Singapore should defer its August 1 date to move its Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) checkpoint from Tanjung Pagar to Woodlands until an amicable settlement could be reached with Malaysia


Media Comment
by Lim Kit Siang  

(Parliament House, Thursday):  Singapore should defer its August 1 date to move its Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) checkpoint from Tanjung Pagar to Woodlands until an amicable settlement could be reached with Malaysia.

At a time when ASEAN Ministers were meeting in Manila to show the world the greater togetherness which ASEAN countries have forged after three decades of the the regional organisation, the latest spat between Singapore and Malaysia over the moving of the CIQ checkpoint of the two countries from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands is most unseemly and unnecessary.

I believe the  majority of Malaysians and Singaporeans would want the two governments to resolve not only  the CIQ issue, but a number of other outstanding issues,   amicably without further straining Malaysia-Singapore relations, whether at the people-to-people or government-to-government level.

It does not speak well for good neighbourliness and over three decades of ASEAN spirit and  solidarity for Malaysia and Singapore to be at each other's throats as if they have always been implacable enemies.

If there is a breakdown of government-to-government relations, may be the two Parliaments of Malaysia and Singapore should attempt a rapprochment and an amicable settlement of the outstanding disputes between the two countries, with full mandates given to the Parliamentary delegations of both countries to fully explore and reach a new  consensus to build a new Malaysia-Singapore  relationship where both countries can co-operate closely for the peace, development, democracy, human rights and the creation of  a vibrant regional civil society.

(30/7/98)


*Lim Kit Siang - Malaysian Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Democratic Action Party Secretary-General & Member of Parliament for Tanjong