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May 27, 2010 20:12 PM
Shahrir: Ridiculous To Pretend KTM Land In Singapore Is Malaysian Territory
<!--By: Ramjit
--> <!-- You are not an authorised user. Please contact us 03-20504478 immediately so we may assist you.-->KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Shahrir Samad, the MP for Johor Baru, said it was "hysterically ridiculous to pretend" that the KTM track, its station and other plots are Malaysian territory when they are actually land leased from Singapore purely for the purposes of the rail service run by KTM Bhd.
In endorsing the historic bilateral deal Malaysia inked with Singapore on Tuesday to jointly develop KTM's Tanjong Pagar rail station, the former Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister said the deal would create a situation favouring KTM and Malaysians as a whole.
"Exchanging leased railway land which does not have development potential for land of equal value but with development potential means that it is KTM that actually benefits from the exchange," stressed Shahrir, often known for his tough stance on national issues, to the negative response by a number of Opposition leaders, including Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar had expressed misgivings on the agreement that Najib struck with Singapore premier Lee Hsien-Loong on grounds that it was "hasty" and "devoid of detailed information" that would affect the country's sovereignty and interests.
Besides expressing concerns that the Marina South and Ophor Rochir land Malaysia obtained as a trade-off to signing off the Tanjong Pagar land was inferior in value, Anwar called on Najib to present a comprehensive report paper in next month's Dewan Rakyat meeting to explain details of the deal.
In countering Anwar's apprehension, Shahrir offered a historical perspective to whole saga.
The KTM land, he said, was part of a transport system that served a colonial economy when Singapore was then a port serving the hinterland in British Malaya.
"Peninsular Malaysia and even Johor are no longer Singapore's hinterland," he said. "So, it makes no sense to preserve KTM's service right up to Tanjong Pagar."
From the KTM passengers' viewpoint, except for what Shahrir described as "nostalgic-romantic sentiments", he said that it did not matter where they finally disembarked because it would no longer be at Tanjong Pagar but eventually it would be at Johor Baru.
On the potential of long-term revenue from the rail service, Shahrir expected the onward journey to Singapore from Johor Baru as KTM's opportunity to benefit from the 40,000 Malaysian workers commuting daily through the Johor Bahru CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) checkpoint as their transport terminal, who now took either public or factory buses across the Causeway.
"Right now, KTM can only take them into Woodlands but not the other way round because the Malaysian CIQ is at Tanjong Pagar and not at Woodlands," he said.
Shahrir said that even a 50 percent stake in the new commuter service across the Causeway would be far more than what KTM presently earned on the Johor Baru-Tanjong Pagar route.
"Malaysians who make the daily commute from Johor Bahru to Singapore will also benefit from another mode of transport across the Johor Causeway," he said.
Sharing Shahrir's view was Datuk Razali Ibrahim, the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport and MP for Muar, who touched on the issue of profitability from the deal.
"Allowing this issue to protract for this long was not beneficial to anyone," he said. "Moreover, it would have dragged the political polemics between two neighbours."
Acknowledging that the Malaysia-Singapore impasse on the KTM land had to be resolved sooner or later, Razali attributed the success of the deal to the two nations' "high level of diplomacy and statesmanship."
Anticipating that the deal would open a new, mutally beneficial chapter, Razali said that it was crucial that its implementation was not neglected to the point that it would hurt the country as it was in the past.
Weighing in on the deal from an economist's perspective, UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Norraesah Mohamad, was enthusiastically supportive and proclaimed Malaysia as a "big winner".
She said Khazanah Nasional, with its 60 per cent share in the M-S Pte Ltd joint-venture, would turn a "sleeping asset" into a high value commercial venture.
Alluding to some of the negative historical baggage in Malaysia-Singapore ties, she said Malaysians should "think beyond sentiment"and "envision prospects bigger than just the KTM land."
"We need to look at longer term gains that accrue from unlocking the value of assets that had been lying dormant," she said. "With the long outstanding issue resolved, more Singaporean companies will now invest in the Iskandar Development Region."
Saying that the proposed new railway station that would integrate with public transport services in Johor Baru and Singapore, Norraesah suggested that convenience to Malaysians and Singaporeans would be created.
Convenience, she reasoned, was an important instrument for businesses to ignite investments like how the IDR was expected to pull investors whether direct from Malaysia or through Singapore, to blossom into a boom area and offer more job opportunities.
For Johor Baru's real estate value itself, the deal could not be sweeter, Norraesah said, adding that "land values would improve while residents should enjoy a much higher standard of living."
Khairy Jamaludin, the UMNO Youth Chief, said Najib's decision to push ahead with an agreement with Singapore on the KTM Tanjong Pagar land was made with national interest in mind.
"With this agreement, PM has cut the Gordian knot which has until today remained a significant outstanding issue that defined bilateral relations between Malaysia and Singapore.
"The agreement will allow for Malaysia to realise and monetise assets of greater value than the present station at Tanjong Pagar. Malaysians must know that the Tanjong Pagar land cannot be utilised for anything other than a railway station."
He felt that the agreement would give Malaysia an opportunity to commercially develop prime plots of land, rather than to continue to hold an asset that cannot be monetised.
Khairy said the deal made "more sense" as the new Malaysia would be manifested by prime, iconic developments "rather than nostalgic memories that offered "little commercial and strategic benefit to us."
