In October 2007, Lee provoked more debate after suggesting that "If they (Malaysia) would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us (Singapore) and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them."
2007年10月，李光耀的言論引發更多的爭論，他說：「如果他們（馬來西亞）可以公平地教育華人和印度人，善用並對待華人和印度人就像他們的公民一樣，馬來西亞可以跟我們（新加坡）並駕齊驅，甚至做得比我們更好的話，我們將很樂意重新加入馬來西亞」。