POINTS OF AGREEMENT

18 Mr Shriniwas Rai asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs what steps will the Government take to implement the provision of the Points of Agreement signed by Malaysia and Singapore in view of the former's stand.

Prof. S. Jayakumar: Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and I have spoken at length in this House on 5th June 1997 on the background to the POA as well as its specific provisions. I will therefore not repeat these details.

Members will know from the debate last year that Singapore's position is that the POA is a Government-to-Government agreement between Singapore and Malaysia which took effect and became operative on 27th November 1990, ie, the date on which it was signed.

Malaysia, however, has taken a different position. Last year, they maintained that the POA "would only come into effect if and when KTM should decide to vacate Tanjong Pagar Station". More recently, several Malaysian leaders have made comments to the press questioning the status and validity of the POA.

Last year, Singapore officially proposed that the disagreement over the correct interpretation of the POA be submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). There was no response to this. On 8th July 1998, Ministry of Law, in response to the further statements by Malaysian leaders, reiterated Singapore's position on the binding legal nature of the POA; that there was no requirement for it to be ratified; and repeated our proposal to have the dispute referred to ICJ.

There are two ways to resolve this matter. One is to proceed through the legal process and agree to submit the legal issues for arbitration or to the ICJ for a decision.

Alternatively, we could resolve it within the framework of wider cooperation which PM Goh had proposed to Dr Mahathir. As PM Goh told this House in June last year, he informed Dr Mahathir that he could overcome the political and legal difficulties of varying the POA only within this framework of wider cooperation.

PM Goh recently reiterated in his National Day Rally speech that he will try to resolve bilateral issues, such as the POA, and enhance bilateral relations within a framework of wider cooperation. We will continue to take this approach.