Dilemma Senior Lee faces - Singapore Ready to Work, but Malaysia is Not – Win-Win opportunities are Sound & Logic but difficult even to take off

ABOVE: The "logic is still sound" sounds like the "Spirit is willing but the flesh is not" or "The Vodka is willing but the body is not"

The timing of this announcement is superb, just before the kick-off to the 12th Malaysian GE. It might boast Abdullah image and gain him some votes if he can respond appropriately.

Singapore & Malaysia have many opportunities for a win-win relationship and this should not be left out. And the senior Lee believes the logic is still sound. But the relationship in the post Mahathir era under PM Ahmad Badawi is still treading on very cautious grounds. In the latest outburst from Mahathir he has in an interview with a selected media stated that he disagrees “on several of his policies, mainly allowing Malaysians to be subject to Singapore's wishes”. That is why the Senior MM Lee has clearly stated “If Singapore pushes this, it will be counterproductive”. This means they cannot have the upper hands and dictate the terms.

On the other hand, the implementers of the IDR would want to “grab all” in taking the lion share especially can be seen by the Bumiputra Malay Contractors Association who would not want to “miss the boat” so to speak. But in getting into the boat, Samy Vellu can vouched they cause a lot of problems in “leakages” – cost over-run, abandoned projects, uncompleted projects, delayed projects and in case of completed ones – shoddy workmanship with “pipes bursting & roof leaking”. The outcry from them in not getting the gravy train from the recent Ipoh-Padang Besar electrified double-tracking railway project awarded to Gamuda-MMC is another typical example.(see Bottom, how the problem is resolved with Government "intervention"). They want to have a share but unable to deliver the goods in the end – only the promises stated in the signed contracts.

So Senior Lee Kuan Yew is sending the correct signals, but if there is no change in the mindset and following what Mahathir proposes “calling the shots”, and then this so called win-win co-operation would be just a win-fail result. The antipathy attitude, the false superiority complex and the smart thinking of “who needs who more” attitude would made this Malaysia-Singapore relationship even difficult to take off.

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Extracts from what the Senior Lee says

“This is the signal we want to send out to the Malaysian leaders & Malaysian people. We are ready to work. But so will you, in the end you can go more than we can, because you have critical mass.

For this to happen, Malaysia must believe it is really win-win . That Spore will gain, but so will Kuala Lumpur and Johore, Johor Baru and Malaysia
Who gains more is left to history to decide. And is a secondary matter. It needs a mindset change from competition, antipathy for Singapore to co-operation and acceptance of Singapore. If Singapore pushes this, it will be counterproductive"

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February 01, 2008 23:42 PM

Singapore Ready To Work With Malaysia : Kuan Yew

SINGAPORE, Feb 1 (Bernama) -- Former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew said the island republic is ready to work with Malaysian leaders to move forward together. He said the two countries would benefit from their closer ties and cooperation although Malaysia would gain more than its neighbour in the long term. Lee, who now holds the post of Minister Mentor, made this point at Singapore's Institute of Policy Studies conference here, according to the Singapore-based Asian news television network, Channel News Asia tonight.

Lee was asked whether Singapore needed to have a hinterland, which is Malaysia, in order to grow into a global city, during the conference today.

ABOVE & BELOW: PM Abdullah at the launch of the IDR many moons ago and is now struggling to take-off
Citing Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's proposal of the Iskandar Development Region (IDR)as a move in the right direction, Lee said Singapore would do what it could to make the IDR succeed. In this way, Lee said both countries could get maximum value out of the cooperation.
Lee said Singapore welcomed the win-win possibility of having a faster rail and air travel between Singapore and Malaysia after a previous proposal for a fast rail system between them had yet to materialise. He said initially Singapore would gain a little more because the city-state was more connected to the outside world. But in the long term, Malaysia would make the bigger gain because of its larger capital(?????????) mass and bigger human resource pool, Lee said.

====from the source

MM Lee says S'pore and Malaysia will benefit from closer connectivity

By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 01 February 2008 1905 hrs

SINGAPORE : Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said Singapore and Malaysia will benefit from closer connectivity and collaboration. In fact, he believe Malaysia will stand to gain even more than Singapore in the long run. Mr Lee made this point while elaborating on a comment he had made at an Institute of Policy Studies conference on Friday morning. At that conference, Mr Lee was asked whether Singapore needs to have a hinterland, which is Malaysia, in order to grow into a global city.

