Here is an article from our ST dated yesterday.
Our government spokesman finds the timing of the Malaysian reaction
"puzzling" We pay these people millions and they can't even
understand what went wrong.
We agreed to hold off the water talks six months ago, then we
publish the secret discussions and now the malaysians responded in
kind. And our ministry finds this puzzling
I think all of them better go and learn physics. Newton's first law
says that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction"
Here are the exerpts from our newspapers for the issues.
The timing of the full-page advertisements - placed in major local
dailies since Sunday, and also in the Asian Wall Street Journal
(AWSJ) yesterday - was 'puzzling', the spokesman added.
Malaysia unilaterally called off negotiations in October last year
and, as provided for under the 1961 and 1962 Water Agreements
between them, the next step would have been arbitration.
The spokesman noted that Malaysia had initiated this process and
said Singapore was ready for such a move.
But instead of following up on this, it has some six months later
resorted to an advertisement blitz.
The media campaign, which is expected to last a week, comes three
months after a booklet was put out by Singapore's Ministry of
Information, Communications and the Arts.
http://www.straitstimes.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,199770-1058306340,00.html?
JULY 15, 2003
KL's water ad blitz ignores crucial facts, says Singapore
Foreign Ministry says it's a rehash of old arguments and is puzzled
by the timing of the current campaign against the Republic
By Rebecca Lee
TRANSPORT REPORTER
SINGAPORE said yesterday that a series of advertisements Malaysia
has taken out in newspapers on the water issue ignored crucial
facts and were a rehash of old arguments.
'It is telling that the Malaysian advertisements have so far
ignored all the documents that are now in the public domain,' a
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesman said when asked to
comment.
These include the fact that Singapore offered to raise the price it
paid for every 1,000 gallons of raw water from three sen to 45 sen
and later again to 60 sen - which Malaysia initially
accepted.
But Malaysia reneged on the deal and later arbitrarily asked for
RM3 and then for more than RM6.
The timing of the full-page advertisements - placed in
major local dailies since Sunday, and also in the Asian Wall Street
Journal (AWSJ) yesterday - was 'puzzling', the spokesman
added.
Malaysia unilaterally called off negotiations in October
last year and, as provided for under the 1961 and 1962 Water
Agreements between them, the next step would have been
arbitration.
The spokesman noted that Malaysia had initiated this
process and said Singapore was ready for such a
move.
But instead of following up on this, it has some six months
later resorted to an advertisement blitz.
The media campaign, which is expected to last a week, comes
three months after a booklet was put out by Singapore's Ministry of
Information, Communications and the Arts.
The publication, Water Talks? If Only It Could, sets out
Singapore's position on the dispute. The material is based on
Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar's Jan 25 statement in
Parliament detailing the history of the talks, and documents,
exchanges of official letters and notes already made public.
None of the advertisements - placed by the Malaysian National
Economic Action Council - carried data or other material put out by
Singapore.
The first advertisement on Sunday charged that in 2001 alone,
Singapore made RM662.5 million (S$307m) in profit by selling water
it processed from the raw water it bought from Malaysia for just
RM2.39 million.
It also claimed that Singapore had 'gone all over the world and
tarnished the name of Malaysia. It is time to set the record
straight'.
It did not say how the Republic did this but charged: 'Malaysia
Gets Nothing. Singapore Gets Rich.'
The second salvo yesterday, which also appeared in the AWSJ to
reach a regional audience, claimed that Malaysia subsidised
Singapore's water supply to the tune of RM451.9 million but did not
say how the figure was arrived at.
The MFA spokesman said yesterday he did not know what Malaysia
hoped to achieve through the campaign.
'To make progress, Malaysia must engage the substance of the facts.
They need to go beyond old stories and repeating tired arguments,'
he said.
He described the media blitz as 'just a repeat of old stories -
they are right and we are wrong. They are reasonable, we are
profiteering'.
Singapore has already set out all the facts and there is no new
data to disclose other than records of meetings between the foreign
ministers last year and those of senior officials, he said.
'We would be happy to release these documents as well for the
record,' he added.
The spokesman would not be drawn into speculating why he thought
Malaysia had mounted its campaign.
But Malaysian sources suggested that the leaders were upset that
the release of information by Singapore had shown up Malaysia's
case - and even led some local politicians to question the
government about the stance it had been presenting all along. --
Additional reporting by Brendan Pereira in Kuala Lumpur
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Copyright @ 2003 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
