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.