S'pore marks independence

S'pore marks independence

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore celebrated 33 years of
independence yesterday but a simmering row with Malaysia
highlighted the strained relations since the city-state split
from the Malaysian Federation in 1965.

Ties have soured over the moving of railway checkpoint posts
and last Saturday night, Singapore leaders took the opportunity
at celebratory dinners to reply to rhetoric from their northern
neighbor.

Singapore moved its immigration and customs clearance
facilities from the central Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to the
north, closer to the border, and has asked Malaysia to do the
same.

But Malaysia has resisted, saying that Tanjong Pagar lies
within its own territory, causing a diplomatic deadlock. Under a
conditional treaty, the railway land on which the station stands
belongs to Malaysia.