Lee denies criticising Suharto
Straits Times. Jan 28, 1998
SENIOR Minister Lee Kuan Yew's press secretary has written to
the Indonesian Observer to clarify a report which quoted Mr Lee
as saying that President Suharto had blundered by not consulting the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) before releasing his first budget for this year.
The one-page letter, signed by Madam Yeong Yoon Ying, referred to the article published last Saturday in the English-language daily, headlined "Lee Kuan Yew blames Indonesia's woes on politics".
It reported Mr Lee as saying that the Indonesian President had "blundered" by not consulting the IMF before he unveiled the budget on Jan 6.
The budget raised doubts among some foreign analysts and investors about the Indonesian leadership's commitment to implementing the IMF reforms, prompting a worsening of the financial crisis.
A revised budget was announced last Friday, after Mr Suharto signed a second agreement with the IMF personally, making clear his intention to implement a beefed-up reform package.
Said Madam Yeong in her letter: "Senior Minister said to the Bangkok Post and The Nation in Bangkok on 22 Jan that the Indonesian crisis was completely unforeseen, that President Suharto himself probably did not realise his speech should be cleared with the IMF because he was under IMF conditions.
"The Senior Minister never said that President Suharto blundered by not consulting the IMF."
Editor's note: Eary last year Mr Lee made disparaging
remarks on crime in the southern Malaysian state of Johor in an affidavit.
He stated that Johor was a place famous for shootings, muggings and car-jackings.
Those remarks led to strained ties between Malaysia
and Singapore . Lee subsequently apologised and retracted the statement.
In October last year Mr Lee made comments that upset
the Thai government.