Bridge in the east or wider Causeway?

(The Straits Times) – Singapore and Malaysia are looking at fresh ideas to help improve the flow of goods and people, such as expanding the Causeway or building a new bridge on the eastern side of Johor.

Both Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Razak agreed there was a need to cater for the increasing flow of people and traffic between their countries — even as they acknowledged difficulties when talk of replacing the Causeway was previously mooted.

Yesterday, Najib broached the idea of a new bridge linking the eastern side of both countries.

“I (raised) the possibility of having a new bridge on the eastern side, because the eastern side is less developed and there's huge potential there,” he said at a joint press conference at the Istana.

“We both agree that we should look at it in the medium and long term. No great hurry. But let us commission a proper study (of its) viability.”

Najib also addressed the question of the Causeway.

The idea of building a bridge to replace the Causeway has been a thorny bilateral issue. It was an initiative of former Malaysian premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who repeatedly raised the matter in the last few years of his term.

When Singapore wanted to discuss the bridge as part of a package of bilateral trade-offs, Dr Mahathir insisted that Malaysia could build an elevated bridge to replace its half of the Causeway — an S-shaped half-bridge widely dubbed the “crooked bridge”.

The plan was eventually scrapped by his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2006.

Since Najib assumed the premiership in April, there have been calls for the bridge to be revived, especially in Johor business circles, which claim it will resuscitate flagging trade in the city.

But yesterday, Najib said he did not want history to repeat itself.

“With respect to the Causeway, I told PM Hsien Loong that I wouldn't want to go down the same route and end up with another problem or another disappointment,” he said.

“I think we should agree (on) what we need to do. We agree on the objectives first, then let's look at how we achieve that objective.

“There could be other ways of achieving that objective. We talked about perhaps enlarging the Causeway or having a rail link. Whatever it is, as long as the objectives are met.”

In his comments, Lee said they had talked about the need to facilitate the flow of people and traffic, and to ensure that this could take place conveniently and smoothly.

“I explained the history of this problem to Prime Minister (Najib), the bridge and how it came about, what the difficulties were,” said Lee.

“But I expressed my full support for the objective of enhancing the connectivity and the ease of movement on both sides.”

Lee had suggested other alternatives such as broadening the Causeway or improving the current rail link to make it easy for more people to travel back and forth.

Both leaders said that these suggestions would be looked at by the Joint Ministerial Committee of the two countries.