Malaysia government had finally called off the construction of the “scenic bridge” to replace the current causeway.
Well our Prime Minister Pak Lah explained that legal issues and negative response from Malaysians to Singapore demands are the reasons for cancelling the already started project.
I am not going to study into why the government stop the project, but I am interested in why they STARTED it without the consent of Singaporean government.
Thru some study.. the idea on building a new bridge to ease the traffic and pollution of the causeway was dated back to year 2000. The current causeway is handling about 60,000 vehicles and 100,000 people daily.
Ok my questions.. why not build a new bridge instead of a bridge replacing the causeway? Why not consider other alternatives like tunnels or ferries service?
Also because the current causeway doesn’t allow water to flow across it, the pollution around the Johore Strait is high. Btw since when did our government really cares about pollution matters?
The real truth behind is probably that Malaysian want to replace the causeway with a bridge that can allow ships to cross by, thus reducing the dominance of Singapore in regional cargos handling. Singapore government off course realized Malaysian ambitions and try to stop Malaysian idea in anyway.
Also the construction of the new bridge will cut the water supply from Johor to Singapore, an important issue that has yet to be provided solution with the construction of the bridge.
Can we really blame the Singaporeans? As far as I know they were just protecting their own interest. The Singapore negotiators had clearly stated that they will cooperate in building the new bridge only if mutual benefit for both side are achieved.
The Singapore government were rude enough to ask for the use of airspace and sand supply as an exchange, which trigger the reaction from Malaysians and in the end contributing to the cancellation of the project.
Some people might be curious on why we can’t build our own half of the bridge, what rights do Singapore have to deny our rights to work on our own territory.
There’s legal complications, in fact it’s Malaysia government that hang ourselves.. In year 2003 when Singapore was undertaking reclamation works, Malaysia applied the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to stop their work.
According to ITLOS principle, any major work in the Johor Strait, even if done within the sovereign territory of own country, could affect the neighbouring country and does will need some sort of consent.
As a Malaysian I can understand why Singapore don’t want to accept the Scenic Proposal, the bridge will bring bunch of benefits to Malaysia but nothing much for Singapore.. as simple as that.
It’s said that the government would need to pay a compensation of RM100 million to the developer, that’s a big sum of money. Wonder why we need a fuel price hike?
Again back to the original point, why are we building the Scenic Bridge without Singapore’s consent at the first place?
(image from thestar online, thank you)
Disclaimer: The ‘facts’ stated are based on some personal research, I can’t claimed 100% validity on the figures and statement.
April 15th, 2006 at 9:59 am
i don’t understand as well.. buden the cancellation might have cost lots of $$$ due to termination of contracts..
April 16th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
That’s still lots of complications that we wouldn’t know.. it looks like almost a sure lost situation for whatever decision from our government now.
April 17th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
alicia Says:
i don’t understand as well.. buden the cancellation might have cost lots of $$$ due to termination of contracts..
Part of that cancellation can be recouped via the additional RM20 levied on all SIngaporean vehicles.
Other than that, Like Jee, I cant understand why the Malaysian government start building the Scenic Bridge without Singapore’s consent in the first place. However, I do observe a certain juvenile quality demonstrated by both our governments in any bi-lateral negotiations. Maybe this is just another one of those decisions taken by your government at the heat of the moment?
April 17th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Government.. sometimes.. can be.. really funny.
My thoughts.. Malaysian government probably already realized our disadvantage in the negotiations, but have to keep the nations pride and continue with the project, until.. the ridiculous request from the Singapore officials that gave Malaysia officials a stepping stone to back off from the negotiations.
Is there any better way for Malaysian government other than cancelling the project? I’m not wise enough to know that..
Btw the RM20 charges for Singaporean vehicles already started or what?
May 13th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
As far as I know, the bridge had consent from Singapore during the Mahathir era. But after the transition, Singapore suddenly want to cheat more out of Malaysia like they always do. And since Abdullah is such a weak leader, it all falls apart on it’s own. The bridge didn’t benefit Singapore at all, AFAIK.
November 20th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
HARRY:
please stop being so childish.
why would we cancel this just to CHEAT MALAYSIA.
the bridge wouldnt benefit singapore AND it would cut off our water supply. thats all there is to it. how is that cheating.
so lets turn the situation around, lets say we had command over water into malaysia. and we wanted to build some unecessary bridge which would cut off the water. i’m assuming you would totally allow that? how is that ‘CHEATING MALAYSIA’
please. its just common sense. survival instincts.
if the bridge was all part of environmental issues i’m sure msia would have come up with some other plan like cleaning up the place or something. OTHER than.. a bridge.
April 14th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
1. Malaysia wants to replace the 80 year old causeway with a new bridge. Reasons given are –
* To improve the marine ecology by allowing the water in the Straits of Johor to flow
* To reduce traffic congestion in Johor Bahru
2. Singapore is reluctant to replace the causeway with a bridge. Reasons given are –
* Cost is higher than simply upgrading the causeway
* Unspecified environmental concerns