Singapore PAP govt will prefer Najib Razak to continue as PM than Dr M

Bilateral diplomacy and relations between Singapore and Malaysia have shown tremendous improvement since Dato’ Sri Najib in Tun Abdil Razak became Prime Minister in 2009.

Najib as Prime Minister of Malaysia undertaken several important decisions where Tun Dr  Mahathir Mohammad did not make and caused the relationship between both countries to strain for at least two decades. His squabbles with Singapore be it water and treated water prices, crooked bridge to nowhere are well known and cannot be disputed.

Meanwhile, unlike his predecessor Dr Mahathir, Najib knows full well the need to practise the adage “prosper thy neighbour” than to sabre-rattle our closest neighbour, whereby so many Malaysian families share family links stretching generations.

The Tanjong Pagar land was swap with the two plots of land with Singapore resulting in  SDG$12 Billion income for the government. Besides that, other projects that were implemented between Najib and Singapore Prime Minister H.E. Lee Hsien Loong are listed in the accompanying pages.

Some Singaporeans when asked, said they feared that if Dr Mahathir is allowed to return to power, the relationship between both governments will turn sour again knowing the nonagenarian’s animosity against the republic city state.

Therefore it is in the best interest of Malaysia and the republic that Najib Razak be given the mandate to continue to lead Malaysia as Prime Minister as general election looms nearer.

Enclosed: List of diplomatic plus points since Dato’ Sri Najib helmed the premiership of Malaysia.

Chris Daniel Wong
MCA Religious Harmony Bureau Secretary
MCA Youth Lembah Pantai Deputy Chairman

// End

Malaysia-Singapore Relations in the Najib Era

1. Railway land

ü  In 2010, Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak and HE Lee Hsien Loong made a historic agreement relocate to the 78-year-old Tanjong Pagar railway station operated by KTM to Woodlands and for the land to be jointly developed by a firm, M+S Pte Ltd, which is jointly owned by sovereign wealth funds Temasek and Khazanah Nasional.

ü  In January 2012, both countries entered into an agreement, submitting the issue to final and binding arbitration, and registered the case with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands.

ü  Three plots of ex-railway land — Keppel, Kranji and Woodlands — and another three plots in Bukit Timah would be exchanged for four parcels of land in Marina South and two parcels in Ophir-Rochor.

ü  Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional holds a 60 percent stake and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings hold a 40 percent stake.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/malaysia-singapore-joint-venture-firm-need-not-pay-development-charge-on-former-railway

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/background-to-the-development-charge-issue-on-three-parcels-of-malayan-railway-land

www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-wins-arbitration-over-development-charges-for-ktm-land-in-singapor#9raImUR8iMxbA5ix.97

2. KL-Singapore HSR : A 'Key Catalyst'

ü  The Prime Minister announced the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (KL-SG HSR) project a "key catalyst" in seamless connectivity to drive the economy of both countries into the future.

ü  The KL-SG HSR is expected to contribute RM21 billion growth in gross domestic product (GDP) to Malaysia and Singapore and create 111,000 jobs by 2060.

ü  The KL-SG HSR will contribute to a long term positive output for the economy as it has the potential to revolutionise connectivity in the Southwest Corridor of the Peninsula, impacting the way we conduct business, the way we interact, move people and will add momentum to the economies of both Malaysia and Singapore.

ü  The ease by which travellers pass through CIQ checkpoints could save more time, making it the mode of choice of travel between the two major cities.

ü  The HSR, can be seen as a maturing partnership in Singapore-Malaysia relations under the leaderships of Najib and Lee.

http://www.myhsr.com.my/resource/newsroom/kl-sg-hsr-hsr-a-key-catalyst-to-drive-economy-says-najib

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/kl-singapore-hsr-to-contribute-rm21b-growth-in-gdp#fgdm4g11am6w96QG.97

-The HSR was anticipated to contribute significant socio-economic benefits to both Malaysia and Singapore.

3. Malaysia-Singapore Relations after Singapore-Malaysia Leaders' Retreat

ü  Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak met in Singapore on 16 January 2018 for the 8th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat.

