The new Malaysia and Singapore

IDR, here we come






After that Langkawi press conference...
After more than 40 years of mutual suspicion, Malaysia and Singapore are now looking forward to a new level of understanding. In the last four decades — despite the mistrust and occasional hiccup — trade and investment have flourished.
Still, political misunderstandings have characterised the relationship between the two countries. This will not disappear overnight, but Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has a new strategy. It's not even new, actually; it's just that common sense seldom prevailed in the past.
In an inaugural informal meeting with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong in Langkawi earlier this week, Mr Abdullah was very optimistic about the way forward for both countries.
His idea seems to be that even as both countries compete in all sectors, they should also cooperate in mutually-beneficial areas.
After the meeting, reporters asked Mr Abdullah whether the issues of the bridge and price of raw water sold to Singapore had been discussed. Malaysia's Prime Minister said: "Yes, Lee did bring them up. We understand the issues. Those are old issues. We don't want to be bogged down with these issues. We will resolve them."
What was important, he added, was to address "issues that are urgent enough for us to decide".
This was also what Mr Lee had in mind when he openly admitted that both leaders had to share the burdens brought upon them by their respective predecessors.
Mr Lee believed that resolving old problems must not affect the rest of the two nations' good and cordial bilateral relations.
"We have many interests," said Singapore's Prime Minister. "These are specific issues which have to be tackled. Let's tackle them in a way which is completely acceptable."
The two leaders apparently understood the need to tackle these thorny issues delicately while moving ahead, maybe even in a robust way, to share the spoils of economic growth in both countries, particularly in southern Johor's Iskandar Development Project (IDR).
As usual, there will be sceptics who fear Singapore may gobble up pieces of Malaysia's cake, or even take over what is rightfully Malaysia's.
The problem for these detractors is that they tend to underestimate the skills of Malaysian diplomacy. Even Tuesday's discussion in Langkawi created a small furore when Mr Lee used the term "consultative committee" to describe a special ministerial committee, consisting members from Malaysia and Singapore, to help boost the IDR's growth.
Mr Abdullah cleared the air when he explained that the word "consultative" did not arise at all and it was just a joint committee for countries on both sides of the Johor Strait to ensure the success of the IDR.
To some people, "consultative" would mean the committee being answerable to both governments. This is ridiculous: The IDR is entirely Malaysian and has nothing to do with Singapore. Having to consult Singapore would mean relinquishing sovereignty.
This is not the case, of course. That's why Mr Lee was quick to explain that it was never meant to be a consultative committee and the Singapore media delegation had been informed of the little slip of the tongue.
The problem seems to be about the fear of Singapore doing something behind Malaysia's back. That's the perception, and it will not disappear within months or even years.
Yet Mr Abdullah and Mr Lee are confident that the new level of relationship — especially the closer ties seen over the last two years — will continue to serve the interests of the people in both countries.
Mr Lee wants a win-win situation. "We ought to build on this positive progress to a new depth," he said. "We should also see what new things we can co-operate on. We need to build a win-win relationship that will become something significant."
Mr Abdullah, on his part, knows well that relations have been improving and will continue to flourish as both sides keep on working together on mutual issues.
But will it be easy to resolve issues such as claims that Singapore violates Malaysia's airspace during its air force training, or that the Republic has not been cooperating in dealing with the proposal to set a new price for raw water supplied by Malaysia?
Or is it still about the "historical baggage" — a thinly-veiled euphemism for racial mistrust?
Whatever problems still persist, both leaders have to work them out. The mistrust won't simply go away.
But as Mr Abdullah has said, it would be better to concentrate on issues such as investment, business, tourism and environmental co-operation, rather than dwelling on problems that would only cause heartache if no one is ready, willing and able to do anything to resolve them.
It is a new start for both leaders. Mr Abdullah will meet Mr Lee again soon, this time in Singapore, for a retreat similar to that of the Langkawi informal discussions.

tunku : singaopre is only interested in money/business.IDR business opportunity is something which they do not want to miss out.now they'll be extra good with us.and our leaders should take advantage on this and settle all the past issues but it seems that our leaders are not interested in solving those issue. all they think now is making friends and money.there's no more sovereignty issue. we are so dumb to sell water for RM0.03 for 1000 gallons of water and pak lah said this is not an urgent matter. Urgent matter for pak lah is to let singapore have business in IDR.