Stop building the crooked
half-bridge to start a new chapter with Singapore
Press Statement
by Ronnie Liu
(Petaling Jaya,
Thursday):
Malaysia and Singapore
share extensive historic, economic, trade and people-to-people links. We
cannot afford to allow the bilateral relations between the two countries to
deteriorate. The new PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should work with
his Singapore counterpart closely to start a new chapter, instead of saddled
by the pending disputes such as water, land reclamation works, railway land,
Pulau Putih (Pedra Branca) and the replacement of Causeway with a new bridge
etc.
Abdullah should stop building
the "crazy and mindless" RM1.1 billion crooked half-bridge to start a new
relationship with Singapore in his meeting with Singapore Premier Mr Goh
Chok Tong on Monday, 12 Jan 2004.
DAP has come out strongly on
the issue from the day the plan for the crooked half-bridge was announced by
the former PM Mahathir Mohamad. DAP has also staged a public protest at the
site on Dec 19 last year. DAP national chairman Mr Lim Kit Siang has
described the crooked half-bridge as a "symbol of infamy".
In a recent development,
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar has said that Malaysia's bilateral
relations with its neighbours should not be based upon just an examination
of issues, but rather on political, economic, social and cultural links to
build a deeper, stronger relationship.
But Syed Hamid Albar should
realise that once the crooked half-bridge is completed, it will harden the
stance of both countries, making it even more difficult to resolve the other
pending controversies between the two neighbours. So Malaysia and Singapore
cannot run away from examination of issues such as the crooked half-bridge.
Syed Hamid was responding to a
statement by Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar, who said that
Singapore had pointed out in its third-party note to Malaysia that
international facilities such as the Causeway could not be lawfully
demolished without the approval, agreement and involvement of both states.
Straits Times Singapore
reported on Monday that the Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar spoke in
Parliament of Singapore's desire to leave the acrimony of the 'old era'
behind and move the bilateral relationship with Malaysia forward. But he
also responded to questions on a bridge to replace the Causeway, and said it
did not make sense for Singapore to build its part of a bridge. He disclosed
that to build that half, along with revisions to customs, immigration and
quarantine facilities would cost more than $500 million.
No one with a sensible mind
would accept such a crooked half-bridge. We don't want another national
folly or an international joke to tarnish the image of our country.
(8/1/2004)
* Ronnie Liu
Tian Khiew, DAP national publicity secretary
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