For a large segment of the Malay community in Malaysia, Lee Kuan Yew is no doubt a hate figure which Umno relishes in exploiting to rally the masses.

But again, Lee does the same whenever he reminds the Singaporeans of the island state's "painful" memories of abrupt expulsion by Tunku Abdul Rahman.

To some extent, the autocrat-like leadership of the two countries need each other as bogeymen just to compensate for their lack of legitimacy.

The Chinese community in Malaysia has long been harbouring a love-loath complex about Lee.

On one hand, the octogenarian statesman is bold enough to ruffle Umno's feathers by "speaking up" for the marginalised communities here, which has won him rounds of applause in the Chinese press.