Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has written to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over his recent remarks about the Chinese being marginalised in Malaysia.

His press secretary, YY Yeong said the letter was now with the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, according to a report by The Straits Times .

"(It) is ready to be personally conveyed to Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi," Bernama quoted Yeong as saying today.

Abdullah wrote to Lee this week seeking clarification over the controversial remarks.

Lee told a forum on good governance in Singapore on Sept 15 that the attitude of Malaysia and Indonesia towards the republic was shaped by the way they treated their Chinese communities.

"My neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful, they're hardworking and therefore they are systematically marginalised, even in education.

"And they want Singapore, to put it simply, to be like their Chinese - compliant," Lee had said.

The remarks drew protests from in Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore's closest neighbours. The foreign ministries of both countries had also summoned the Singapore envoys to explain Lee's remarks.

Waiting for reply

In Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Abdullah told reporters that he would not want to discuss the issue publicly "as long as I have not received a reply" to my letter from Lee.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar called for an apology from Singapore, saying that Lee had overstepped the boundaries.

"I think that statement went beyond fair comment, describing something that is not true within our country," the minister told reporters.

"It should be right for them to say that they are sorry for the effect of the statement."

Syed Hamid said that Singapore's High Commissioner to Malaysia, T Jasudasen, had been summoned to the ministry to explain the remarks.

"We want to know exactly what is the meaning of that statement," Syed Hamid said.