Earlier this afternoon as we were queueing at the immigration of the finest airport on Asia continent, news text announced that visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak to the island-state, reached an agreement with Singapore Prime Minister Brig. Gen. (NS) Lee Hsien Loong on the joint development of the 271 acres land belonging to Malayan Railway (KTMB) and the station would be ‘relocated’ from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands by 2011.
Later after arriving at our destination, checking in and attending a semi-protocol dinner, we learnt in full details what had been achieved.
Asia News Network has the report:
KTMB station in Tanjong Pagar to relocate to Woodlands by July 2011
By S Ramesh | Posted: 24 May 2010 1432 hrs
Photos of
Video
KTMB station in Tanjong Pagar to relocate to Woodlands by July 2011
SINGAPORE: Singapore and Malaysia capped a historic day in relations on Monday with agreement on a long outstanding bilateral issue.
After 20 years, both sides have arrived at a solution on the Malayan Railway Land in Singapore.
The leaders of the two countries agreed to move the station at the heart of the city centre in Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands Train checkpoint, near the border by the 1 July 2011.
The smiles said it all – of a retreat that has been fruitful with significant moves.
The centrepiece must surely be the issue of the railway land and lines, spelt out in the Points of Agreement (POA) signed in 1990.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong: “Our focus has been developing our bilateral relationship at a time when we face many challenges in an uncertain and rapidly globalising world.
“There are many competitive alternative centres growing in Asia where we need to work together bilaterally in ASEAN and where we also need to clear issues which have been hanging over us for some time so that we can move forward and develop a win-win relationship.
“It is a matter for rejoicing. It is a good deal. Both sides are happy and this will benefit both sides considerably.”
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak said: “A year ago, when we met, we decided that we wouldn’t allow outstanding bilateral issues to be in the way of developing and strengthening bilateral ties and move forward in areas where we could achieve common agreement between our two sides.
“With that positive mindset in mind, we have achieved much within a year starting with the officials from both sides who have been working very hard to find a common ground.
“Today is quite historic because we see now the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to an outstanding issue which has been lingering for almost 20 years.”
Having waited this long, the next move is to move fast.
PM Lee said: “There is urgency. This matter really cannot wait indefinitely because it is already 20 years. And there are many development projects in Singapore which have been held up because the POA has not been implemented as it should have been many years ago.”
So the 1990 Points of Agreement has now been supplemented by new terms and conditions to maximise the potential of the Malayan Railway Lands in Singapore.
When the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB station) moves to the Woodlands train checkpoint by 1 July 2011, Malaysia will co-locate its railway Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facility there.
On its part, Singapore would ensure that there are bus services to connect KTMB station at Woodlands with a nearby MRT station for the convenience of train passengers.
Another key issue settled is the development of several land parcels linked to the train line.
Both countries will also set up a company known as M-S Pte Ltd by December 31 this year.
Malaysia will have a 60 per cent stake under Khazanah Nasional Berhard while Singapore will have a 40 per cent share to be held by Temasek Holdings.
This company will handle the joint development of three parcels of land in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands as well as another three pieces of land in Bukit Timah.
These land parcels could be swapped based on the equivalent value for pieces of land in Marina South and Ophir-Rochor.
Both sides will conduct valuation studies.
Prime Minister Lee will visit Kuala Lumpur within a month to discuss the land swap.
The transfer of the land parcel to M-S Pte Ltd will take effect at the time when KTMB vacates the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
Mr Lee added: “Land prices have been moving over this last one year. You have seen the property market is quite active. That is the reason why we did not settle the land swap today. I wanted an updated valuation.
“On the basis of updated valuations, we will make them an offer and it is up to them whether they want to take the offer for the swap. It is substantial. These are very valuable pieces of land if they are developed.
“And that is why the POA as it was and even more now as it has been updated and rounded up is a win- win proposal for both countries because it enables us to develop the land.
“It enables M-S Private Limited to share in the upside of the land which is KTM land and I think enables us to move forward in so many other areas to cooperate and work together for mutual benefit without having this outstanding issue always there a question mark. If you can’t solve this, how can you talk about new things?”
“So with the understanding we have achieved at today’s meeting, we can more or less say that the POA agreement with some enhanced features should be finally put to rest particularly when PM Lee meets me in a month’s time.
“The spirit and political undertaking is to find a resolution on a mutually beneficial manner so that both countries can benefit the finalisation of the enhanced POA agreement.”
Both leaders also agreed the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station’s passenger terminal will be conserved given its historical significance. It will also be the centrepiece for the proposed new development on this site.
The job is now in the hands of a joint implementation team.
It has to complete its work by the December 31.
************
So it would seem that Khazanah Holdings Bhd. will have a 60 percent stake in the joint development company. That would translate to a lot of money, especially when land could be easily valued at SGD 1,500.00 per sq. ft. net buildable area on the land is roughly calculated at SGD 90 billion, of which Khazanah’s portion is in the neighbourhood of SGD 55 billion. At today’s exchange rate, that is RM 132 billion.
Then again, that is quantifiable money. The “Thirteen Million Plus Ringgit” question, is it worth it to get the money (in kind) for the sovereign land that Malaysia (which managed to protect despite the little ‘red-dot’ expulsion from the Federation on 9 August 1965) has come to agree to give up, in one ‘retreat discussion’?
Since the latest scandal of ‘Giving up Block L & M’ in one single visit to Bandar Sri Begawan in March 2009, our next question is: Were Wisma Putra experts on Singapore relations and Attorney General Chambers senior Federal Counsel on International Affairs present at this ‘retreat discussion’ and swift decision? Was there other consideration achieved in this ‘trade of’, which at the moment strategically does not seemed to be too beneficial to us?
That is actually only a fraction of Petronas money being handed to the Malaysian economic system via taxes, royalties, dividends and other payment intruments during PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s tenure, which was calculated at RM 253 billion.
Our contention here in BigDogDotCom is that the monetary gain from this decision, which could be recovered in probably a little over two years of Petronas operations is the repeat of the ‘1819 Treaty’, where Temenggung Abdul Rahman of Johor and Sultan Hussein of Singapore signed with Stamford Raffles and gave the island Singapura (pre-Sang Nila Utama’s days known as Temasek) up for (then) a princely sum of a few thousand British East India Dollars, for life. The Johor Riau Empire and Malay Archipelago lost a very strategic site between the highly lucrative trading route between Europe, West Asia, India and East Asia, particularly China and spice rich Nusantara.
In the joint media conference, PM BG Lee also announced that the long standing 20 year ‘Point of Agreement’ signed between then Sinagpore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysian Finance Minister Dato’ Paduka Daim Zainuddin which was ‘untangled’ this morning would “Resolve a lot of property issues in Singapore. We are rejoicing. Many development projects in Singapore have been held up because of the POA. We have managed to benefit considerably”, which is deemed by Singaporean corporations which will benefit for the Singapore Government ‘privatisation’ of the 271 acres land. This agreement inadvertently benefitted mush more (than the SGD 35 billion Singapore Government got from the ‘deal’) on the Singapore side as it has multiplication effect on their property sector.
It is learnt that the deal is for valuable parcels of land along Tanjong Pagar, Bukit Timah and Kranji much sought after development areas for a ‘land swap somewhere in the Marina’ area. These KTMB lands are premium inland parcels as compared to the reclaimed Marina area.
If it is the repeat of the ‘1819 Treaty’ all over again but simply in different form, then too bad for Malayans. Inadvertently Malayans got short-changed for something which is superficial such as, ‘money’, again. The other “Thirteen Million Plus Ringgit” question: How many times do we want to see wool pulled over our eyes?
Don’t we ever learn from history? Malaysia under PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah already sold of the most valuable part of Johor off to Singapore and under his watch, negligently lost Pulau Batu Puteh. Then it is proven as what George Santayana once said, “Those who never learned from history are doomed to repeat the same mistake”. Or so they say….
