S'pore leader to Malaysia ''sorry'' for race comments

SINGAPORE, Oct 2 (Reuters) Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister of modern Singapore, told Malaysia's prime minister he was sorry for the ''discomfort'' caused by comments he made about how Malaysia treats its minority Chinese.

Malaysian and Indonesia have both protested over Lee's remark, made two weeks ago, that the island state's predominantly Muslim neighbours ''systematically marginalised'' their minority Chinese.

''I am sorry that what I said has caused you a great deal of discomfort,'' Lee said in a letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

''I had no intention to meddle in your politics. Indeed, I do not have the power to influence Malaysia's politics or to incite the feelings of the Chinese in Malaysia,'' Lee added.

The letter was sent to Abdullah at the weekend and was released to Singapore media on Monday.

A spokesman for the Malaysian prime minister said Abdullah had no immediate comment and might make a statement on Tuesday.

Lee, 83, still has a powerful position in the cabinet of his eldest son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Lee Kuan Yew wrote that in his Sept. 15 comments he was explaining to a liberal audience of Westerners why Singapore needs a strong majority government, not a weak coalition that ''will hamper us in defending our national interests''.

He added that a strong Singapore government is needed to ''interact with Indonesian and Malaysian politicians, who consider Singapore to be Chinese and expect Singapore to be 'sensitive' and comply with their requests''.

In an annexe to his letter, Lee also quoted several Malaysian politicians, including former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, making comments about the marginalisation of Singapore's Malays.

Muslim Malays account for 14 percent of Singapore's population of 4.2 million, which is predominantly ethnic Chinese.

Last week, Adbullah had asked Lee to clarify his remarks and Malaysia's foreign minister had summoned Singapore's ambassador to Kuala Lumpur and demanded an apology.

Mahathir had also joined the chorus of criticism, dismissing Singapore as a ''tiny'' country and telling Lee he should mind his own business.

In his letter, Lee said that since Abdullah took over as prime minister in November 2003, relations between the two countries were much improved, and that -- ''after a decade of troubled relations with your predecessor'' -- the last thing he wanted was to cause Abdullah discomfort.

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 SK BD2101