Aug 17, 2000
Mahathir paid heavy price for 'error of judgment', says Lee
Kevin Tan
9.15pm, THURS: Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad paid a heavy price for his error of judgment which resulted in the controversies involving his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, said Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew today.
Describing the episode as an "unmitigated disaster", Lee said he felt more sorry for Mahathir than he did for Anwar.
"I'm saying this, I said this before the event, before the trials and tribulations, and the revelations and I say it even now, I think Dr Mahathir paid a very heavy price, and I feel sorry for him.
"He made an error of judgment, several errors of judgment, which I thought is most unfortunate," Lee said to a packed press conference at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.
Lee said that when he met Mahathir during the 1999 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, shortly after Anwar's arrest, he took the opportunity to ask him several pertinent questions.
"Why did you arrest him under ISA (Internal Security Act)? How can he be a national security threat when only three weeks, four weeks ago, he was deputy for five years?" he said he asked Mahathir.
Lee said he was "flabbergasted" when Mahathir revealed that he did not know that Anwar was going to be arrested under the ISA. Mahathir had said, it seemed, that it was the prerogative of the police chief (then Rahim Noor) to arrest Anwar under the Act.
"And I thought it was the beginning of a series of blunders that costs him (Mahathir) dearly," Lee said.
According to Lee, the former deputy prime minister should have been immediately produced in court after his arrest and charged under the Penal Code for his alleged crimes.
"The police chief arrested him under ISA and then, the next disaster, the black eye," he sighed.
Then, Lee said, he asked Mahathir why he did not set up a commission of inquiry immediately to investigate the "black eye" incident, because although the inquiry would not absolve the prime minister from blame, it would erase the doubt that he (Mahathir) was a party to it.
However, according to Lee, Mahathir had instead replied, what benefit would he get out of it?
Lee also said that he felt sorry for Anwar as well, adding that the former deputy prime minister had many things going for him. He lamented that the events had taken place and damaged both Mahathir and Anwar.
"It's just sad," he said.
Friend or foe
Earlier, Lee was asked whether Singapore is a "friend or an enemy" of Malaysia, with regard to the verdict and sentence against Anwar.
On Monday, Mahathir was reported to have said that Malaysia now knows who its friends and enemies are, in the midst of the criticisms against its judiciary over the handling of Anwar's sodomy trial.
"Singapore is not an enemy," asserts the senior minister.
He added, "If anything, it is a friend."
Lee said that Singapore has extremely close ties with the leaders of Malaysia, including Anwar when the latter was the deputy prime minister.
"We knew each and everyone of them very well. And, as I said before, it's an unmitigated disaster," he said.
The senior minister was also asked if he felt that the two consecutive prison sentences against Anwar were too harsh.
"Is it of any relevance? Why should I want to express it?" said Lee.
Anwar was convicted of sodomy and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment which will run consecutively to his six-year jail sentence for tampering with police investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct on his part.
Subsequently, the verdict and sentence received many criticisms and comments from the international community.
The journalist who forwarded the question added that the United States, Australia, New Zealand and European Union had expressed their opinions.
"God bless them," quipped Lee.
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