Najib standing in the way of the Crooked Bridge
Salleh Said Keruak says Mahathir wants the Crooked Bridge for Johor’s business prosperity and if the PM doesn’t agree, he must be “ousted and replaced”
(Free Malaysia Today) – The intense criticism Prime Minister Najib Razak has suffered at the hands of Mahathir Mohamad stems from the issue of the Crooked Bridge that Najib refuses to see come to fruition but which the former premier sees as the ticket to Johor’s shipping prosperity, said Salleh Said Keruak.
In his blog posting, the Sabah State Legislature Speaker said the bridge, once up, would have allowed ships to sail through into Johor’s ports, thus boosting their import-export business.
He also said that this would inevitably mean that Singapore would have had to forgo a piece of their business pie, which they did not want to do.
“In short, the bridge will improve Malaysia’s import-export trade while it will take away the business from Singapore. So Malaysia will boom while Singapore’s business will decline. And this is why Singapore opposes the bridge and also why Malaysia needs the bridge.
“It all boils down to business rivalry between Singapore and Malaysia..”
He said Mahathir had argued that Johor could be the alternative to Singapore in regard to the shipping trade. “In fact, Johor can outgrow Singapore. But for that to happen the bridge first needs to be built,” Salleh said.
