Thursday October 31, 10:17 PM
Singapore lays bare twists and turns in water talks with
Malaysia
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The Government has given a detailed account to Members of
Parliament of the twists and turns in Singapore's water talks with
Malaysia.
It has also released details from a recent exchange of letters
between the two prime ministers, which shows clearly that it was
Malaysia that unilaterally decided to scrap the package approach to
negotiations.
This has left Singapore with no option but to take off the table
the concessions it was prepared to make.
When Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong met his Malaysian counterpart on
8 October in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia wanted
to separate water from other bilateral issues.
But Mr Goh explained this would leave Singapore less leeway to make
concessions on other issues.
Two days later, Mr Goh received a letter from Dr Mahathir dated 7
October, a day before the two met.
Dr Mahathir had written: "Malaysia has now decided to discontinue
the package approach, and to give the highest priority to first
resolving the long-delayed water issue, particularly the price of
raw water."
Singapore's Foreign Minister Professor S Jayakumar, speaking in
Parliament, pointed out that the letter was never mentioned at the
meeting although it was already written, and it was Malaysia which
unilaterally decided to scrap the package without asking Mr Goh if
he agreed.
In his reply, Mr Goh said he had been ready to make concessions on
issues like a bridge to replace the Causeway, but added: "Since you
now want to deal with the water issue seperately and discontinue
the package approach, these trade-offs are no longer
possible."
Mr Goh added: "Had you, at our 8th October meeting, told me that
you had already written and signed this letter on 7th October, I
would have elaborated on the pros and cons of your new
approach."
Instead, Dr Mahathir and Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar have
made statements deliberately misrepresenting what happened.
Prof Jayakumar said: "These statements have impugned PM Goh's
integrity and imply that PM Goh was not telling the truth about
what transpired during his meeting with PM Mahathir. Singapore's
leaders stand by their words.
Nevertheless, Singapore officials went to Johor Baru two weeks ago,
in good faith, to discuss the water issue.
But Malaysia was only interested in raw water, and fobbed off all
discussion about water supply after 2061.
Prof Jayakumar says Singapore has made it clear that Malaysia has
no legal right to raise current water prices, but the Republic is
willing to discuss the issue if Malaysia gets serious about
discussing future water supply.
So, the ball is now in Malaysia's court.
Singapore says it is ready to talk, but it will not simply cave
into Malaysia's demands.
