Last week, Singapore and Malaysia announced that they have settled a land deal regarding the Malaysian railway land in Tanjong Pagar. Details of the deal involve Malaysia getting four land parcels in Marina South and two land parcels in the Ophir-Rochor area; in return Singapore got land parcels in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji, Woodlands, and Bukit Timah.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the deal jointly and both said they were delighted at the deal. Solving long-standing land disputes between 2 countries is always a good thing but when the deal was announced, I was surprised that Singapore had given away land in the Ophir-Rochor area.
With new plans to expand the Central Business District to the area, those parcels of land were in prime area. Maybe even in the heart of a new financial business district. Even the parcels in Marina South are in good locations as the location is somewhat near the Marina Sands casino.
I thought it strange that Singapore had given away prime land in return for land in less important locations. Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t a bad deal; it just wasn’t a good one as I thought Singapore gave away a lot. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars here.
Now I understand.
On Feb. 27, 2008, Mas Selamat Kastari embarrassed the Singapore government when he escaped from a Singapore prison by wriggling out a bathroom window. Despite a massive manhunt around the island, it would be a year before the terror suspect was recaptured…in Malaysia! Malaysian police captured him with help from Indonesia and almost no input from Singapore. It was humiliation on top of embarrassment.
Malaysia had already rejected Singapore’s request to extradite Mas Selamat but after 18 months of saying “No,” Malaysia suddenly announced that they will deport him back to Singapore. In the same week when the land deal was made.
A coincidence that has nothing to do with the land deal? I don’t think so.
4 comments:
Based on Mrs Josephine Teo's "personal" view & Ms Indranee Rajah's "doubt"......i'm 200% there's no link between Mas Selamat's release and the land swop deal :)
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http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/viewtopic.php?t=375017&sid=60d6d1c0d4c3cdcb137ce903493fec3e
Mrs Josephine Teo, an MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs, shot down the idea of a link between Mas Selamat's release and the land swop deal.
'Personally it's rather hard to believe. They are two separate matters. The land deal is a matter that has been brewing for years, and all this time it has not affected our ability to work together with Malaysia on security issues,' she said.
Her fellow committee member, Ms Indranee Rajah, an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, also expressed doubt, pointing out that the land deal was already a fair bargain with both sides getting good value out of the transaction.
'The Malaysian government had already said they would eventually hand him over to us. Getting him back earlier is good, but it seems unlikely it was a factor for the land deal,' she said.
Doubt and personal view does not equal a "NO!" So when even PAP MPs refused to say "NO"...
We didn't "give" those parcels of land away , they will be 60/40% jointly owned by Malaysia and Singpore's state investment funds. Although the tenure of the pacels were not disclosed , I suspect it's freehold. The railway track land is hard to quantify because it's like a deep gash has healed on the face of Singapore.
60/40 jointly owned by Malaysia and Singpore? Sorry but that is new to me. Reports I read has it that the development of the land will be a joint venture but the land itself now belongs to Malaysia.
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