On Saturday, Foreign Affairs Minister Shunmugam Jayakumar told Parliament that "the release was necessary to set the record straight and let people judge for themselves the allegations being made by the Malaysians."

He said Malaysian leaders and media had made repeated attacks against Singapore over the past year,including describing it as "arrogant", "un-neighbourly" and "profiteering" from the water it supplies the republic.

A total of 19 letters was made public, with Straits Times publishing three Sunday which showed "how Malaysia agreed to up the price of water from three sen to 45 sen per thousand gallons and subsequently changed its position to 60 sen per thousand gallons and for the price to be subjected to a five-yearly review."

Monday, the newspaper published five letters that "detail how Malaysia changed its position again even as a deal neared closing. In the final part Tuesday, it said it will publish letters that show how Malaysia pulled water out of a package of bilateral issues to be discussed as one deal on its own and without prior notice to Singapore.

Jayakumar told parliament on Saturday that in setting out the facts, he would also circulate copies of the two Water Agreements of 1961 and 1962, plus a supplementary water agreement in 1999 relating to the building of the Linggiu dam on the Johor River and the purchase by Singapore of treated water in excess of the 250 million gallons per day (mgd) from this river.

"These are all documents for the record. I have been reluctant to release these documents despite misrepresentation of facts from the other side (Malaysia) because we hoped for a win-win outcome."

"But I have to release them now because this hope is no longer realistic and so much misinformation on the water issue has been put out by Malaysia that needs to be rebutted by conclusive evidence," he claimed.

-- BERNAMA

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