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.