RESOLUTION OF OUTSTANDING SINGAPORE-MALAYSIA BILATERAL ISSUES

Mr Harun A Ghani asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether the recent visit by the Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister has brought about a better chance for Singapore and Malaysia to resolve outstanding bilateral issues, including the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine, water supply and Central Limit Order Book issues.

Prof. S. Jayakumar: The visit of the Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid was an introductory visit in keeping with the tradition of new ASEAN foreign ministers visiting their counterparts. We reaffirmed the importance of maintaining good bilateral relations and noted that both countries should remain focused on the long-term relationship and benefits of mutual cooperation. We also agreed that both sides should press on with negotiations on the package of outstanding bilateral issues.

However, we did not engage in detailed discussions on specific issues during Datuk Seri Syed Hamid's visit. This is because negotiations are currently ongoing at the senior officials' level. They have already had three rounds of discussions, and will probably meet again later this month in Kuala Lumpur. Datuk Seri Syed Hamid and I agreed that the officials on both sides should try to narrow the gaps on the issues, so as to arrive at a "win-win" package deal. In this regard, he also noted that as our Prime Ministers had agreed on the broad framework for resolving the issues, both sides must translate this into reality. I share his view on this.