Later Mr Lee told reporters on the sidelines that he wants Malaysian leaders to know that Singapore is ready to work with them to grow together. And Malaysia should view Singapore in the spirit of cooperation and acceptance instead of competition and antipathy.
Citing Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's proposal of the Iskandar Development Region, or IDR, as a move in the right direction, Mr Lee said Singapore will do what it can to make the IDR succeed. In this way, both countries can get maximum value out of the cooperation.

ABOVE & BELOW: the only signs of some co-operation is the limited cheap airways by Air Asia & Tiger Airways started only recently

Another win-win possibility is faster rail and air travel between Singapore and Malaysia. Although a previous proposal for a fast rail system between them has yet to materialise, Mr Lee said Singapore welcomes it. Malaysia too, he said, must believe it would definitely be a win-win situation. In the immediate phase of closer connectivity, Mr Lee said Singapore will gain a little more because the city state is more connected to the outside world. But in the long term, Malaysia will make the bigger gain because of its larger capital mass and bigger human resource pool. - CNA/ch

= = == = == =and other critical problems facing the "red dot" in Singapore & views from MM Lee

MM Lee 'not quite sold' on idea of 6.5 million population
By Li Xueying

MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew 'has not quite been sold' on the idea of a 6.5 million population size in Singapore. Instead, he projects for Singapore an optimum population size of five to 5.5 million for Singapore.
He said on Friday: 'I have not quite been sold on the idea that we should have 6.5 million.' 'I think there's an optimum size for the land that we have, to preserve the open spaces and the sense of comfort.'
MM Lee was speaking at think-tank Institute of Policy Studies' conference 'Scenarios for the Next Generation', which seeks to gaze into the crystal ball and discuss what Singapore will look like come 2030. Speakers, including Cabinet ministers, academics and journalists, held forth on subjects such as how the economy should evolve, cultural trends, and the Singapore identity. Over an hour-long dialogue with some 900 participants, MM Lee touched on issues ranging from whether Singapore has the talent pool to sustain a two-party political system, to the widening income divide. One question, posed by the moderator, diplomat Tommy Koh, was whether Singapore is guilty of overbuilding.

A year ago, the Government had announced that it is making plans to accommodate a population of 6.5 million people - up from the current 4.5 million - in the next 40 to 50 years. This sparked off worries about overcrowding.

= == == = = == = == Can Singapore understand and handle this kind of forced "handouts" to these companies? At the end of the day who would pick up the tabs for their inability to complete a job with a lot of excuses?

Double-tracking project a boon for bumiputra contractors

by Husna Yusop

PUTRAJAYA (Feb 4, 2008): The Gamuda-MMC consortium undertaking the Ipoh-Padang Besar electrified double-tracking railway project will award almost 30% or RM3.7 billion of the RM12.5 billion job to bumiputra contractors and suppliers. It has also identified 335 work packages, including for bridges, tracks, drainage, buildings, stations, utility distribution and landscaping, to be awarded in stages from this month. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said today that the consortium, which had identified 180 Classes A to D contracators to take part in the limited tender project, will offer 62 work packages to Class A contractors and 69 to Classes B and C jobbers.

“I would like to urge those of you who received the Letters of Award (LOA) today and the contractors to be appointed later to prove your capability. Should you fail, you will be sacked from the job. “This is important as we do not want the failure of a small group of contractors to result in a delay in the implementation of the project which has been fixed at five years. Delay and failure is not an option,” he said at his office. Najib, who chairs the Cabinet Committee on Public Transport, presented LOA to 24 bumiputra contractors -- for various works worth more than RM400 million -- and 10 engineering consultants. Present were Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohd Yaakob, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Sri Mohd Effendi Norwawi.

Najib said the bumiputra contractors, suppliers and consultants were chosen based on merit with three main criteria, namely genuineness and hands-on; technically and financial capability; and competitive prices. To ensure continuity, he said, the government will consider giving out more jobs to contractors with high performance ranking. He said MMC and Gamuda had assured the government they would pay the sub-contractors for work done within 30 days.

Apart from creating some 105,000 jobs, Najib said the project would boost Malaysia’s growth from 6% (9th Malaysia Plan’s target without the project) to 6.4%. State-wise, Perak will experience a growth rate of 8.1% now compared to 5.7% before the implementation of the project, Penang 6.8% from 6.1% before, Kedah 8.7% from 5.9% before and Perlis 12% from 5.3% before.