Malaysia, Singapore discuss regional woes
Malaysia, Singapore discuss regional woes
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): The leaders of Malaysia and Singapore
met yesterday to discuss the region's economic turmoil but did
not offer specific solutions to overcome it, a Malaysian minister
said.
Meeting for the third time in a month, visiting Singapore
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong also discussed long-standing
bilateral issues for 90 minutes with his Malaysian counterpart,
Mahathir Mohamad.
Delegations from the two countries, which included their
foreign ministers, later held a one-hour meeting together with
Goh and Mahathir.
While relations between the two neighbors have been testy in
the recent past, officials from both sides described the
atmosphere of the meetings as friendly.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Malaysian Foreign
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said both leaders expressed
concerns over Indonesia, where riots have broken out over its
economic woes.
The persistent weakness of the Indonesian rupiah has also
pulled down other regional currencies against the U.S. dollar.
"They (the officials) took the opportunity to discuss the
regional currency issue and most of them agreed that they will
work together to help bring back the economies, to revive our
economies," he said.
"Both have also expressed concern about the situation in
Indonesia," Abdullah said.
When asked if there were any specific economic proposals for
the region, he said: "Not that I know of any particular
proposals, but I think some general statements on how we will
deal with the currency situation will be put in the communique."
An official communique will be released today.
Abdullah said he did not know if Mahathir and Goh had
discussed a proposal by Malaysia to use the Singapore dollar as
the regional currency peg for trading.
Singapore Finance Minister Richard Hu said last Friday it was
not possible to use the Singapore currency as a peg. Other areas
of discussion were the outstanding issues of Malaysia's supply of
water to Singapore, a dispute over ownership of an island.
Abdullah said relations between the two countries were "back
to normal" after a row triggered when Singapore's Senior Minister
Lee Kuan Yew described Malaysia's Johor state as a place where
muggings, shootings and car-jackings were common.
The comments sparked a furor in Malaysia. Lee later retracted
them.
Abdullah said "there is a certain air of bullishness" in the
meetings. A Singapore official who took part in the discussions
said they were held in a "very good, friendly" atmosphere.