Malaysia not a Failed State-Khairy

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin today refuted Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's allegations that Malaysia is a failed state.

"For cynics who say Malaysia is a failed state: I was a war correspondent in Taliban Afghanistan. I know a failed state when I see one. We're not," said the Rembau parliamentarian on his Twitter account.

He was responding to Lee's remarks in a New York Times interview on Sept 1, describing Malaysia as being in a "most unhappy situation" and criticising Malaysia, in particular the ruling cadre of Malays.

His tirade against Lee spanned more than 10 post on Twitter, which limits the number of characters to 140 per post.

Khairy called the former Singapore premier's remarks" ill-informed and coloured with historical bias".

"Lee's remarks apart from being biting and insulting, are calculated to divide Malaysians even more," he said in one of his tweets.

Khairy gave as an example Lee's remarks that unlike Singapore, that suppressed its Chinese culture, Malaysia took a different line of development with Malaysians seeing it as a Malay country where all others are orang tumpangan (lodgers).

He also took issue with Lee's criticism of Malaysian Malays' hegemony, saying that while Malay is the language of the schools, it does not help them acquire modern knowledge.

Lee said that this was unlike the Singaporean Malays who are English-educated and are very modern and forward looking.

'We are different'

Khairy in his attack zoomed in on Lee's assertion that had Tunku Abdul Rahman managed to keep Singapore within the federation, much of what Singapore has achieved could also have been enjoyed by Malaysia.

The Rembau MP argued, "We are different and cannot be compared apple to apple with Singapore. To suggest otherwise is ignorant."

Khairy (right) remarked that while Malaysia was geographically extensive and hence its challenges were manifold, Singapore is only "limited to Ang Mo Kio and Woodlands".

"If we followed the Singaporean model, Malaysia would today be a failed state. We are not practically homogeneous and not the size of a postage stamp," he said.

Khairy lamented that Lee's remarks will be met either by more sabre rattling by Malay-rights NGOs like Perkasa or self-criticising statements by those who only see the bad side of Malaysia and who want us to emulate the island state.

He said both responses are wrong.

"Which is why 1Malaysia must succeed. Neither Lee's model nor Perkasa's ideas can take Malaysia forward," he said.

If Khairy's prediction of a retaliatory barrage is forthcoming, Lee's critical outlook of Malaysia in the international publication may worsen the already too chilly cold-war between Malaysia and Singapore that took shape under the Mahathir era.

The enduring friction between the two is something that the Najib administration is trying its best to undo, earning it former premier Mahathir Mohamad's criticisms that it is kow-towing to the southern neighbour.

Malaysiakini