The "thirteen million plus Ringgit" guy rambles.... 
You should write a detailed account about the ‘red-dot’ expulsion since most of those who do not know what really happened blamed our government for giving up Singapore because they think UMNO was the reason for it.
Illuminati intelligence group.
Bloody Lee Kuan Yew’s so-called “Malaysian Malaysia” was the reason behind it. Look at the anxiety and heart aches we have had and will continue to face as a result of the so-called kicking of Singapore out of Malaysia by Tengku A Rahman, who should also deserve the word bloody – they all are familiar with the word frequently used among the Brits in London and elsewhere.
That damned slogan was emulated by Lim Kit Siang and the DAP after the LKY expulsion. Some people belive that it had led to the racial riots of 1969 and may cause another one if LKS and the DAP goons
are allowed to freely continue attacking NEP and touching on the Special Position of the Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak, a sensitive issue covered by the Sedition Act.
The so-called Malaysian Malaysia concept is subversive to Article 153 Special Position of the Malays. Read Big Dog’s previous post spelling out Article 153.
You people control the economy, have vast amounts of wealth and occupy most of the posts in the various professional jobs in the country. Yet you want more, more and more. Be reasonable, man.
Only you and people like you think UMNO has “done too much damage to Malaysia and especially Malay.” The DAP and the Malaysian Malaysia slogan has done untold damage to the country more than any other. It’s untold because records of the 1969 racial riots have not been declassified. The underlying reasons and the circumstances leading to the riots. People would not talk too much about it because of respect for the Sedition Act.
You disagree with UMNO you may say so. You disagree with corruption, you may say so. But don’t talk about NEP and touch on the Special Position of the Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak. You are at liberty to criticise the implementation but not the concept of assisting the disadvantaged under the NEP. Even the Chinese in mainland China practised a policy of quotas for hundreds of years under the Manchu rulers and earlier. The Manchus reserved 25% of the civil service posts to the southern Chinese who were disadvantaged compared to the northern Chinese. You Chinese in Malaysia are descended from the southern Chinese.
You are talking through your nose when saying “by adopting Malaysian Malaysia, Malaysia will be one of the top developed countries like Singapore nowadays with superior quality of living standard, public amenities, education, military power and wealth.” If Malaysia is ruled like Singapore with Big Brother always on the wall, dissent like yours is not allowed, speaking against the authorities would get you sued to bankruptcy, resulting in only 2 opposition MPs in Parliament, then perhaps Malaysia may progress with minimal bickering from people like you. Go live in Singapore, man, see if you can stand the Big Brother system.
These people know history. But they simply don’t care.
It’s part of the grand design to acquire popularity and votes, even through the international scene. The calculation is that showing liberalness (any such word?) across the causeway will be seen this side of the divide as well. The belief that the international community in Singapore will spread the liberal attitude of the Malaysian Government around, including Europe and America, and more foreign investments will come in. But at what price?
Tengku Razaleigh has said when he was Minister of Finance that liberalism would lead to the Chinese getting more and more of the economic pie. Development will increase but at the expense of the poor Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak who, until now, have only 18% of corporate wealth, not counting other forms of wealth. Tun Dr Mahathir had raised the economic position of the Malays substantially but not at the expense of the Malays. Tun Dol – let’s not talk about him as it would spoil our day further.
Until and unless DS Najib can convince us that the benefits of his deal with Singapore are substantial considering that the LKY-Tun Daim “Point of Agreement” has been such long-standing as 20 years, he will be seen as another Melayu giving away rights for personal reasons. Votes and greed for power in his instance. He ought to be censured and his liberalism be checked.
Correction:
“Tun Dr Mahathir had raised the economic position of the Malays substantially but not at the expense of the Malays.” –
“Malays” should read “country”.
I supported Tengku Razaleigh at the last UMNO Party Election which resulted TR being unable to contest due to UMNO policy. We expected this kind of bullshit of Najib will happen, besides HE and Rosmah’s THRILL Story,, is a liability to the party .. but the choice had been made by the corrupted delegates .. TANGGUNGLAH RISIKO ..
