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Strife between Malaysia and Singapore

Posted May. 18, 2002 10:12,   

한국어

“Skin the Singapore cat? Forget it”

Singapore is angry with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who made a cynical remark at an interview with press, saying, “there are many ways to `skin Singapore`. ”

Singaporean daily Straits Times reported on the 17th that S. Jayakumar Foreign Minister of Singapore responded, “`Singaporeans have also often been accused of being thick-skinned. So trying to skin us can be quite a daunting task. ”

Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar implied a strong countermeasure by saying, “ Prime Minister Mahathir seems to have a `fondness for skinning cats`. But no cat is ever going to lie down meekly to be skinned. ”

He added, “ Mahathir has called us `a little red dot` and even `a pimple that won`t burst`, but Singapore continues to survive and prosper. ”

Defense Minister Tony Tan has once said, “don’t be impatient, but strengthen the military power. ”

Since the withdrawal of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, the two countries have been standing in opposition over water supply, the construction of the bridge, flying over territorial sky, and recently Singapore’s reclamation of a strait.



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