Malaysia, S'pore Talks Point To Greater Things To Come

LANGKAWI, May 16 (Bernama) -- The two-day informal talks between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, which ended yesterday, have crafted initiatives to bring bilateral relations forward.
The get-together, which took place amid the lush greenery of a beautiful beach resort here, concluded with several decisions, including the setting up of a special ministerial committee to facilitate investment, business and tourism activities in southern Johor's Iskandar Development Region (IDR).
However, the acknowledgment of the need to meet more regularly holds a lot of promise for Malaysia-Singapore relations which have markedly improved in the last two years, graduating from "love-hate and shaky" to "warm and cordial", according to observers.
At a joint news conference, Lee said both countries should work together to bring relations to a new level because "our cooperative interest far outweighs our competitive concerns."
Abdullah, who concurred with Lee's views, had accepted an invitation to visit the republic for another round of unofficial talks -- a clear signal of Malaysia's readiness to discuss issues of mutual interests with its neighbour at any time.
The positive attitude adopted by the two prime ministers has raised hope for the resolution of outstanding bilateral issues which have been plaguing relations over the years.
Lee admitted that the issues, inherited from their predecessors, were difficult but must be resolved sooner or later.
Abdullah shared Lee's sentiment but nevertheless told reporters that "we don't want to get bogged down by these issues while there are things we'd like to do".
The outstanding issues are the price of water sold to Singapore, the use of Malaysian airspace by the Singapore air force, the development of KTM Bhd land in Singapore, the new bridge to replace the Causeway and the early withdrawal of Central Provident Fund contributions by Malaysians working in Singapore.
Warming up to the idea of having similar retreats, Lee said: "Here (in Langkawi), the prime ministers are here, ministers are here, we played golf together, we talked together, we spent the evening together, and we should this regularly."
Besides taking Lee on a cruise yesterday, Abdullah also treated the Singaporean leader and his entourage to a durian feast before Lee's departure in the afternoon. Abdullah left the resort island in the evening.

tunku : pak lah did you ask lee about the bridge?i guess not. if the relationship is so good why don't solve the problems fast? why only good relationship on IDR alone? well singapore is smart, they know the can fully utilize IDR, that's why they are suddenly very nice neighbour.