Umno Youth chief says a deal linking it to building of third bridge won't be acceptable
Mr Lee told Singapore newsmen that the ban had made it difficult for Singapore investors to take up opportunities across the Causeway. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
KUALA LUMPUR - UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin on Tuesday dismissed outright the possibility of Malaysia selling sand to Singapore. The MP for Rembau said he did not believe Malaysians, particularly Umno, would find a deal linking the sand issue to the building of a third bridge connecting the two countries acceptable.
'Although certainly Singapore will ask for some kind of trade-off, sand is very sensitive, so if it were up to me, the answer would be no,' he told The Malaysian Insider.
On Monday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew cited Kuala Lumpur's ban on sand exports to Singapore as an example of how cooperation had not been across the board under former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad.
Mr Lee told Singapore newsmen at the end of an eight-day trip to Malaysia that the ban had made it difficult for Singapore investors to take up opportunities across the Causeway, particularly in large-scale projects. He said the investors would put their money in Malaysia only if they could be absolutely sure bilateral cooperation was for the long term and not subject to 'chopping and changing'.
The Malaysian Insider website, quoting government officials, said Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration was willing to resolve outstanding bilateral issues with Singapore and consider lifting the ban on sale of sand to the Republic.
But in a report headlined 'Umno would rather 'burn bridges' than sell sand', the Insider said this was a 'no go' for Umno leaders. It said the leaders felt that whatever benefits the construction of a third bridge may bring must not come at the expense of the country's sovereignty.
Another Umno MP, former deputy higher education minister Idris Haron, was quoted as saying that Malaysians' 'long tolerance' of Singapore has nurtured greater hatred towards the Republic. 'These grouses come from the fact that Singapore has always expected reciprocal agreements. Any prospect of getting their cooperation on something must be reciprocated,' the MP from Malacca said.
He also said that imposing any condition on the third bridge proposal was likely to hamper it.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had also rejected the idea outright, according to the Insider. It said that for some Umno members, even the idea of a third bridge was far-fetched, and 'the government should not even waste time discussing the sand issue'.
'The government should address the many problems facing the existing bridge, like traffic congestion and so on and not waste time on something totally unnecessary,' Mr Shahrir Samad, who is the Umno parliamentarian for Johor Baru, was quoted as saying.
Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of the Straits Times
