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."