The International Air Transport Association will confer on Mr Lee the Global Aviation Leadership Award during its annual general meeting today, following which there will be a one-hour dialogue with Mr Lee.

While in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Lee will also meet Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, as well as other government, business and political leaders.

Accompanying Mr Lee are Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education Ng Eng Hen, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli.

After three days in Kuala Lumpur, the Singapore delegation will embark on a five-day tour of four Malaysian states: Perak, Penang, Kelantan and Pahang.

Mr Lee, whose last visit to Malaysia was in April 2005, is embarking on the trip to update himself on developments here.

The general election of March last year saw a three-party opposition alliance, the Pakatan Rakyat, win more than a third of the seats in the federal Parliament.

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition also lost control of five states: Perak, Penang, Kelantan, Kedah and Selangor.

Perak recently returned to the BN fold after three Pakatan assemblymen quit the alliance to go independent.

The other four states are still governed by the Pakatan alliance comprising the multiracial Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party and the Islamic Parti Islam SeMalaysia(PAS).

Mr Lee and his delegation will head north along the west coast of peninsular Malaysia to Ipoh and Penang, before travelling east to Kota Baru, the capital of Kelantan. They will end their trip in Kuantan, the capital of Pahang, Datuk Seri Najib's home state.

The Minister Mentor's visit comes two weeks after Mr Najib's first visit to Singapore as Prime Minister.

The Malaysian leader and his Singapore counterpart, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had agreed then to move bilateral ties ahead in a productive way, and not be bogged down by legacy issues they had inherited.

Ambassador K. Kesavapany, director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, observed that Malaysia's political and social fabric has undergone considerable change since MM Lee's last visit.

Islamic politics have been on the rise, observed Singapore's former High Commissioner to Malaysia, and may well have replaced ethnicity in the identity politics of the Malays.

He also noted calls, including by some segments of the Malay elite, for a refinement of the New Economic Policy, an affirmative action programme for Malays in place since 1971.

'MM's visit will therefore provide him with a fresh reading of the Malaysian socio-political scene,' Mr Kesavapany said.

'As it is our closest neighbour and a major trade and investment partner, it is important that Singaporeans keep abreast of developments in Malaysia.'

-end of ST article