Singapore-Malaysia row an ASEAN acid test?

Singapore-Malaysia row an ASEAN acid test?

By Dean Visser

SINGAPORE (DPA): The recent loud dispute between next-door
neighbors Singapore and Malaysia might be disturbing to those
within hearing distance -- but it is not about to lower property
values in the neighborhood, regional observers say.

Though the fracas exploded overnight from a three-word phrase
into a serious diplomatic storm, it appears to have left the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with its vital
reputation for strong internal harmony intact.

"I think ASEAN is one of the reasons these bilateral problems
don't get out of hand," said John Funston, an expert on regional
affairs at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "The
leadership on both sides is committed to cooperation rather than
confrontation."

A grouping dedicated to stability and free trade in the
region, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar, Cambodia
and Laos are expected to join this year.

A fray erupted in March after Singapore's former Prime
Minister Lee Kuan Yew called Malaysia's Johor state, which lies
within sight of Singapore's famously safe streets, a place
notorious for "shootings, muggings and car-jackings".

Malaysians were furious. Youths took the streets carrying
signs calling venerated elder statesman Lee "senile" and a "hantu
raya", Malay for "lurking ghost".

There were widespread demands for an apology from Singapore,
and some Malaysian officials talked of freezing diplomatic ties
between the two intimately connected countries.

Lee, who made the barb in an affidavit filed during a private
court case, said he had never intended it to be made public. He
apologized twice, and had the words striken from the public
record.

But the hostilities raged on. Malaysia, which provides more
than half of tiny Singapore's water by pipeline, hinted that it
might consider cutting off the supply.

Caught offguard by the vehemence of the Malaysian reaction to
Lee's slight, Singapore soon began to view itself as the wronged
party.

Members of Singapore's newly-elected parliament lashed out at
Malaysia during their first-session speeches in the past week.
"Most Singaporeans find the intensity of the emotions expressed
by the Malaysians far outweighs the gravity of the statement on
the crime rate in Johor," legislator Wang Kai Yuen said.

"Do not take us for granted or make us the whipping boy,"
parliamentarian Ong Chit Chung warned Malaysia. "It cannot go on
like this."

Singapore's once-booming tourist flow into Malaysia slowed to
a trickle during the course of the tiff. Malaysia talked of
boycotting Singapore's seaport.

Kuala Lumpur news reports accused Singapore of stepping up
border checks on Malaysians, and Singapore media reported that
some Singaporeans were delayed overnight in Malaysia at the
usually speedy border crossing.

Newspapers in both countries devoted page after page of daily
coverage to the spat, and each side featured prominent special
articles on rising crime on the other side of the border.

Plans to develop land in Singapore owned by Malaysia's state
railway came into disagreement, raising concerns about a plan to
link Singapore to a new trans-Asia electric railway.

But many analysts and officials in Southeast Asia said the top
leaders' will maintain a stable, friendly and prosperous ASEAN
would win out over newspaper catfights and lower-level politics.
"Malaysia is intent on proving to the world that it's a
sophisticated economy -- it's like a teenager growing up," Bruce
Gale, an analyst for the Hongkong-based Political and Economic
Risk Consultancy, said. "And Singapore sees its neighbor, which
it thinks it knows well, acting in ways which it finds
unsettling."

"The positive thing about ASEAN," Gale noted, "is that these
member states do try to find solutions when spats arise. Emotions
on the ground level are still there, but the top leaders realize
the stakes are pretty high."

Saroj Chavanaviraj, permanent secretary for Thailand's Foreign
Ministry, said small conflicts were inevitable in southeast Asia.
"But ASEAN has matured to the point where we recognize our mutual
benefits, and these outweigh bilateral problems," he said.

Singaporean and Malaysian heads of state have repeatedly and
calmly called for better relations throughout the crisis.

"If Singapore and Malaysia can embark on a new era of
cooperation," Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said, "we
will signal to the present and future generations that we have
discarded the old historical and emotional baggage in favor of
fruitful, mutually beneficial cooperation."

"Naturally, between neighbors there will be differences off
and on," Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said earlier.
"but we have already stated that, over time, this feeling (of
hurt) can be overcome."