STRAITS TIMES, MAY 16 1965
Tengku Abdul Rahman today urged UMNO leaders to keep calm over sentiments expressed by Singapore's Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, in recent weeks.
"I often said before that my intention was to make Singapore the New York of Malaysia and in order to do that the Singapore leaders should confine all the time and attention to the well-being of Singapore.
"It is obvious that every right-thinking person and every business man feels that Singapore's place is with Malaya. Without Malaya, Singapore would not enjoy the prosperity that she is enjoying today."
Mr Lee Kuan Yew had even gone so far as to suggest that even the Malays were not indigenous people of this country.
This, of course, is rather childish because everyone knew that under the Constitution the Rulers of the various States were hereditary.
That alone was sufficient proof that the Malays were the natives of this country. To suggest that the Malays were not was to say that the English were not natives of England. ven before the arrival of teh Anglo-Saxons, the Celts had already been there!
It would be best for UMNO to play down communal politics.
Mr Lee could not influence the minds of the Chinese because the Chinese were practical-minded people. They knew what they wanted and got what they wanted and that's all they cared about., except of course, the Communist sympathisers who will never be satisfied until they can turn Malaysia into a third China.
Opportunities
The Chinese were given fullest opportunities to trade, to do business and to make money and also to take part in politics, education and culture.
In fact they owned three fourths of the economy of this country and most of the businesses.
We will stick to words, says Ismail
Keep calm. This was also the tenor of Dato (Dr) Ismail bin Haji Abdul Rahman's speech at the UMNO general assembly today when the delegates demand the detention of the Singapore Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
"This is not the way we do things in Malaysia," Dato Ismail admonished the delegates. "We must act constitutionally."
"Mr Lee has confined his attacks to speeches and we should reply in like manner.
"To use force in these circumstances is wrong and undemocratic."
Strong Action
Dr Ismail was speaking on a resolution calling on the Central Government to take "strong action" against Mr Lee for his remarks against the Malays.
Dato Ismail said: "If Mr Lee uses force, I'll put him in detention. I have been given this power and will use it very carefully."
"If we are not careful, we will play into the hands of the PAP.
"We are a democratic nation and not a totalitarian one. We must show the world that we have the power and also believe in the practice of democracy.
"The only weapon we can use in the matter is to fight constitutionally and to persudae the Chinese and Indians not to believe the PAP and its leaders.
"If we can have the support of the Chinese and the Indians to gain our independence, then we can have their support to fight the PAP.
Mr Lee, Dato Ismail said, might be clever, but every clever person had a little foolishness and stupidity.
"He should know that no one can rule this country without the support of the Malays," Dato Ismail added.
STRAITS TIMES, MAY 23 1965
The Minister of Finance, Mr Tan Siew Sin, today warned the Chinese in Singapore of the futility of seceding from Malaysia.
"I would ask them to remember that Singapore cannot exist by itself. Even secession from Malaysia cannot eliminate the fact that less than 1.5 million Chinese there are surrounded by over a 100 million people of the Malay race in this part of the world.
"They have to come to terms with this fact of life and I think the Chinese are realistic enough to appreciate that this fact cannot be brushed away, whatever one may think and whatever one may wish."
The day a young Mahathir blasted Lee and PAP
STRAITS TIMES, MAY 27 1965
The big debate on yesterday's Speech from the Throne by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong opened in the House of Representatives today with a strong Government attack on Opposition parties and the trade union movement.
Dr Mahathir bin Mohammed (All-Kota Star Selatan), who moved the resolution to thank the King for his gracious speech, described the PAP as being pro-Chinese, Communist-orientated and positively anti-Malay.
He said,"The last item has been kept in limbo until lately, when for reasons of political strategy and in an attempt to win over the Chinese and foreign countries to its side, the PAP decided to come out in the open with this basic anti-Malay principle.
"Everyone must have noticed the change in PAP strategy. When the PAP first made overtures to the Malayan Government on the common market and merger, UMNO was never attacked.
Lee attacked
Dr Mahathir then charged the PAP with paying lip-service to the national language, while playing to chauvinist ideas by retaining multi-lingualism.
In education, national language schools were the worst treated.
In industry, the PAP policy, he charged, was to encourage Malays to become labourers, but Malays were not given facilities to invest as well.
Dr Mahathir said that the Singapore Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, having made little headway to win true Malaysians into the PAP camp, embarked on a "most unseeminly programme" to get countries friendly to Malaysia to use their influence and opinion to change the political adherence of Malaysians.
"The PAP leader does not want to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia, unless of course it is to the good of Malaysia, and he never missed an opportunity to emphasise that it would be good of Malaysia if he were the Prime Minister.
"Already Time magazine has dubbed Mr Lee as the man who can save Malaysia. Other American papers and journals have spoken in like vein. But the Australians and British, being more knowledgeable or more diplomatic, have not been so open.
"So Mr Lee embarked on his crusade to the south, to Australia and New Zealand, to garner Anzac opinion.
"Carefully organised and brilliantly conducted by the maestro himself, the progress of Mr Lee would have made Dr Goebbels feel like a rank amateur.
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