ü  The development that dominated the headlines this time around was the inking of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link Bilateral Agreement, there were other projects that saw progress too, including Marina One project at Marina South and the DUO project at Ophir-Rochor, which were undertaken by Khazanah Malaysia and Temasek Singapore.

ü  Beyond economics, the two sides also touched on other issues in their joint statement, including a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on education following the expiry of the previous one last December. Both countries also discussed other areas of cooperation such as the environment, energy, cultural ties and tourism, and even more previously contentious ones like water supply and defense.

ü  If Najib is returned to office, the HSR project is likely to stay on schedule. Even if there is a leadership change in his ruling UMNO party, the HSR project can likewise be expected to continue, and Malaysia-Singapore relations will also remain on an even keel. This is because most of the top cabinet ministers, one of whom may succeed Najib, have been involved in past and recent bilateral retreats.

https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/malaysia-singapore-relations-in-the-spotlight-with-2017-leaders-retreat/

https://www.policyforum.net/bridging-malaysia-singapore-relations-troubled-waters/

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/joint-statement-pm-lee-najib-singapore-malaysia-leaders-retreat-9865554

4. Singapore wants more win-win cooperation with Malaysia

ü  Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he wants to see more win-win cooperation with Malaysia with him and his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Razak enjoying a “very good relationship.”

ü  “The more we see one another, the more we work together on win-win cooperation, I think the better the prospects for friendship and for harmonious relations,” he said of the state of ties now between the two countries which Najib had recently described as “never been better in our countries’ histories.”

ü  Lee described the HSR project as “very ambitious, complicated and expansive” whose success would depend very much on “good execution” by both governments.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/11/193108/singapore-wants-more-win-win-cooperation-malaysia  

Malaysia-Singapore Relations During the Mahathir Era

1. Worsening Relations in the Mahathir Era

Malaysia-Singapore relations reached the lowest point in both countries’ history during the second half of Mahathir’s premiership.

Some notable unresolved issues that faced both countries during the 1990s and early 2000s include:

• The Pedra Branca dispute
• A deadlock over the implementation of the Malaysia-Singapore Points of Agreement (POA) of 1990
• Issues concerning the CPF of Malaysians working in Singapore
• Construction of a “crooked” bridge to replace the existing Causeway

-        Malaysia’s ban on low over-flight space for Singapore military aircraft since 1998 and Singapore’s open mobilisation of its military in 1991 suggested that mutual anxieties and suspicions haunted the relationship at that time. There was much unhappiness in the air on both sides of the Causeway, not at governmental levels but also in the public. For example, the Singaporean contingent to the Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur in 2001 was booed during the march-past in the opening ceremony.

-        The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis exacerbated the tensions between both countries. Malaysia’s decision in the wake of the financial crisis to repatriate its local currency held abroad, its unilateral decision to impose capital control and Mahathir’s suggestion to close down the Singapore share market to better control the free-falling Ringgit at the time also worsened the relations.

The issues were only resolved by PM Lee Hsien Loong and PM Najib in 2010, when they managed to settle outstanding issues relating to the 1990 POA.

https://mothership.sg/2018/01/malaysia-singapore-relations-mahathir-lky/

http://aeforum.com/malaysia-singapore-relations-post-mahathir-era/

2. Issues on water pricing and agreements

-        Perhaps the most serious issue that strained relations between Malaysia and Singapore during that era concerned the water agreements between both countries.

-        In the early 2000s, Malaysia under Mahathir, wanted to revise the price of raw water it sold to Singapore, but faced a legal roadblock.

-        The 1961 and 1962 Water Agreements allowed for a price review 25 years after the respective agreements were signed. However, Malaysia chose not to review the price of water.

-        Thus, Singapore took the view that Malaysia had lost its right to review the price of water.

-        But Malaysia did not let up, things got so bad that Singapore was pushed into releasing the correspondence of between the leaders of Malaysia and Singapore to clarify unfair accusations made by Malaysia on the issue

-        As it stands today, the 1961 Water Agreement expired in 2011, and there has not been any change to the price of raw water sold to Singapore via the existing 1962 Water Agreement.

https://mothership.sg/2018/01/malaysia-singapore-relations-mahathir-lky/

 -MCA online-