Malaysia denies it plans to review S'pore ties

Malaysia denies it plans to review S'pore ties

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia has no plans to review ties
with Singapore and wants to resolve disputes with the island
republic, Deputy Foreign Minister Leo Michael Toyad was quoted as
saying on Tuesday.

"The government will resolve all outstanding issues with
Singapore even though it may be difficult and take time," Toyad
told the Malaysian parliament, the national Bernama news agency
said.

Bernama said Toyad was commenting on a statement by
Singapore's deputy prime minister that although ties between the
two countries were strained, they had not reached the level of
going to war.

Toyad said he hoped Singapore would weigh the implications
carefully before making such statements.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday it
would be difficult for Malaysia to be friendly with Singapore
following remarks against his country made in a recent book by
Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

In his recently-published memoirs, Lee accused Malaysian
politicians of instigating race riots in his country which killed
23 people in 1964.

"Now our past leaders who have passed away are vilified by
them (the memoirs), our people feel very angry," Mahathir said on
Saturday.

Toyad also said the two countries have referred a dispute over
an island which they jointly claim to the International Court of
Justice in the Hague.

He said Malaysia had also explained to Singapore its
intentions in imposing restrictions on the use of its airspace by
the Singapore air force. Malaysia imposed the restrictions on
Sept. 18.

Singapore broke away from the Malaysian Federation in 1965,
and ties between the overwhelmingly Chinese island and the
predominantly Malay peninsula have remained fragile.

Ties were strained this year by a row over immigration
procedures for railway passengers, the air space restrictions and
capital controls imposed by Kuala Lumpur which affected investors
in Singapore.

In another development, the Philippines and Malaysia on
Tuesday backed away from a diplomatic squabble over sacked
Malaysian cabinet minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Hours after Kuala Lumpur said it was ready to restore scrapped
defense talks with Manila, President Joseph Estrada said he had
said enough in support of Anwar and would now keep his peace.

"I have already expressed my feelings and I think that's
enough," Estrada told reporters after meeting former president
Fidel Ramos who, he said, advised him to exercise restraint.

"I'm through already...I think it will stop there," he said.
Estrada sparked a diplomatic row with Kuala Lumpur when he said
recently that Malaysia should respect Anwar's rights and give him
"due process".

He also urged Anwar not to give up the fight and said the
Philippines and Indonesia planned a joint appeal to Mahathir to
move Anwar to house arrest.

Estrada said Ramos told him to balance his commitment to
support Anwar -- whom Estrada calls a "personal friend" -- with
the interests of about 300,000 Filipinos living in Malaysia.

Earlier, Estrada played down fears the row over Anwar could
harm the status of the Filipino workers in Malaysia, saying the
two issues were unrelated.

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