KL wants mediation on S'pore water row

KL wants mediation on S'pore water row

Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's prime minister called on Friday for arbitration to resolve a row with Singapore over water supply and said he would push through a plan to build a bridge across the strait between the two neighbors.

Mahathir Mohamad quashed any lingering thoughts of a new round of talks on the water issue, saying arbitration was the only way out.

"I think the period of talking and negotiating is now over," the veteran leader told a news conference. "We want to have arbitration according to the provisions of the agreement."

Singapore lies at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, separated by a narrow strait. The two nations, which separated in 1965 after a brief union in the years following independence from Britain, have deep economic ties but relations have sometime been prickly.

They have long been at odds over the price of untreated water Malaysia provides under two deals signed in the early 1960s with its resource-poor but prosperous neighbor.

Other bilateral spats include overlapping claims on a rocky islet, use of Malaysian airspace by Singapore fighters and the replacement of a road/rail causeway connecting the two nations.

Mahathir took a swipe at Singapore over its reluctance to help replace the half-kilometer (500-yard) causeway, built by the British colonial government in 1924.

He said Malaysia would go ahead with a plan to build a US$290 million bridge on its waters and then merge it with the old causeway at the Singapore end.

"We have no choice but to design a bridge that looks a bit odd. If not, we cannot gain the right height and the right inclination," he said after awarding a contract to a Malaysian group building the bridge.

Mahathir said the structure would allow vessels of not more than 25 meters in height to sail through, allowing the movement of cargo from Malaysia's Pasir Gudang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas.