Foreign ministers to take Points of Agreement forward
By Teo Cheng Wee
(Above: Accompanied by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak inspected the guard-of-honour during the morning's welcome ceremony at the Istana. - ST Photo)
THE foreign ministers of Singapore and Malaysia will look into ways to resolve the impasse over the Points of Agreement (POA) and implement the document, signed almost two decades ago.
It sets out, among other things, the terms of development and status of Malayan Railway land in Singapore. But its implementation has been stalled since it was signed in November 1990 and it is one of the longest-running bilateral issues.
Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Najib Razak noted this yesterday and agreed that a resolution was overdue.
'The Points of Agreement is one of the legacy issues which we have both inherited and, as you know, it's a very old issue,' Mr Lee said at their press conference.
'It started more than 18 years ago and it is not something which should drag on because we do not want outstanding legacy issues to affect our core relationship.
'So we agreed that the foreign ministers would meet, would look at the implementation of the POA, and we look forward to then discussing this and making progress to resolve the matter.'
Mr Najib said Foreign Ministers George Yeo and Anifah Aman would look at how to implement the POA in a manner that is seen as beneficial to both sides.
'It is something that both of us inherited and I think 18 years is long enough. We shouldn't wait for another 18 years to resolve this,' he said.
'So let's put our minds together, put this behind us and move forward in terms of our relationship.'
The POA was signed in November 1990 by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia's then-Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin.
Under the terms, the railway station in Tanjong Pagar would move, either first to Bukit Timah or straight to Woodlands.
In exchange, three parcels of railway land - at Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands - would be developed jointly and all other railway land south of Woodlands would revert to Singapore.
Malaysia has not moved the railway station and has previously also wanted to vary the POA by asking for extra parcels of land not covered by the pact.
Singapore's view is that the POA came into effect the day it was signed, whereas Malaysia's stand is that it will become operative only when the railway station moves.
-end of ST article