There are signs that UMNO had depleted the wealth of this countries, UMNO had been proposing many steps in order to squeeze more wealth from the rakyat for the UMNOputras:
1. Proposal of GST.
2. Proposal to stop subsidies of various basic needs of rakyat.
3. Discontinue of summon discount and increase the amount of summon.
4. Legalize sport betting.
5. Giving away Block L and M in Sarawak.
And lastly giving away the KTM land in Singapore. By 2018 there will be MRT connecting Woodland and JB. By that time, KTM will be permantly and officially out from Singapore. Despite a new land in Woodland given to Malaysia and with the new joint comapany with Khazanah holding 60% in this company to joint develope the new land, who wound ensure that in future the stake will not be sold again and by that time Malaysia is officially completely out from the red dot.
Najib also had a new joint venture with the red dot:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/5/25/nation/6332679&sec=nation
Najib want to sell Iskandar as well to Singaporean and when the property price surged in that place and when Malaysian especially Malay will be unable to afford that place anymore, Malaysian especially Malay will have to move out from Johor as well!
Haha 3rd class fellow, read what whackthembugger writes about you below.
I want to puke every time I see your name, let alone what you write. You simply nauseate me – and others, too, as can be seen by what whackthembugger writes. So, why bother about writing when people fuck whatever you write.
Malaysian Malaysia shit. Ungrateful bugger.
You buggers don’t even want to admit that you have had the tongkat since the days Menteri Laroot Ngah Ibrahim brought you people in to develop his territory and provided capital to some of you blokes to do mining in mid-19th Century.
And what did you buggers do? Brought in secret societies, thugs and gangsters, embroiled in inter-clan gang wars of Ghee Hins and Hai Sans, the Malays got drawn in and 350 Malay tine mines eventually disappeared. How about that for gratitude ha?
And the Capitan China and 44 gangsters signed a Petition asking the British in Penang to enter Perak to help regain tin mines lost to rival gangs and this eventually led to British intervention and colonial rule in this country. Just look at the kind of treachery by your kind.
You don’t even admit all sorts of tongkat given by British colonialists to your people – mining licenses, mining land leases, gaming licenses, lotteries of various kinds that provided easy money for you people, licenses for trading in rubber, etc.
Hey ungrateful fellow, even Robert Kuok got tongkat for sugar import and manufacture – it was monopolistic for a time that made him the Sugar King. Ask Vincent Tan of the tongkats he had received and continue to receive to this day – the latest is the football betting license. Are these not tongkats? The only difference is that they have the experience and the Chinese have the culture of doing business, of profit-taking, whereas the Malays don’t.
Now don’t start blaming the Malays for the time taken to achieve the NEP target – nobody, not even the Robert Kuoks or the Vincent Tans, would know how to estimate the time taken accurately, because the Malays have never been in business before 1970 and nobody can estimate it accurately.
You pathetic and ungrateful scum. You should be living in Papua New Guinea where after over 30 years of independence they simply won’t allow you to do even grocery store business. You should be on the highlands there where they still practise cannibalism.
Nice spin by the mainstream media.
All to our benefit it seems.
We are told that we will reap monstrous financial reward by forsaking the oil blocks and land to our neighbours.
In the old days, our fore fathers would rather be poor rather than giving up our lands, not even an inch.
Let us all be good citizens and rejoice in the fantastic deals done by our leaders.
Manusia yg MEMPERTUHANKAN wang sanggup membuat apa saja.Baginya wang adalah segala-galanya.Dengan wang lah beliau akan membeli undi untuk terus mengekalkan kuasanya.
Demi wang beliau sanggup mengeluarkan lesen judi yg memangnya haram disisi Agama Islam.Dan kini, kerana wang yg terlalu banyak, telah membuat beliau hilang kewarasan dan pertimbangan sehingga sanggup menjual kedaulatan dan bersama dengannya maruah bangsa.Jika rakyat yg cintakan negara ini tidak berwaspada dan berhati-hati nanti seluruh negara mungkin turut tergadai atau terjual seperti apa yg berlaku keatas Singapore pada tahun 1819 dulu.
