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YOUR OPINION | “I cannot blame the S’porians for thinking that the M’sian government is easy meat.”
HSR’s agreement with S’pore terminated, Malaysia to pay compensation
COMMENT | The cost we pay for our klepto-economy
BusinessFirst: This government has failed us again. Waste people’s hard-earned money. In Singapore, before proceeding, they check and cross-check and look at all angles before committing to a deal.
Here, as usual, sloppy action. When you have an agreed contract, you don’t change the terms. This is what Malaysia tried to do: add other non-agreed stops. If you decide you want to add stops, you are at the mercy of the other party. If ending up at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) was important, it should have been addressed earlier.
Also, the point is illogical. The whole purpose is to facilitate travel between both parties to each other’s country via high speed rail (HSR) to improve the connectivity of travelers between Singapore and Malaysia in terms of business and tourism. That is, you can travel from Singapore to the heart of Kuala Lumpur and walk to your meetings and appointments.
Going en route to the airport is cannibalizing the Singapore airport network and it also doesn’t make sense from HSR’s point of view as the purpose is not to take the HSR from Singapore and fly from Kuala Lumpur.
Honestly, this is not the way a nation that wants to be respected in the world should act. When you have an agreement, stick to it. Your word must count for something. Who dares accept Malaysia’s pledge when they can backtrack, be it on the water, HSR or Malaysia My Second Home?
Just because you can gamble, betray and backstab inside Malaysia, as if it were a normal course of business, does not mean that they will accept it internationally or be forced to accept it. So you end up paying RM300 million or whatever.
I hate to say it, but our leaders, with a few exceptions, just don’t make the cut. They have failed the nation and its people, whether in terms of promoting unity, education, or economic development. Yes, there are places worse than us but then there are many better than us. With all the blessed resources of Malaysia, why should we settle for being the third world?
I think the leaders thrown out by bumiputera politics, where we now have a certain race and religion dominating almost every aspect of government, are not working because we are not getting the best and the brightest, and the country is suffering from that.
Deciding on leaders based on ethnicity and religion is selfish. I recently read an article that a PAS leader said that we should emulate PAS in the way they deal with alcohol in Kelantan. Should we emulate PAS in managing the economy like Kelantan?
So maybe it’s time to step aside and let others lead Malaysia. You’ve had your time. These 60 years and we have increased division, corruption, Covid-19 crazed, struggling economy, poor CSR (corporate social responsibility) leading to oil palm bans, and lots of potholes on our roads.
Who to blame? DAP again? The Chinese? The Indians? Christians? Communists? Hindus? Kadazans? Ibans? Jews? Israel? Soros? Who caused all the Tabung Haji, Felda, Mara and even now halal meat scandals?
Vijay47: The official line that the Malaysian government seems to be feeding now is that the unexpected state of our economy does not allow us to embark on such an extravagant adventure, a concern not commonly encountered here.
The other specific area of disagreement is Malaysia’s proposal that the ISS be extended to include KLIA, a rather straightforward yes or no request.
The first reason is understandable, the second a triviality that surely does not justify the withdrawal of a project supposedly of immense benefit for both countries. In any case, the KLIA extension could be considered an internal feature solely under the responsibility of the Malaysian party.
Both parties are expected to disclose all the reasons why the HSR was canceled – this is a business agreement and not a safety issue. We don’t need another NDA (nondisclosure agreement).
Without going into the related technicalities, if double tracking had served us better, there is an element in both the Singapore and joint statements that appears to be strange and irrelevant.
Both Lee Hsien Loong and Muhyiddin Yassin hoped that bilateral relations would remain good. Why would the cancellation of a mere transport agreement violate the cordial relations that Malaysia and Singapore are said to enjoy?
Knowing Malaysia, Putrajaya is likely trying to introduce a “Tajuddin aspect” into the deal. And knowing Singapore, they refuse to bite.
Dr. Raman: This was BN’s gift to the rakyat. At least RM300 million of rakyat money went up in smoke. We even donate to Singapore, a country several times richer than us. Who is the know-it-all who signed this contract?
Now Perikatan Nasional (PN) will play the same game and spend more at HSR Malaysia, sign deals with generous buyout clauses and one day rescind it. Of course, the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and Petronas will be forced to take big bets. This is the economic theory of kleptocracy.
Head hunter: Can we help when most Malaysians think that mega-projects are being implemented not for the rakyat but for corrupt politicians and their cronies to steal our money under the guise of development projects?
We have seen it too many times already and they are depleting the country’s resources when we can barely afford it. How much did we lose on that crooked bridge to Singapore that was abandoned after hundreds of millions of ringgit were disbursed?
And why are we always wrong when dealing with Singapore? I can’t blame Singaporeans for thinking that the Malaysian government is easy meat to eat. One thing is for sure, there are corrupt Malaysians laughing all the way to the bank.
Adi in SQ: According to the Singapore newspaper Strait times, it is estimated that the costs incurred to date, therefore the compensation, is approximately S $ 250 million (until May 2018), plus the remaining months in 2018 (S $ 6 million in June, more than S $ 6 million in July and at least S $ 40 million from August to the end of 2018).
That’s almost RM 1 billion.
Dr. Spin: This looks like an incredibly bad result for Malaysia and a good one for Singapore. One wonders whether Malaysia employed a competent team to review the options and negotiate a deal that is tailored for both parties and for the future.
This was surely not handled by the current crop of politicians, or that would explain it.
Salvage Malaysia: First, Malaysia should never have signed the agreement when the cost sharing is disproportionate.
With this, even the Bandar Malaysia project has lost its main appeal. Now it is just a standalone Sungai Besi development. I won’t be surprised if the developer steps down and wants the government to pay them.
YellowKancil0051: Unfortunately, I think Malaysians won’t realize how damaging these kleptocrats are to us until we have a crisis, like they did in Greece, where people have to queue to get money from the bank or when important measures need to be implemented. of austerity. and the public sector collapses.
So perhaps the general population will realize that these political games of race and religion that our politicians are playing are about putting the wool over their eyes to rob them blind.
Prudent: Abraham Lincoln was wrong, very, very wrong. In a Western-style “democracy,” much less a Malaysian-style kleptocracy, thieves don’t have to fool all people all the time.
The kleptocrats simply need to fool the simple majority of people all the time by using the opiates of race and religion.
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