Ridhuan Tee: Singapore’s might will ‘eat’ us up
By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider
Singapore will “eat” Malaysia if the government does not prepare its military defence to face the “Jewish protégés”, Utusan Malaysia columnist Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah claimed today.
In his column today, he suggested that Singapore would use its military might to create a “second or third Singapore,” while pointing to the Pakatan Rakyat-led Penang state government as potential contenders.
“The time of good faith and playing with them is over. Now is the time to work to face up to them. If they can prepare RM35.5 billion for defence in that small country, surely we must spend more than that. If not, we will be ‘eaten’ one day, believe me,” the senior lecturer at the National Defence University of Malaysia wrote.
He called on the government to take the best steps to face “the little Jews before the rice becomes porridge,” using the Malay proverb that means something regrettable that cannot be undone.
“The enemy is watching us. They are waiting for the chance to ‘enter’ at the right time.
“At that time, it will be too late to fight back. Can weapons made of stone match fighter jets and tanks as what is happening in Palestine? Allah wants us to learn from these events of the past.
“We need to remember, the leaders of Penang are always going there to look for ideas. Will there be a second or third Singapore, or more?” he said.
Tee was referring to a Singapore Sunday Times interview with the island republic’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who said that without a strong armed forces, it would be vulnerable to pressure from Malaysia and Indonesia.
“Without a strong defence, there will be no Singapore,” Lee said in the interview. “It will become a satellite, cowed and intimidated by its neighbours.”
“If we do not have this strong SAF (Singapore Armed Forces), we are vulnerable to all kinds of pressures from both Malaysia and Indonesia,” he said.
“We are not vulnerable? They can besiege you. You’ll be dead,” Lee said.
“If we are not vulnerable, why do we spend 5 to 6 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) year after year on defence,” he continued. “Are we mad? This is a frugal government.”
Although Tee acknowledged that this was true from a strategic and security standpoint, he said that the statement was “arrogant” as “without the help of Malaysia, Singapore would not exist.”
Tee pointed out that Singapore was once a Malay island and if Malaysia’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had arrested Lee, who later became Singapore’s first prime minister, and ordered a curfew before the two countries parted ways in 1965, the island would still belong to Malaysia.
He claimed that if our leaders then were not Muslims, or were communists instead, “Kuan Yew would have long ago been thrown into prison.”
Tee said that “we should have been as cruel as Kuan Yew, who throws those who oppose him into prison because he says they disturb the peace and planning of Singapore.”
In his column, he wrote that “in just over five years, Singapore spends what we have spent in the last 23 years” on defence, or RM180 billion.
This is despite Malaysia’s defence budget rising by more than five times from RM2.09 billion in 1987 to RM11.01 billion last year, making up for six per cent of the total government budget, said Tee.
