Malaysia closes entry to S'pore jets

Malaysia closes entry to S'pore jets

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday that a decision to bar Singapore Air Force planes from entering the country's air space was permanent.

"Looks like it's going to be permanent, not temporary," the national Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.

Malaysia said on Thursday Singapore Air Force aircraft could no longer enter Malaysian airspace without authorization, and it terminated combined search and rescue operations and exercises between the two air forces.

A government statement said the new restrictions, to take effect from Friday, were based on "increasing congestion over Malaysian airspace and the concerns expressed by the general public".

Mahathir said Malaysia's actions were intended to "take back our territory bit by bit".

Some diplomats and analysts said the moves were the latest sign of worsening relations between the neighboring nations and could be linked to the release this week of Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs, which accused Malaysia of "bullying and intimidation" during the two countries' two-year federation which ended in 1965.

The Defense Ministry said on Thursday that case-by-case permission must be sought by Singapore for: military jets from Paya Lebar Air Base heading across southern Malaysia for training flights over the South China Sea, aircraft passing into Malaysian air space as they take off from Tengah Air Base, and search-and- rescue aircraft flying above Malaysian territory.

In the past, such flights had blanket, prior approval. But such an arrangement, with one country's military aircraft flying at low altitude over another without warning, is highly unusual.

Sovereignty

The change was "just a case of a nation's asserting its sovereignty," said Prasun Sengupta, of the Malaysia-based Asian Defense Journal. He said Singapore military aircraft can file a flight plan and receive permission from Malaysia within a few hours, as is normal with other countries.

Defense Minister Syed Hamid told reporters, "It is not an easy decision. It was taken in the best interest of Malaysia." He denied that the move was retaliation for the memoirs published this week by Lee, in which he accused Malaysian leaders of the 1960s of being corrupt, morally lax and inciters of race riots.

Relations between the two countries have had their ups and downs. But in the past weeks, acrimony has been so sharp that Singaporean athletes were booed by the Malaysian crowd during the Commonwealth Games.

Malaysia withdrew from recent military exercises with Singapore, the United States, Britain and Australia.

The bar on overflights can hurt Singapore, a defense-conscious island group that has to train its pilots in Australia and the United States because it is so small.

"I think this will be seen rather more seriously in Singapore than in Malaysia," said Bruce Gale of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy regional newsletter, interviewed in Singapore.

Singapore, meanwhile said on Thursday that Malaysia's decision to scrap a blanket clearance for its military aircraft to enter Malaysian air space violated an agreement calling for advance notice of such moves.

Singapore's ministry of defense however said the Republic of Singapore Air Force "has alternative arrangements to ensure that its operational effectiveness is not compromised and that its training will not be affected."

"In some cases, the arrangements date back to the early 1960s. Several of these arrangements were based on considerations of safety and noise pollution. Malaysia has taken its decision without prior consultation or advance notification to Singapore even though one of the agreements provides for six months notification," a statement from the ministry said.