MFA Press Release: Reply by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo to question in Parliament on the status of negotiations with Malaysia on the Bridge and other outstanding bilateral issues, 17 February 2006

[Mr R Ravindran: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs what is the status of negotiations with Malaysia on the outstanding issues in the light of Malaysia's decision to proceed with the construction of the bridge on their side of the Causeway.]

REPLY:

1 Mr Speaker Sir, Singapore and Malaysia continue to work at resolving our outstanding bilateral issues. As the House will recall, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong visited Malaysia in December 2004 and in March 2005 to discuss the outstanding issues with Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. SM Goh and PM Abdullah had productive discussions and agreed on the steps to move the process forward. In particular, they agreed to conduct their talks based on two broad principles: first, any proposal should be mutually beneficial and not disadvantage either party, and second both sides should not allow these old issues to hold future cooperation hostage. SM Goh and PM Abdullah agreed that it would not be helpful to publicise the details of these negotiations while they were still going on. They also agreed that officials from both sides should meet to discuss the outstanding bilateral issues. Following this, senior officials from both sides have met three times on 6-7 September 2005, 19 October 2005 and 24 November 2005 for discussions. These discussions have been carried out as part of a process to find a mutually-beneficial solution on the issues, in the context of Singapore agreeing to build a full bridge to replace the Causeway. These discussions have made progress.

2 During his visit to Singapore from 4-5 February this year for the MFA-Wisma Putra Games, Malaysian Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid and I affirmed that these bilateral negotiations would continue. We agreed that the bilateral negotiations should not go on forever. Syed Hamid and I have asked our officials to narrow the differences, and where this is not possible, crystallise the issues so that they can be surfaced to SM Goh and PM Abdullah for a political decision. The senior officials will be meeting again later this month.

3 Mr Speaker Sir, on 26 January this year, the New Straits Times reported that Malaysia is going ahead with plans to build a scenic bridge across its half of the Johor Strait, and that the Malaysian Government had decided not to wait for Singapore's decision on the matter. In view of this and other reports we sent a Third-Person Note (TPN) to Malaysia on 27 January 2006 seeking clarification on Malaysia's position on the bilateral negotiation process and its half-bridge proposal. We are awaiting an official response to our TPN. In the meantime, Malaysian leaders, including PM Abdullah and Syed Hamid have clarified in the press that negotiations between Singapore and Malaysia are still ongoing.

4 Singapore's position on the full bridge remains unchanged. As I told this House on 17 October last year, Singapore can agree to Malaysia's proposal to replace the Causeway with a new bridge only if there is a balance of benefits on both sides. Only then can the considerable costs involved in building our side of a new bridge be justified. It is how this balance of benefits can be achieved that is currently being discussed by the officials from both sides. As discussions are still ongoing, it would not be helpful to publicise further details at this stage.

5 On the half-bridge, Singapore's consistent position has been reiterated on several occasions. On 25 October 2003, we sent a TPN to Malaysia stating that any unilateral decision to demolish its side of the Causeway to construct a half-bridge has to comply with the principles enunciated in the Order issued by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). Our TPN also stated that international facilities like the Causeway could not be demolished without the approval, agreement and involvement of both States. When I met Syed Hamid during the MFA-Wisma Putra Games I said that while Singapore fully respected Malaysia's sovereignty, any major work in the Straits of Johor could affect Singapore and we needed to know the details to assess the environmental and other impacts.

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