yes, before. Perhaps if I had a few million dollars which I don't have unfortunately because all Singapore Ministers are as poor as when they star... |
calculated all this. Some of it, of course, we calculated since last December, when the first proposals were a looser federation. So, we calculated every conceivable aspect. And |
I say there is a lynch-pin. You know my position: I am committed., But if you push me to the wall and cut off the water and try and struggle Singapore, I say any Government whether it is anti-communist or non-Communist, which is what we are. I am not going to join any power bloc, to help Formosa liberate the mainland o... |
survival. I am determined that they will survive; and I think they got enough grit in them. |
### A: Sir, could you perhaps elaborate on what you have already said about the proposed constitutional provisions that you hope will secure this very survival that you are talking about? Specifically, in what way do you think it might work to prevent any future communist subversion?### B: I have asked the Chief Justic... |
### A: Mr. Prime Minister; you have some communists in detention I think they were first put in there by Tun Lim Yew Hock and then later, I think it was the Tengku, after Federation, that actually re-committed them after they had been out, and held positions. As Prime Minister now or a sovereign state, do you intend to... |
paratroopers come in, helped to explode a few bombs and grenades. So they do not really matter. When Singapore has settled more urgent issues first, our relationship with the Afro-Asian countries I have to explain my position because some of the Afro-Asian countries although they know me and they know that I am not a l... |
unhappy about the bases. But, I want to explain that. I cannot make a concession there because this is my survival . If they can devise a formula whereby my survival is secured and not just my survival, my survival and Malaysia's survival because the nexus is too tight then I am prepared to listen; but there is no alte... |
pound of butter a day, half pound of meat, rice, vegetables. You know, it is very easy. You can take an outboard motor and in half-an-hour, you are in Indonesia. And three months later, you come back with a burp gun or whatever the Indonesians have stay put until they convince us or rather. I won't have so much time, t... |
### A: One last question, Sir, If you were the Prime Minister of Australia, and you were looking North to a country that was unstable..### B: Which country is unstable? |
### A: Malaysia.### B: I would have thought that Malaysia is far more stable than some of our neighbours around us and much closer to you. |
### A: Well, in which there has just been separation and signs of inherent problems .. would you...### B: The problems are there, but look, let us.... |
### A: Would you still ask for and would you still send troops to this country to help defend it.### B: First, I am not Sir Robert Menzies. He is a generation older than me. He is much more wise in the ways of men and nations. Second, I am not an Australian. Third, even if I were, I think it would be impertinent of me ... |
### A: You would still ask for this help?### B: I am prepared to get help from anybody, any part of the world because, as I have said, my overriding, my paramount duty is the survival of my own people. And I have got a right to do that. And I must do it, |
### A: Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister.### B: You're welcome. |
### A: Canadians seem to be having difficulty as you have in Singapore.### B: Well, let’s put it in very broad general terms. You’ve taken in new migrants from Asia, Chinese from Hong Kong primarily, over the last six, seven years. And you don’t have to be as hard-working or trusting eager beavers as they are because l... |
### A: Are Canadians going to have to change their way of organizing themselves to be as aggressive and successful in Asia?### B: That’s a very loaded question. I don’t think you need to change if you don’t want to go for faster growth. Then, you keep on buying Japanese cars, or Korean cars, or VCRs, or high-definition... |
### A: And your country and others in East and Southeast Asia are buy-ing those raw products, turning them into much higher value-added products, and selling them back to us – while we tread water asking “what’s wrong?” Are we al-lowing ourselves the luxury of too much talk and not enough getting down to action?### B: ... |
### A: You sound as if you’re just being polite about Canada’s chances to compete successfully in the most dynamic economic region in the world.### B: Well, the pressure isn’t there! Supposing we swapped places. Supposing you gave me British Columbia, which has a population of what, three million? I mean, such an enorm... |
### A: Would those three million Canadians have to give up some ele-ments of their “Canadian” style of democracy to prosper on that island?### B: What do you mean by Canadian-style democracy? Do you mean a leisurely way of life in which the political leaders guarantee you free medicine and old age pensions and so many ... |
### A: What you have achieved in Singapore in only 30 years is intimi-dating to many Canadians who are worrying about the future of their country in the face of recession and free trade with the U.S.### B: (laughs) Why should they be intimidated? I’ve only got halfway to where you’ve got – and a perilous base. Because ... |
### A: You may be only halfway to where we are, but you’re catching up in the game very quickly. And the speed with which your success has been achieved makes some Canadians wonder if you’re playing fair when you compete in international markets. Do you understand those feelings?### B: Well, I think I can sympathize wi... |
### A: Do you worry about Japan’s overwhelming influence over much of East and Southeast Asia?### B: Yes, I do. I think they’re a formidable lot of workers, They’re very closely knit, a very homogeneous people. One to one, I don’t think they’re neces-sarily superior to the Chinese of the Koreans. But in groups, as team... |
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