Najib calls for ties to go past thorny issues

(The Straits Times) KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Singapore and Malaysia should not allow thorny or “legacy issues” to hobble cooperation in other productive areas such as the Iskandar project, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Both sides now enjoy a considerable warming of ties while the sharp rhetoric of the past has almost disappeared, he said in an interview ahead of his introductory visit to Singapore today.

Describing relations as much more constructive and cooperative now, he added: “I hope that the relationship will continue to improve in the years to come. It is incumbent upon our two governments to not allow some difficult — or if you like, thorny — bilateral issues to impede and hamper whatever progress we can achieve.”

He held up Iskandar Malaysia, the economic corridor in Johor, as one area ripe for further cooperation, as well as trade, tourism, cultural exchanges, security and defence.

“When I was defence minister, we had put forward one or two rather positive proposals, where our militaries can be engaged in a more cooperative arrangement,” he said in an interview with The Straits Times and Business Times at his Parliament office on Tuesday.

Najib, who arrives in Singapore this afternoon overland after visiting Iskandar, will hold meetings with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong tomorrow.

He said he hoped to establish a good working relationship with Lee. While he had no specific issues to discuss, he would put the Iskandar Malaysia project high on the agenda.

Launched in November 2006 and with an area nearly three times the size of Singapore, it is reported to have netted US$11 billion (RM39.6 billion) of its US$13 billion overall foreign direct investment target for the phase ending next year. Najib said last month that Johoreans would not be sidelined in the corridor and called for the project not to be politicised. To make it easier for visitors from Singapore to enter Iskandar, an automated clearing system will be implemented in phases.

During the interview, Najib said he was keen to get off the ground some iconic projects, as discussed with Lee in Pattaya last month on the sidelines of the aborted Asean meeting.

“I'd like to facilitate the movement of people between our two sides. And there is a committee chaired by our two ministers to look into working out some of the arrangements to facilitate flow of people between our two countries. And we'll take it from there,” he said.

The Prime Minister, who took office on April 3, was measured and relaxed throughout, giving answers off-the-cuff.

Asked if Malaysia intends to resume the project to replace the Causeway with a bridge — a project that his predecessor had cancelled — he responded cautiously.

He said he wanted a proper study of all aspects of the bridge and would not want to put a timeframe on any decision.

On how his government would react to pressure from parties critical of Singapore's involvement in Iskandar Malaysia, he said: “That's an internal matter. We'll manage that.

“Both countries stand to gain. The most important thing is to be in a positive mode, think in terms of what we can gain from our bilateral relationship rather than going back into the old mindset where we start exchanging rather sharp rhetoric between our two countries.”

On the legacy issues between Singapore and Malaysia, he noted there were several, including the Points of Agreement on developing Malayan Railway land in Singapore and water. Some were easier to resolve than others, he said.

“These are longstanding issues and if they could have been resolved easily, they would have been resolved earlier. So I don't want to prescribe any timeframe but we should make steady progress,” said Najib.

He added that getting past these issues would take “a lot of political willingness to be pragmatic about it, to be as flexible as possible to find common ground”.