KL plays down bridge issue with S'pore

KL plays down bridge issue with S'pore

MALAYSIA: Malaysia on Tuesday played down a dispute with Singapore over a bridge linking the two countries, days ahead of the new Malaysian leader's first official visit to the city- state.

Malaysia has said it wants to unilaterally work on a new bridge across the 1.5-kilometer wide strait separating it from the island of Singapore, in order to ease traffic congestion on the existing bridge and causeway.

Singapore's Foreign Minister Shanmugam Jayakumar said on Monday that unilaterally building the bridge would be wrong, because it would involve an international facility.

Asked about Jayakumar's claim, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar on Tuesday told reporters: "Whatever we want to do, we will do on our own territory ... without trying to impinge on the legal rights of others."

The bridge proposal is likely to be among topics discussed when Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi calls on his Singapore counterpart Goh Chok Tong on Jan. 12. -- AP