I share with Dr Chris Anthony the sentiments expressed in his letter Universities: Boost national pride to reap success .

Dr Mahathir Mohamad rebutted Lee Kuan Yew's apology letter on the marginalisation issue to our prime minister, blaming LKY for being 'too proud'. After Anthony's letter, I can't help but to agree with Dr M that LKY is indeed proud of his country's achievement and if our country could achieve the same results as Singapore, I certainly think Dr M would feel proud too.

Don't we wonder how can a small country of a population of 4.4 million peoples can achieve so much? Not to mention that it does not have our abundant resources of oil and gas and land mass.

A recent issue of The Economist said that Singapore reserves stands at US$130.7 billion while Malaysia only has US$79 b. This shows how well they manage their country's financial affairs.

In the same issue of the magazine, under the title 'A survey of talent', Singapore's education policy was explored. I quote: 'One of the most successful schools at getting students into American Ivy League universities is Raffles Junior College in Singapore'.

And this is just one of their 17 junior colleges in Singapore. I was told by a friend who studied in UK that for the past many years, Cambridge and Oxford received the most students from a single country, Singapore, and not from where we would think, China or India.

And given the fact that Singapore sends her best students to the best overseas universities, I would think that only their second best students study at National University of Singapore. Even so, the NUS can achieve an international ranking of 19, on par with Tokyo University and only behind Beijing University. The NUS is one of the top three universities in Asia!

Look at the position of Singapore Airlines and MAS. SIA doesn't even have space for domestic routes yet it is flying high, competing internationally and recording profits year after year. How can they do it?

Dr M always looks down on our neighbour, talk downs to them about being a small country. Yet just look at the above few real life examples and results on who can actually stand taller, at least in the eye of international community. The facts stand out very clearly.