Leiking: Malaysia-Singapore economic ties good
SINGAPORE: International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking has described the economic relations between Malaysia and Singapore as “good”.
Leiking said the 1962 Water Agreement and Kuala LumpurSingapore High-Speed Rail issues were unlikely to affect the long-standing relations.
“The trust and closeness between us have always been there. Singapore is aware Malaysia is going through a tough time. We have fiscal mismanagement,” he said on the sidelines of the 50th Asean Economic Ministers’ (AEM) Meeting and Related Meetings here yesterday.
He said like China, Singapore knew that “we are going to redo and revamp our fiscal management.
“After all, how could we carry on projects that will burden our nation?”
On Tuesday, Leiking met his Singaporean counterpart, Chan Chun Sing.
Leiking said Chan expressed hope that the new Malaysian government would continue working with Singapore.
“We will resolve any small problems that we have, if any. We never look at the problems. We are looking at solutions.”
He is leading the Malaysian delegation to the AEM Meeting and Related Meetings here until Saturday.
In conjunction with the meetings, Leiking, who had expressed concerns that he had to skip weekly cabinet meetings, would undertake a working visit to the republic.
He will have a packed programme during the visit, including discussions and networking sessions with economists, potential investors, local and foreign business chambers, Malaysian diaspora and companies.
“We have met business councils and chambers, who said will continue to invest in Malaysia.
“We have assured them that we will try our best to overcome any obstacle they face and help them reduce bureaucracy.”
He said foreign investors were starting to see that the new government was seriously “reviving and rebuilding” the country.
“We want to do away with the mistrust and distrust that they had over the years,” he said, adding that the new Malaysia’s effort, led by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had started to bear fruit, with higher confidence among foreign investors.
On his inaugural AEM Meeting and Related Meetings, he said some policies should be relooked if they were against the government’s aspirations.
“The policies must be peopleoriented and Malaysia’s sovereignty must be protected.
“We are not negotiating the sovereignty of Malaysia.
“Some may say we are backtracking (on) policy. For us, we are not backtracking if it is for the people.”
He said issues to be relooked included terms agreed by the previous government in the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.