http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_389473.html
Balance must be fair
By Lydia Lim, Senior Political Correspondent
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew (left) has expressed guarded optimism for future cooperation between Singapore and Malaysia. -- PHOTO: AP
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has expressed guarded optimism for future cooperation between Singapore and Malaysia, after four days of meetings with top leaders in Kuala Lumpur.
He found members of the Malaysian Cabinet solidly behind Prime Minister Najib Razak's new policy of cooperation with Singapore.
Mr Lee impressed on the Malaysian leaders that such cooperation must be long-term and across the board as massive investments are involved.
The two iconic projects that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Datuk Seri Najib agreed to cooperate on when they met in Singapore last month, are the Iskandar Malaysia economic zone and a third bridge from Changi to Desaru in east Johor.
The final balance of outcomes must also be fair on both sides, MM Lee said.
For Singapore, it does not make sense to cooperate on the third bridge if Johor does not lift its ban on the export of sand to the Republic, which has been in place since 1997, he said.
'The third bridge from Changi, it's for technical discussions. It does not make sense to us if at the same time, they punish us by making us barge sand from Vietnam.
'It's no benefit to them; it's just to cause us extra losses. So if it is cooperation, it must be across the board and the final balance must be fair on both sides and not just in specific, selective areas.'
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.
Balance must be fair
By Lydia Lim, Senior Political Correspondent
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew (left) has expressed guarded optimism for future cooperation between Singapore and Malaysia. -- PHOTO: AP
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has expressed guarded optimism for future cooperation between Singapore and Malaysia, after four days of meetings with top leaders in Kuala Lumpur.
He found members of the Malaysian Cabinet solidly behind Prime Minister Najib Razak's new policy of cooperation with Singapore.
Mr Lee impressed on the Malaysian leaders that such cooperation must be long-term and across the board as massive investments are involved.
The two iconic projects that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Datuk Seri Najib agreed to cooperate on when they met in Singapore last month, are the Iskandar Malaysia economic zone and a third bridge from Changi to Desaru in east Johor.
The final balance of outcomes must also be fair on both sides, MM Lee said.
For Singapore, it does not make sense to cooperate on the third bridge if Johor does not lift its ban on the export of sand to the Republic, which has been in place since 1997, he said.
'The third bridge from Changi, it's for technical discussions. It does not make sense to us if at the same time, they punish us by making us barge sand from Vietnam.
'It's no benefit to them; it's just to cause us extra losses. So if it is cooperation, it must be across the board and the final balance must be fair on both sides and not just in specific, selective areas.'
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.
