In 1960, fearing that Singapore was falling to the Communists, the CIA tried to put the head of Singapore’s Internal Security Department on its payroll. The American who made the offer quickly found himself in jail. Then the United States sent a highranking official—to this day, Lee won’t reveal his name—to offer Lee Sg$10 million to keep the affair quiet. Lee countered that instead he would take Sg$100 million in economic aid for Singapore. He didn’t get it. Five years later, when Lee made the story of the bribe public [in the interview shown here], the State Department denied it. The Americans directed at Lee what from his point of view were probably the two greatest insults possible: first, they treated him as a banana-republic dictator; then they branded him a liar. A furious Lee called reporters into his office and said he would show them incriminating documents and play them incriminating tapes if the State Department didn’t admit the truth. The Americans “are not dealing with Ngo Dinh Diem or Syngman Rhee,” Lee told the reporters. “You do not buy and sell this Government.” The State Department thereupon confirmed the charge.
https://mothership.sg/2017/02/cias-...-lee-kuan-yew-among-newly-released-documents/
https://mothership.sg/2017/02/cias-...-lee-kuan-yew-among-newly-released-documents/