SHAH ALAM, Sept 14 — Selangor executive councillor Teresa Kok claimed today that the refusal to place race above merit in Singapore is key to the success it enjoys today.

“I think one of the key reasons of Singapore’s success as a small city nation is because the nation is out of racial politics and the country concentrates on merit,” she told reporters at her office here today.

Kok added that Singapore had successfully attracted a talented pool as well as investors from all over the world because of such policies.

She was commenting today on remarks made recently by Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, who strongly believed that Malaysians would be enjoying his city-state’s brand of nationalism and multi-racialism today, if both nations had not been split in 1965.

In an interview with the New York Times, the 86-year-old Minister Mentor expressed that the first regret he had of his long-lived career was having been “turfed out” of Malaysia.

In his conversation with the New York Times, Lee claimed that if Malaysia’s founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman had decided to keep both nations together 45 years ago, much of what Singapore had achieved today in terms of equality among the races would be likewise be achieved in Malaysia.

The published interview did not feature his remarks on Malaysia.

They were contained in a transcript of the interview published on the official website of Singapore’s prime minister’s office.

“There are more and more foreigners migrating to Singapore and those are the rich and professionals and they are talented people.

“They have policies that please the investors and they also emphasise on efficiency,” she said of the neighbouring country.

“DAP and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had been saying this all these years, that on this aspect, these are the things the Malaysian government should emulate,” she said.