கார்த்திக் நீலகிரி
I listen to Kidron's proposal on military training but told Keng Swee to put them on hold until Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Prime Minister of India reply to my letter seeking there urgent help to build our armed forces.
I have written to Shastri for a military advisor to help us build up five battalions. Two days later, Shastri replied sending "sincere good wishes for the happiness and prosperity of the people of Singapore" but did not mention my request. I had half expected the Indian government might not want to take sides against Malaysia, a Muslim country. India was afterall relatively close neighbour in Asia.
I told Keng Swee to proceed with Israelis, but to keep it from becoming public knowledge for as long as possible so as not to provoke grassroots antipathy from Malay Muslims in Malaysia and Singapore.
From Third World to First
-Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew
Singapore Press Holdings / Times Editions
