Malaysia closes entry to S'pore jets<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
\nMohamad said on Thursday that a decision to bar Singapore Air
\nForce planes from entering the country's air space was permanent.<\/p>\n
\"Looks like it's going to be permanent, not temporary,\" the
\nnational Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n
Malaysia said on Thursday Singapore Air Force aircraft could
\nno longer enter Malaysian airspace without authorization, and it
\nterminated combined search and rescue operations and exercises
\nbetween the two air forces.<\/p>\n
A government statement said the new restrictions, to take
\neffect from Friday, were based on \"increasing congestion over
\nMalaysian airspace and the concerns expressed by the general
\npublic\".<\/p>\n
Mahathir said Malaysia's actions were intended to \"take back
\nour territory bit by bit\".<\/p>\n
Some diplomats and analysts said the moves were the latest
\nsign of worsening relations between the neighboring nations and
\ncould be linked to the release this week of Singapore Senior
\nMinister Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs, which accused Malaysia of
\n\"bullying and intimidation\" during the two countries' two-year
\nfederation which ended in 1965.<\/p>\n
The Defense Ministry said on Thursday that case-by-case
\npermission must be sought by Singapore for: military jets from
\nPaya Lebar Air Base heading across southern Malaysia for training
\nflights over the South China Sea, aircraft passing into Malaysian
\nair space as they take off from Tengah Air Base, and search-and-
\nrescue aircraft flying above Malaysian territory.<\/p>\n
In the past, such flights had blanket, prior approval. But
\nsuch an arrangement, with one country's military aircraft flying
\nat low altitude over another without warning, is highly unusual.<\/p>\n
Sovereignty<\/p>\n
The change was \"just a case of a nation's asserting its
\nsovereignty,\" said Prasun Sengupta, of the Malaysia-based Asian
\nDefense Journal. He said Singapore military aircraft can file a
\nflight plan and receive permission from Malaysia within a few
\nhours, as is normal with other countries.<\/p>\n
Defense Minister Syed Hamid told reporters, \"It is not an easy
\ndecision. It was taken in the best interest of Malaysia.\" He
\ndenied that the move was retaliation for the memoirs published
\nthis week by Lee, in which he accused Malaysian leaders of the
\n1960s of being corrupt, morally lax and inciters of race riots.<\/p>\n
Relations between the two countries have had their ups and
\ndowns. But in the past weeks, acrimony has been so sharp that
\nSingaporean athletes were booed by the Malaysian crowd during the
\nCommonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
Malaysia withdrew from recent military exercises with
\nSingapore, the United States, Britain and Australia.<\/p>\n
The bar on overflights can hurt Singapore, a defense-conscious
\nisland group that has to train its pilots in Australia and the
\nUnited States because it is so small.<\/p>\n
\"I think this will be seen rather more seriously in Singapore
\nthan in Malaysia,\" said Bruce Gale of the Political and Economic
\nRisk Consultancy regional newsletter, interviewed in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Singapore, meanwhile said on Thursday that Malaysia's decision
\nto scrap a blanket clearance for its military aircraft to enter
\nMalaysian air space violated an agreement calling for advance
\nnotice of such moves.<\/p>\n
Singapore's ministry of defense however said the Republic of
\nSingapore Air Force \"has alternative arrangements to ensure that
\nits operational effectiveness is not compromised and that its
\ntraining will not be affected.\"<\/p>\n
\"In some cases, the arrangements date back to the early 1960s.
\nSeveral of these arrangements were based on considerations of
\nsafety and noise pollution. Malaysia has taken its decision
\nwithout prior consultation or advance notification to Singapore
\neven though one of the agreements provides for six months
\nnotification,\" a statement from the ministry said.<\/p>",
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