Malaysia summons Singapore envoy over Lee remarks

KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 28 (Reuters) Malaysia summoned Singapore's ambassador today to voice concern over a remark by former Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew that upset both Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, diplomats said.

The founder of modern Singapore sparked the war of words by accusing both his country's mainly Muslim neighbours -- Malaysia and Indonesia -- of mistreating their ethnic Chinese minorities, whom he described as hard-working but ''systematically marginalised''.

Malaysia denies the charge and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asked Lee this week to clarify.

''Today's meeting covered the same ground,'' a Singapore diplomat told Reuters after High Commissioner T Jasudasen was called to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry.

Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad joined in a chorus of criticism, dismissing Singapore as a ''tiny'' country and telling Lee that he should mind his own business.

Singapore and Malaysia have deep economic ties but diplomatic relations are often testy. The two states merged into one country in 1963 but split in 1965 in a falling out over racial politics.

REUTERS SP RN1541