Little common ground

Singapore and Malaysia pick a fight over a new border checkpoint

A history of differences:

RELATIONS between Singapore and Malaysia have never been easy. The difficulties between the two go back to the beginning, when Singapore withdrew from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965 because of Kuala Lumpur's preferential policies for native Malays. Mistrust and no small amount of animosity have lingered over the neighboring states ever since. "Malaysia is always thinking that Singapore is developing at its own disadvantage," says Zakaria Ahmad, a professor at the National University of Malaysia. And some in Singapore believe that Kuala Lumpur doesn't give the republic the respect it deserves. An Aug. 1 editorial in the government-controlled Straits Times said: "Again and again Kuala Lumpur has displayed a worrying disregard for normal courtesies and proprieties."

The two nations have disagreed over the rent for a Malaysian naval base in Singapore, taken a land dispute to the International Court of Justice and fought about football match-fixing. And that is just in the past six years. The economic crisis has prompted complaints from Malaysia that Singapore's relatively high interest rates are drawing much-needed cash out of the country and that its policy of holding onto the mandatory retirement savings of certain Malaysians working in the republic is unfair. Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik accused Singapore of being "selfish" by trying to prevent new Malaysian ports from winning some of its business. Malaysia has also criticized the Singapore press for focusing on opening-day troubles at Kuala Lumpur's airport. And the two countries missed an April deadline to sign another crucial (to Singapore) water agreement.

Now the prickly neighbors have picked an old fight. They are sparring over the location of a Malaysian immigration and customs facility in Singapore. Authorities there asked Malaysia to move its checkpoint from Tanjong Pagar, a railway station that it owns in Singapore's business district, to Woodlands, a new station just at the border. In 1993 they reached an agreement to move both countries' immigration operations at the same time to the same place. Then things fell apart. Singapore went ahead and relocated its facilities on Aug. 1. Malaysia has so far refused to do so. Singapore says it is following international protocol; Malaysia says it will present its legal case for keeping operations at Tanjong Pagar within three months. The station, owned by Malaysia's rail company KTM - under a 1918 colonial ordinance and a 999-year lease that limits use of the land - is prime Singapore real estate. The two countries made a deal in 1990 to break the ordinance and one day jointly redevelop the station and other land along the rail line held by KTM. Malaysia suspects that if it vacates Tanjong Pagar, Singapore will say the 1990 agreement is in force. Then Malaysia might lose its claim to some of its land. Singapore denies this.

And there they are, with little common ground and even less space to maneuver. Especially since the controversy now occupies the public imagination. Some 8000 people cheered as Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned Singapore: "We have tried to be good neighbors. But don't take us for granted." He was speaking in a Johor Baru stadium, a few kilometers from the border. Two days earlier, on Aug. 2, UMNO Vice President Najib Tun Razak called Singapore "arrogant and insensitive" for moving its immigration facility without reaching an agreement with Malaysia. A spokesman for the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs responded: "This is what Malaysia usually says when it has no logical arguments to offer."

Just why the 1993 agreement didn't hold up is a matter of some contention. It wasn't until four years later, in June 1997, that Malaysia informed Singapore that it would not move its immigration facilities to Woodlands. The republic's authorities say they were as surprised as anybody else to learn of Kuala Lumpur's decision. Malaysia has not really explained its policy change, either. But apparently officials were in no mood to cooperate with Singapore after Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's critical comments about Johor state were made public in March 1997. Lee said the state was "notorious for shootings, muggings and carjackings." Nor did they want to leave open the possibility that Singapore could claim other KTM land.

The negotiations that followed took place as Asia's economic crisis took hold, and Singapore's property market choked. A few months ago, the government could not find a buyer for a large plot in the central business district. Authorities there have not said that they want to redevelop Tanjong Pagar station for commercial use anytime soon. But some say Malaysian officials are worried about the possibility nonetheless and so are refusing to budge.

Malaysia has also suggested that Singapore has not done all it could to help during the bad times. "They started this. Certainly when we are having economic problems, this is unwelcome," Mahathir said on Aug. 1. "Unsubstantiated allegations from Malaysia blaming everything on Singapore are nothing new," said a Home Affairs spokesman three days later. Then there was the fact that Kuala Lumpur would have to pay rent for facilities at the $15 million Woodlands complex. UMNO Youth said on Aug. 3: "Anyone who weakens and belittles us now should remember that our economy will recover, and we will remember who were our enemies and who were our friends."

Meanwhile, Singapore offered its neighbor no acceptable compromises. The first train to follow the new schedule left Tanjong Pagar for Malaysia at 8:15 am on Aug. 1 as planned. Malaysian immigration officials at the station did not stamp the travel documents of the passengers. Instead they scanned passports into a computer to avoid causing a "diplomatic irregularity." Passengers then disembarked at Woodlands to clear Singapore immigration before continuing across the causeway. And for a while longer they will continue to do so.

Despite everything, officials on both sides say they should be able to resolve the standoff amicably. In any negotiations Malaysia will have an edge, though: Singapore gets about half of its drinking water from Malaysia and has secured supplies only until the middle of the next century. "We have been considerate, but what did we get in return?" said Mahathir on Aug. 4. "They have asked us to leave Tanjong Pagar when we supply them with water." Nobody has threatened to review the two water-supply deals with Singapore, which expire in 2011 and 2061. But UMNO Youth has suggested that new agreements should be "realistic and appropriate." This is a vital concern to Singapore. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Mahathir discussed water in Kuala Lumpur in February during an unusually friendly visit. Mahathir apparently even drove Goh around the capital himself. The two said they would reach a new agreement about extending water supplies within 60 days. It didn't happen.

- Reported by Andrea Hamilton/Singapore and Santha Oorjitham/Kuala Lumpur

A History of Differences:

1965: Singapore leaves the Malaysian federation over, among other things, Kuala Lumpur's growing pro-Malay policies.

1989: Singapore informs Malaysia of its intention to move its Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities from the downtown railway terminal in Tanjong Pagar to northern Woodlands (at the border with Malaysia).

1992: After Singapore triples the rent for the Malaysian naval base at Woodlands, Kuala Lumpur decides to close it down.

1994: Malaysia and Singapore refer their dispute over the island which Malaysia calls Batu Putih and Singapore calls Pedra Branca to the International Court of Justice. Singapore has administered the lighthouse on the island since 1850. The island became an issue when the Singapore authorities prevented Malaysian fishermen from entering its waters in 1989.

1995: The Football Association of Singapore pulls out of the Malaysia Cup, after being asked to prove it was serious about stopping match-fixing.

1996: Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew causes ripples on both sides of the causeway when he says that an eventual reunion may be possible if Malaysia practices meritocracy.

1997: Senior Minister Lee's comment about Malaysia's Johor state being "notorious for shootings, muggings and carjackings," made in an affidavit in a court case, becomes public. He later apologises but Malaysian Deputy PM Anwar Ibrahim says it will "take time and effort" to normalize ties between the two countries.

1998: In February, Singapore PM Goh Chok Tong visits Kuala Lumpur. The two governments pledge to pursue a "prosper-thy-neighbor" policy. This includes a general undertaking that Malaysia will continue the supply of water to Singapore beyond the existing agreements. A formal Water Agreement is to be completed within 60 days, but the deadline is not met. Later, Singapore ministers say the conditions for West Malaysians to withdraw Central Provident Fund savings accumulated in Singapore can be settled "in the context of a broader cooperation package between Malaysia and Singapore," which would include long-term water supply and the development of Malayan Railway land. In August the dispute over the Tanjong Pagar station bubbles over.