Singapore officials disparaged Asian neighbors: WikiLeaks

Singapore's top government officials spewed venom towards the political leaders of some of its Asian neighbors, according to U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and provided to an Australian newspaper, The Sun Herald.

In discussions between high-ranking U.S. State Department officials and Singapore's Foreign Affairs bosses Peter Ho, Bilahari Kausikan and Tommy Koh during 2008 and 2009, the Singaporeans blasted Malaysia's incompetent politicians for that country's dangerous decline; and chastised the endemic corruption and very erratic crown prince of Thailand.

They also disparaged Japan as a big fat loser and described Indian leaders as stupid.

In one cable from a September 2008 meeting, Kausikan warned US Deputy Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Sedney of the potential for racial conflict in Malaysia which could result in ethnic Chinese fleeing Malaysia and then overwhelming Singapore.

At that same discussion, Kausikan attacked Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as corrupt along with everyone else, including the opposition. Kausikan also claimed that Thaksin's made a mistake in pursuing a relationship with the [Thai] crown prince by paying off the crown prince's gambling debts.

''A lack of competent leadership is a real problem for Malaysia,'' Kausikan told Sedney in one cable, according to the cables.

In a September 2009 meeting, Koh lambasted Japan as ''the big fat loser'' given the improving ties between China and The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Similarly, Koh described his stupid Indian friends as half in, half out of ASEAN.

Koh attributed Japan’s decline in regional affairs to the nation’s “stupidity, bad leadership, and lack of vision,” according to one cable.

With respect to Burma, Kausikan apparently commented that China and India are ''more concerned with stability than justice'' and they fear that the demise of Burma’s military junta could result in ''an Asian reprise of the breakup of Yugoslavia''.

Kausikan also alleged that he is ''more comfortable with a nuclear-capable North Korea than a nuclear-capable Iran'' and disparaged Russia’s economy as ''Third World'', with an inferior health system and facing insurmountable demographic challenges.

However, Koh also praised China and complimented the nation on its investments and “intelligent diplomacy” in the region.

''I don't fear China,” he stated, according to the cables. “I don't fear being assimilated by China.''

Australian newspapers discern that while these revelations might spark some outrage among the targeted countries, Singapore's superior attitude towards its neighbors has long been known.