No need to consult KL on land reclamation: S'pore
No need to consult KL on land reclamation: S'pore
Agence France-Presse, Singapore
A Singapore minister said on Friday there was no need to consult Malaysia on a reclamation project near the neighbors' maritime border, which has raised protests from Kuala Lumpur.
"The reclamation works that we do are a result of our own need for land," Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan told parliament.
He rejected suggestions the works could obstruct ships headed for nearby Malaysian ports.
"So I do not see why we have to consult Malaysia," said Mah, whose ministry is in charge of the reclamation drive on the narrow Tebrau Strait separating the tiny city-state from its larger neighbor.
Dismissing criticism that Singapore's reclamation project was being carried out furtively, Mah said "these are not secret plans."
He said Singapore, a small island-republic, has been reclaiming land within its territorial waters for more than 30 years to house its people and industries.
"They do not encroach on Malaysian territory. We have carried out these works within our territorial waters," he said.
"Even then, even after all the reclamation for the last 40 years and all the reclamation that we are going to do within our territorial waters, we will still be a small country, still smaller than Malaysia."
Malaysia has said the reclamation project could obstruct ships headed for ports in its southern state of Johor, which are being promoted to rival Singapore's port, and officials in Kuala Lumpur have criticized Singapore for allegedly ignoring their concerns.
Mah said these concerns were unfounded as Singapore's reclamation works "are about seven kilometers (4.4 miles) away from the shipping lane" to Malaysia's port of Tanjung Pelepas.
"So there is no possibility that our reclamation will affect access to Tanjung Pelepas port," Mah said.
He reiterated Singapore was still waiting for Kuala Lumpur to list its concerns formally in a letter, an offer put to Malaysia when Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited the country recently.
"The Singapore government is still waiting for a note from the Malaysians to understand their concerns more fully," Mah said.
The land reclamation row has put a fresh strain on ties between the neighbors, which have been erratic since Singapore was ejected from the Malaysian Federation to become an independent state in 1965.
Water supplies from Malaysia to Singapore, a proposed bridge linking the countries and the use of Malaysian airspace by Singaporean aircraft are among other bones of contention.