S'pore's, Malaysia to tackle differences

S'pore's, Malaysia to tackle differences

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Singaporean Foreign Minister S.Jayakumar arrived in Malaysia on Sunday, a day ahead of talks to iron out longstanding disputes that have strained relations between the two neighbors.

Jayakumar, who is due to meet Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar on Monday, arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) with a delegation of ministry officials, an airport spokesman told AFP.

The two-day meeting would be the first ministerial-level discussion which would include, among others, details of a mutually agreeable "package deal" to calculate the price Singapore will pay for importing water from Malaysia.

Singapore buys half of its daily water from Malaysia's Johor state at three sen (less than one US cent) per 1,000 gallons.

Malaysia has accused its neighbor of profiteering from "cheap" Johor water under agreements dating back to the early 1960s.

Malaysia and Singapore, the best of neighbors and sometimes worst of rivals, will try this week to reach a landmark pact on the thorniest issue in their relationship -- water.

Differences over the quantity and price of water provided by Malaysia to Singapore has extended into many bilateral problems that officials will try to resolve in two days of talks in Kuala Lumpur beginning on Monday.

But a history of mistrust and doubts over Malaysia's foreign policy after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's scheduled resignation late next year could set back any long-yielding agreement, analysts said.

Led by the foreign ministers of the two countries, the talkshop will see Malaysia tabling a formula for fixing the price of both raw and treated water that it supplies to its tiny island neighbor from its southern state of Johor, officials said.

The formula, yet to be made public, was proposed by Mahathir to Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew in March after several previous talks made little headway.

Long-time observers of relations between the two countries said they did not expect this week's meeting to get beyond setting the stage for further talks.

"Singapore always wants everything its way and the Malaysians are very wary of this, so they keep shifting the goal posts everytime they talk," political commentator M.G.G. Pillai said.

Mahathir had earlier called for "a certain level of compromise" on Singapore's part, saying it was "ridiculous" to sell water to the republic at three sen when Hong Kong buys water from mainland China at eight ringgit (2.10 dollars) per 1,000 gallons.

Mahathir said that Malaysia had no objections if Singapore decided not to buy raw water from Johor.

"It is fine if Singapore does not want to buy our water. There will come a time when Johor will be short of water," he said.

Syed Hamid has said Malaysia was willing to continue the supply of water to Singapore for another 100 years after the current pact expires in 2061, but the city-state must be open to paying a higher price.

"Malaysia does not want to continue to be shackled or haunted by the water problem. If Singapore has an open attitude and wants to reach a consensus, then we can move forward in our relationship without looking back," he said.

Both governments have expressed hopes that some progress will be made to resolve longstanding tiffs, but with a long list of thorny issues on the Monday's agenda, finding the ultimate solution that has eluded all previous encounters is unlikely.

Apart from water, other irritants include a proposed bridge linking the countries, the use of Malaysian airspace by Singaporean aircraft, and the location of Malaysia's customs, immigration and quarantine facility in Singapore.

Many of the problems have strained relations since the city- state was kicked out of the Malaysian Federation in 1965, while modern issues now affecting ties include Malaysia's intention to replace the tiny republic as the regional business hub in Southeast Asia.