Asked how he viewed the controversy surrounding the launch of the memoirs, titled My SIngapore Story: Memoirs Of Lee Kuan Yew, he said that he had seen the various comments but he wanted to stress that the book was a personal life story.

"It is his autobiography: What he did as a child, his experiences under the Japanese Occupation, the parts he played in fighting the mobs, the communalists, the communists.

"The formation of Singapore, the building of a country, the defining moments in his life and how he sees thingsas they affect himself and they affect Singapore."

But he added that when Mr Lee asked him for permission to have access to official archives and notes of Cabinet meetings, among other documents, to confirm his memory of the facts, he assented.

Mr Lee had a team of researchers to comb through the materials to ensure that his memory and the way he wrote his story were backed by facts, he said.

On whether he agreed that the memoirs were not the last definitive word on the events of the past that shaped Singapore history, he said he did not think it would be the last word.

"I hope that as new materials are made available elsewhere, historians will look at the materials and they will then use the materials to either substantiate SM's account of what took places, especially in the years when Singapore joined Malaysia and before that, or as well as to prove SM wrong if they could have new materials to do so."

He noted, as Mr Lee had done too, that SM's reputation would be judged on whether he was right or wrong on this basis as more facts become available years from now.

"As he put it quite poignantly, he is an old man, is ther any reason for him to put in untruths because if the untruths are proven, then his whole life's reputation is gone. His integrity is gone."

In the absence of other materials to the contrary, he himself was persuaded by SM's account of the past, he said.

"It's purely how SM sees things but remember that SM was a participant in this, so, of course, whatever he writes is based on personal experiences."

Mr Lee's book, launched on his 75th birthday on Sept 16, has sold out and new stocks would be out in the stores on Oct 2.

Malaysian politicians have attacked him, particularly for his account of the merger years and how hte 1964 riots had been engineered by Malay communalists exasperated with the PAP government which had pushed for equal rights for all citizens.

Mr Lee said that his memoirs, while meticulously researched and backed by documentary evidence, was not "official history".