On Jan. 19, Malaysia's foreign ministry published a note on its Facebook page Wisma Putra committing to resolve the bilateral issues with Singapore peacefully and calmly.

It said that "diplomatic efforts are underway to find amicable solutions to issues of concern to both countries".

Foreign ministers from both countries had met earlier on Jan. 8 to discuss the issue of the Seletar Airport Instrument Landing System (ILS), as well as disputed maritime territorial waters off Tuas.

That meeting was described as "positive and constructive" by Wisma Putra.

It would seem this was one step forward, two steps back a day later.

The Osman incident

On Jan. 9 the chief minister of Johor, Osman Sapian, visited a Malaysian vessel (MV Pedoman) that was in the disputed waters.

Singapore then postponed the annual Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) for Iskandar Malaysia meeting as a response to the actions of Osman.

Singapore's foreign affairs minister Vivian Balakrishnan said this incident "undermined the goodwill and trust necessary for further cooperation between the two countries, especially cooperation involving Johor".

He added that it made it "untenable" to go ahead with the JMC meeting.

The plot thickened when Osman made a post on Facebook claiming that he had received "unofficial blessing" from Malaysia's foreign affairs ministry to visit Pedoman.

Wisma Putra called Osman's actions counterproductive and clarified that it gave no such blessing to Osman.

Wisma Putra said it tried repeatedly to contact Osman to stop the visit.

Update on bilateral developments

In its Jan. 19 Facebook note, Wisma Putra said that transport ministers from both countries will be meeting "to discuss the way forward on airspace related issues" -- namely the ILS for Seletar Airport.

The working group that was agreed upon during the Jan 8. meeting will see the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, Sri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, Chee Wee Kiong come together to discuss the Malaysia-Singapore maritime dispute on Jan. 28.

Wisma Putra also said that despite "recent incidents that seemed to undermine on-going diplomatic efforts", Malaysia's foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah had received "a letter with positive undertones" from Vivian.

Wisma Putra did not specify whether the "recent incidents" included the Osman one.

Not the first time communications have not lined up between Osman & federal gov't

On Oct. 16 2018, the Johor chief minister said he asked the Malaysian federal government for the go-ahead to replace the Johorean side of the Causeway with a crooked bridge.

Johor's crown prince, Tunku Ismail Idris, tweeted hours after Osman’s statements that there was "nothing concrete" about the plan.

"Long way to go," the constitutional monarch tweeted.

When Osman announced the possibility of reviving the crooked bridge idea, he said that he would visit Singapore with Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali to discuss this issue with Singapore.

A day later on Oct. 17, Azmin told reporters that his ministry had yet to receive a former proposal from the Johor government.

Azmin added that Malaysia needed to prioritise its infrastructure projects instead given its current fiscal condition.

On Oct. 18, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in response to queries that it did not receive any official proposals from Malaysia regarding the crooked bridge or building a new link with Johor.

Top image adapted via Osman Sapian/FB & Saifuddin Abdullah/FB