Lee, on his part, notes that while Singapore “must expect” issues to crop up from time to time, channels of communication should be kept open, trust built and a pragmatic approach adopted taking into consideration both sides’ concerns. “Then, we can move beyond solving problems to cooperating for mutual benefit,” he says.
SINGAPORE (Apr 15): Meeting for the third time since the new Pakatan Harapan government won the elections in Malaysia a year ago, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his counterpart Dr Mahathir Mohamad put on a show of amiability before the press, appearing not only to be open to arbitration but also to reconciliation.
At the end of their two-day ninth Singapore-Malaysia leaders’ retreat in the administrative capital of Putrajaya, the 67-year-old Lee and 93-year-old Mahathir indicated that their commitment towards a good relationship between the two nations was as strong as ever. In fact, Mahathir described Singapore-Malaysia ties as “a relation[ship] between two civilised people who do not believe in violence”.
