December 3, 2004

Lee Kuan Yew says moderate Muslims must join the fight

ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

Despite high economic growth, Asia is still vulnerable to terrorism and governments need moderate Muslims to stand up and fight against extremism, former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew told a business forum yesterday.

Mr Lee warned governments in the region not to be too complacent as a barbaric ``me too'' phenomenon was prevalent.

Killing terrorists only produced more terrorists, he said. A number of schools were still teaching extremist beliefs.

Mr Lee, 81, a British-educated lawyer, was prime minister of the island state from 1959-1990.

He said he did not buy the theory that poverty and ignorance created suicide bombers. The masterminds of the Sept11 attacks in the United States and other incidents were not poor or unemployed people. They were people who spread the belief that Allah had to punish ``wicked'' Jews and Americans who put down the Arab people, he told the closing session of the ``CEO Dialogue'' conference.

``The West has put them down for two or three centuries, and now they have power and proclaim they are prepared to die to win,'' Mr Lee said.

Their strategy was to manipulate the Islamic tradition of generosity and sympathy for each other.

``We've got to start thinking how to get extremism cut off by the Muslims themselves, to make the moderates confident that they are on the winning side,'' Mr Lee said.

Islamic countries such as Malaysia and Jordan should lead the fight against terrorism and extremism. The Israel-Palestine problem needed to be resolved as well.

Mr Lee said fears of the influence of China's growing economy were unfounded. China was an economic engine in Asia, growing at 7-8% growth, followed by Asean and South Korea at 5-6% and Japan 3%.

``Just grow along the Chinese economy,'' Mr Lee suggested.

Mr Lee, who was known for his zeal for law and order and for pushing Singapore to become a financial and industrial powerhouse of Asia, said he did not expect a ``big bang'' of political change in China.

``After they climb up the hierarchy of satisfaction from basic needs to intellectual satisfaction they will think of democracy, but not now and in their own way, not the American or Japanese way, let alone Taiwanese independence,'' he said.

He also said expelling Burma from Asean and forcing the generals to release Aung San Suu Kyi would not help solve that country's problems.

``The generals have done their calculations from where they are, in a box, and that's not going to change soon,'' Mr Lee said. But sooner or later there will be a nasty unravelling of the country.

He said the benchmark of his past policies, which included curbing press freedom, was the well-being of the people and the national economy.

``At the end of the day, Singapore's current account is always in the plus and that's in my interest,'' he said.