Johor Sultan Narrows the Singapore Strait

By admin-s Last updated Jul 17, 2014

Massive reclamation projects cause friction between Singapore and Malaysia

Najib has not responded. He has been described as frozen to the controls, unable to bring himself to confront the sultan.

Asia Sentinel

Tunku Ismail Idris, the Sultan of Johor, who was batted back a few weeks ago in his bid to gain control of the regulation of land development in his home state, is now precipitating a diplomatic crisis via massive land reclamations that subvert Malaysian laws and pose an environmental dilemma for Singapore.

Tunku Ismail is said to be a substantial shareholder in several real estate and other ventures within the massive Iskandar Malaysia Development Region, covering 2,200 sq. km and including the city of Johor Bahru and three surrounding towns. The project, started in 2006, is named for the current sultan’s late father, Almarhum Sultant Iskandar.

The Iskandar project is three times the land area of Singapore itself, population 5.3 million, and is designed to take advantage of the state’s strategic location just across the now- narrowing strait. Government planners hope Iskandar can take advantage of Singapore’s commercial and economic success in a way that Batam, Indonesia’s closest island, has never been able to do, providing advanced residential, business, education and tourism opportunities.

The projects stirring concerns in Singapore are the Forest Hills residential development, a joint venture between Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor, the government’s development arm, and Country Garden Holdings, mainland China’s biggest property developer, and a second, also by a Chinese property company, F&F Princess Cove being developed by Guangzhou R&F Properties Ltd. The Sultan is said to have sold six plots of land worth RM4.5 billion (US$1.4 billion) to Guangzhou R&F Properties.

According to a Malaysian businessman with knowledge of the situation, the Chinese property companies bought the land at over-inflated prices with the proviso that they would get the development order. The proceeds from the “over-inflated prices” were said to have gone into the Sultan’s coffers.

The projects are being built on 2,023 hectares of land being reclaimed in the Strait of Johor, with fill stretching all the way from Malaysia’s former shoreline to Singapore’s marine boundary in the middle of the strait, drastically narrowing the strait and setting the stage for serious land erosion. Nineteen creeks, waterways and rivulets empty into the strait, which forms the boundary between Singapore and Johor. With the same volume of water pushing through a narrowed channel, engineers fear the banks will erode badly.

The projects have raised a blizzard of objections from the Singapore government, which says it was given no prior information about them. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has spoken personally to his counterpart, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, at least twice. The Ministry of National Development has raised concerns, as has the National Environmental Agency. Several third-party notes have been sent, formal diplomatic notes between governments.

So far, however, sources say, Najib has not responded. He has been described as frozen to the controls, unable to bring himself to confront the sultan, according to several well-wired Malaysian sources. He was said to be in Johor today (July 16) to meet with United Malays National Organization cadres to break his fast this evening for Ramadan, but is not scheduled to meet with the Sultan.