-- BERNAMA
Shahrir: Ridiculous To Pretend KTM Land In Singapore Is Malaysian Territory
<!--By: Ramjit
--> <!-- You are not an authorised user. Please contact us 03-20504478 immediately so we may assist you.-->KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Shahrir Samad, the MP for Johor Baru, said it was "hysterically ridiculous to pretend" that the KTM track, its station and other plots are Malaysian territory when they are actually land leased from Singapore purely for the purposes of the rail service run by KTM Bhd.
In endorsing the historic bilateral deal Malaysia inked with Singapore on Tuesday to jointly develop KTM's Tanjong Pagar rail station, the former Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister said the deal would create a situation favouring KTM and Malaysians as a whole.
"Exchanging leased railway land which does not have development potential for land of equal value but with development potential means that it is KTM that actually benefits from the exchange," stressed Shahrir, often known for his tough stance on national issues, to the negative response by a number of Opposition leaders, including Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar had expressed misgivings on the agreement that Najib struck with Singapore premier Lee Hsien-Loong on grounds that it was "hasty" and "devoid of detailed information" that would affect the country's sovereignty and interests.
Besides expressing concerns that the Marina South and Ophor Rochir land Malaysia obtained as a trade-off to signing off the Tanjong Pagar land was inferior in value, Anwar called on Najib to present a comprehensive report paper in next month's Dewan Rakyat meeting to explain details of the deal.
In countering Anwar's apprehension, Shahrir offered a historical perspective to whole saga.
The KTM land, he said, was part of a transport system that served a colonial economy when Singapore was then a port serving the hinterland in British Malaya.
"Peninsular Malaysia and even Johor are no longer Singapore's hinterland," he said. "So, it makes no sense to preserve KTM's service right up to Tanjong Pagar."
From the KTM passengers' viewpoint, except for what Shahrir described as "nostalgic-romantic sentiments", he said that it did not matter where they finally disembarked because it would no longer be at Tanjong Pagar but eventually it would be at Johor Baru.
On the potential of long-term revenue from the rail service, Shahrir expected the onward journey to Singapore from Johor Baru as KTM's opportunity to benefit from the 40,000 Malaysian workers commuting daily through the Johor Bahru CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) checkpoint as their transport terminal, who now took either public or factory buses across the Causeway.
"Right now, KTM can only take them into Woodlands but not the other way round because the Malaysian CIQ is at Tanjong Pagar and not at Woodlands," he said.
Shahrir said that even a 50 percent stake in the new commuter service across the Causeway would be far more than what KTM presently earned on the Johor Baru-Tanjong Pagar route.
"Malaysians who make the daily commute from Johor Bahru to Singapore will also benefit from another mode of transport across the Johor Causeway," he said.
Sharing Shahrir's view was Datuk Razali Ibrahim, the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport and MP for Muar, who touched on the issue of profitability from the deal.
"Allowing this issue to protract for this long was not beneficial to anyone," he said. "Moreover, it would have dragged the political polemics between two neighbours."
Acknowledging that the Malaysia-Singapore impasse on the KTM land had to be resolved sooner or later, Razali attributed the success of the deal to the two nations' "high level of diplomacy and statesmanship."
Anticipating that the deal would open a new, mutally beneficial chapter, Razali said that it was crucial that its implementation was not neglected to the point that it would hurt the country as it was in the past.
Weighing in on the deal from an economist's perspective, UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Norraesah Mohamad, was enthusiastically supportive and proclaimed Malaysia as a "big winner".
She said Khazanah Nasional, with its 60 per cent share in the M-S Pte Ltd joint-venture, would turn a "sleeping asset" into a high value commercial venture.
Alluding to some of the negative historical baggage in Malaysia-Singapore ties, she said Malaysians should "think beyond sentiment"and "envision prospects bigger than just the KTM land."
"We need to look at longer term gains that accrue from unlocking the value of assets that had been lying dormant," she said. "With the long outstanding issue resolved, more Singaporean companies will now invest in the Iskandar Development Region."
Saying that the proposed new railway station that would integrate with public transport services in Johor Baru and Singapore, Norraesah suggested that convenience to Malaysians and Singaporeans would be created.
Convenience, she reasoned, was an important instrument for businesses to ignite investments like how the IDR was expected to pull investors whether direct from Malaysia or through Singapore, to blossom into a boom area and offer more job opportunities.
For Johor Baru's real estate value itself, the deal could not be sweeter, Norraesah said, adding that "land values would improve while residents should enjoy a much higher standard of living."
Khairy Jamaludin, the UMNO Youth Chief, said Najib's decision to push ahead with an agreement with Singapore on the KTM Tanjong Pagar land was made with national interest in mind.
"With this agreement, PM has cut the Gordian knot which has until today remained a significant outstanding issue that defined bilateral relations between Malaysia and Singapore.
"The agreement will allow for Malaysia to realise and monetise assets of greater value than the present station at Tanjong Pagar. Malaysians must know that the Tanjong Pagar land cannot be utilised for anything other than a railway station."
He felt that the agreement would give Malaysia an opportunity to commercially develop prime plots of land, rather than to continue to hold an asset that cannot be monetised.
Khairy said the deal made "more sense" as the new Malaysia would be manifested by prime, iconic developments "rather than nostalgic memories that offered "little commercial and strategic benefit to us."
-- BERNAMA