Askar Tua
The last sentence from – http://epolicy.blogspot.com/2010/05/malaysia-singapore-deal.html
“An integration of Johor with Singapore. ”
How true it will be ?
Compromise again, what’s next ?
GE 13 ?
Sangat sedih.
Nani Cheras
Gua setuju 100 peratus pendapat lu. Lu memang cekap. Caya gua sama lu. piiiwwwiiiit!
Gua pun orang JayBee jugak, Kg Melayu Majidee (dekat dgn masjid, tepi kedai makan)….. gerek seh!
Dalam paper hari ini front page kata masalah Tanjung Pagar KTM sudah selesai. Yang tidak dilapurkan ialah Najib sudah kautim letgo Tanjung Pagar kpd Singapore dan pindah stesyen KTM ka Woodlands.
Apa sudah jadik?
Kenapa Malaysia beralah? Takkan mudah sangat Letgo Tanjung Pagar kepada Singapura? Najib tak de telur ka? Singapura sudah pegang telur Najib?
Dalam paper hari ini ada tulis pasal Khazanah dan Temasek akan JV 50:50 untuk membangunkan projek “iconic wellness” di JB. Tanah telah dikenal pasti berkeluasan 202ha di Nusajaya. Yang tidak dilapurkan oleh paper ialah itu ler tanah di Medini (dulu panggil Node 1) yang Pak Arab “pulang” balik to Khazanah. Bila Pak Arab tak mahu, Khaznah letgo kepada Singapura. Betul ler projek di JB macam projek LetgoLand. Apa desperate sangat Khazanah hendak duit sampai kena gadai tanah senang lenang kepada Singapura.
Tolong bagitahu Tun Mahathir tentang perkara ini sebelum satu JayBee digadaikan kepada Singapura. Mana gua hendak duduk nanti?
Stop Letgo our Land!
Melayu Majidee
Look from this angle – most chauvinist business pigs hate to pay a single in taxes and if they can, they won’t pay a single sen at all. Such gluttonous pigs too just grunt as they swallow the wealth of the country yet complaining they don’t get their rights and entitlements in this country and constitution. Calling themselves 2nd class citizens, they care not about history except to spit at whatever was in the past even if it was good and beneficial then and worse to re-create history using fabrications and fraudulent purposes. Doing GST is good, the opinion of many but its a political suicide. So find the money elsewhere – sell prime assets.
Malaysian Malaysia – fuck spiders that’s what you are good at, you care nothing but your own “intellectual” kind; bull shit.
Yeah Najib need lots of money to “kill” your kind, don’t be surprise by the next GE your kind will end up in the wilderness. Lots of money, from the football gambling to deprive your kind from making any from it, sale of prime assets in building up the huge arsenal to whack the asses of those deemed themselves as 2nd class citizens.
So what if Najib sells prime assets, at least the money can be used to “sodomise” those loud Opposition noises up to nothing good.
If this “..Yeah Najib need lots of money to “kill” your kind, don’t be surprise by the next GE your kind will end up in the wilderness..” is true, I will declare Najib is the GREATEST Malay leader for the last thousand years.
And the money will be used to sodomised those loud oposition will make my day
Please God let this be true.
mohamed
Have you got God, you 2nd Class chappie? Or is money your God?
Do read Professor C.P Fitzgerald’s book on China where he stated that the Chinese practices three religions all at the same time – Confucianism, Buddhism (from India) and Taoism – “without any sense of incompatibility”.
The Professor says this is not necessarily “a triple insurance against calamity”, but some people do – don’t want to be left out (kiasu), and a reflection of the character trait of always wanting more, more and more.
But, unfortunately, there’s always a limit to everything in this world.
