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Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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MFA Press Release: Minister George Yeo's Comments On The Announcement By The Malaysian Government That It Has Decided Not To Proceed With The Construction Of The Bridge To Replace The Causeway

13 April 2006

Country

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In response to media queries on the above, Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo said on 12 April 2006: "Well, it came as quite a surprise to me because we were negotiating and making good progress...

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In response to media queries on the above, Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo said on 12 April 2006:

"Well, it came as quite a surprise to me because we were negotiating and making good progress. At about 1 o'clock on 12 April 2006, Syed Hamid gave me a call and told me that the Malaysian Cabinet had taken this decision and that PM Abdullah Badawi would be making this announcement shortly. He wanted to inform me in advance. I thanked him for it. But it came as quite a surprise to me.

We respect this decision of the Malaysian government. I'm sure our bilateral relations will continue to be very good. There are so many areas that we are cooperating. And I have a very good working relationship with Syed Hamid and I hope that between the two of us we can continue to promote good relations between the two countries.

Syed Hamid did not give me details but he said that it concerned their domestic political considerations. They do not have very many details but I'm quite sure that in the coming days we'll get more details.

The decision came as a surprise to me. We were having negotiations and we were moving to the technical stage. I was quite taken aback when he informed me of this. As to what are the internal considerations, well I'm quite sure their public views were taken into account, and whatever he says it is a decision that they have taken and we should respect it."

In response to query on whether this was considered a victory from Singapore's point of view, Minister Yeo said:

"No, no, this has got nothing to do with victory or defeat. Whatever we've worked on will be to our mutual benefit. We've always negotiated on the basis of mutual benefit to both sides, and I'm quite sure we'll be able to find other areas where we can cooperate to our mutual benefit.

We are working together on so many things. Our economic links are strong, our people-to-people links are good, and in ASEAN and on various regional projects we've cooperated very closely."

. . . . .

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
13 APRIL 2006