Dear All Malaysians,
Your new PM, Najib is very investor friendly. As a Singaporean, i’m very surprised by his bold move letting us, Singapore, to own 40% to develop KTMB’s land in Singapore. If during Mahathir time, no way man. Now i really believe why Malaysia is now ranked among top 10 competitive countries in the world.
But the best part of yesterday’s meeting was, not only Singapore can own 40% to develop KTMB’s land in Singapore, we also own 50% to develop Khazanah’s land in Johor.
You guys are very generous.
Thank you Malaysia.
Sudah diduga. Satu hari yang pahit untuk Nusantara dan Tuan Tanah. Alahai Najib.
Tunku yang terlalai di 1967 mengadiahkan Temasek kepada bangsa asing. Kini di bawah anak Bapa Pembangunan, tanah sekangkang kera tetapi nilainya semahal emas digadaikan demi dua cubit pasir bersebelahan kasino dan utara.
Lebih baik Najib digelar Bapa Pemberi. Beri muka kepada kaum dan agama pendatang. Beri wang kepada sekolah komunis. Beri jawatan Petronas kepada bangsa asing.
Lain kali beri mohor kerajaan kepada pembangkang dan cauvanis cina.
Ingatlah, di Amerika tuan tanah berkulit putih memberi muka kepada gangster negro atas alasan civil right. Sekarang lihat siapa kini berada di Rumah Putih. Jangan ingat takkan berlaku di bumi ini.
setuju3….
Hoi Pocong,
You have something against black people? You read history don’t you? You heard of the KKK? Now I suppose you are going to say that KKK is a legit organization since it fights for the purity of a White-Only nation. Are you sick or something? Stay off the glue, dude.
What a load of crap!
Big Dog seems to conveniently forget that it was Dr Mahathir who sent Daim Zainuddin to negotiate with Lee Kuan Yew about KTM land in Singapore. Their negotiations resulted in the 1990 Points of Agreement (POA).
What mandate was Daim given by Mahathir and how much flexibility was the former allowed in the negotiations with LKY?
Who were Daim’s advisors at the time in the negotiations with LKY?
In the hoo-ha over this issue, Daim has stayed resolutely silent. Why?
PM Najib has simply made a pragmatic decision to resolve a long-outstanding bilateral issue. If the matter were to go to an international court or international arbitration, Malaysia could well land up with the proverbial egg on it’s face!
And, btw, did you notice that without the “trump card” of water (in that Singapore has announced publicly that it will be 100% self-sufficient in water when the second water agreement with Malaysia runs out in 2061), Malaysia was playing off a weak hand. Think of all the idiots in Umno who were shouting “cut, cut” when bilateral ties with Singapore were at an all-time low during the premiership of Dr Mahathir.
And why did Dr Mahathir not submit the POA to his Cabinet for agreement after it was negotiated and signed by Daim and LKY?
Bugger, I fight for purity of Bangsa & Agama. And yes I have many things against the negro. You are maybe chinese who read only chinese newspaper. If you read real Malaysian media like Utusan, bacaria, Kosmo and mastika you will know the problem caused by the awang hitam in MALAYsia under excuse to study.
They cheat with Nigeria email, black money and smuggle drugs. They also tackel with Malaysian girl, mostly Malay woman who easily seduce, no Islamic moral value and listen to much rap music. They don’t care if woman is married or not. My nephew work as taxi driver in KL tell about some condos where many awang hitam stay. They dirty the condo, make lot of noise, and bring women. When he get radio call on saturday sunday morning to go there, it mostly to pick up stupid Melayu women having fun there last night. Most of them are college girl, but he has see few older women who are married. We had to deal with Bangla before now we have the negro problem. So yes I also understand why the KKK hate the negro.
You ARE on glue! There’s so much stupidity in your remarks, I can only surmised that your brain is fried. You really have this bigoted idea about black-skin people. I believe this have this term called Redneck in the States. You my friend is a Malay Redneck.
[…] settle via back-room private negotiations on the KTMB land in Singapore which was done hastily and many believed was not fair and Malaysia was the ‘snookered’ on its own […]