On Oct. 30 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia met for their first Leaders' Retreat since Anwar became Prime Minister in 2022.

Singapore hosted the 2023 retreat, with the last retreat with then-PM Mahathir Mohamad held in Malaysia in 2019.

The retreat, meant to be an annual affair, was suspended during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Joint statement

The two prime ministers issued a joint statement following the conclusion of the retreat as well as holding a joint press conference in the Istana.

The joint statement covered several outstanding issues between the two nations.

These included topics such as:

• The proposed special economic zone between Johor and Singapore.
• The establishment of a Malaysia-Singapore Joint Technical Committee regarding issues surrounding Pedra Branca.
• An agreement to review the delegation arrangements for air traffic services over Southern Peninsula Malaysia.

Special economic zone

The leaders expressed their satisfaction with the ongoing cooperation under the purview of the Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia (JMCIM), welcoming the progress made by the respective work groups.

The leaders noted the establishment of a special taskforce under the JMCIM to study a Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), noting the progress update provided by the taskforce at the Retreat.

The JS-SEZ will tap into the “complementary strengths of both countries to foster economic connectivity by improving cross-border flows of goods, investment, and people”.

The leaders welcomed plans to work towards a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) on the JS-SEZ to be signed in January 2024.

Pedra Branca

The leaders also said that they looked forward to the convening of the first Joint Meeting of the Malaysia Singapore Joint Technical Committee on the Implementation of the International Court Of Justice Judgement on Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, and the Committee For Boundary Delimitation Pursuant to the Agreement between the Foreign Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia on 14th March 2019 to resolve outstanding bilateral Maritime boundary delimitation issues.

The leaders noted the good progress made at the first Meeting of the Technical Working Group on the Agreement between the Government of Malaysia and the Government of the Republic of Singapore to Delimit Precisely the Territorial Waters Boundary in accordance with the Straits Settlements and Johore Territorial Waters Agreement 1927 (1995 Agreement), held in June 2023, and looked forward to the convening of the 2nd Meeting of the Technical Working Group with a view to determining the actual location of the points of the international boundary pursuant to the 1995 Agreement.

Water

The leaders also reaffirmed their commitments as provided for in the 1962 Johore River Water Agreement.

Both agreed to reconvene the two nation’s water ministries’ Joint Technical Committee to resume discussions on measures to safeguard the water quality, as well as increase the yield of the Johor River to ensure its sustainable supply to the extent required by the 1962 agreement.

The leaders also agreed that both countries will resume discussions on the raw and treated water prices, without prejudice to each other's respective long declared positions on the right to review the prices under the 1962 agreement.

They also further expressed their appreciation to the Singapore and Johor water authorities for the ongoing close cooperation on water issues, both encouraging the water authorities to maintain the excellent working relationship and looking forward to more areas of collaboration between the two countries.

Flight Information Region

The leaders also agreed to review the delegation arrangements for the provision of air traffic services over Southern Peninsula Malaysia, which were recommended and approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 1973 and implemented through the Operational Letter of Agreement between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore Area Control Centres concerning Singapore Arrivals, Departures and Overflights in 1974.

This review shall be in accordance with the ICAO's requirements for safe and efficient air traffic management as well as accommodate both countries current and future operational needs.

Both leaders tasked their respective Transport Ministers to deliberate and agree on a set of principles and outcomes to guide both civil aviation authorities to move forward as expeditiously as possible.

Joint press conference

The joint press conference noted the longstanding relationship between the two countries, a relationship that was undergirded by a long-standing relationship between PM Lee and Anwar.

PM Lee said that he and Anwar had known each other for almost 30 years.

This relationship was emphasised by a joke that Anwar made, stating that PM Lee was a “workaholic”, to the point that when the two men met at multilateral meetings, PM Lee would first engage him in serious discussions, before then finally asking about his wife Wan Azizah and the family.

Causeway traffic

The two men spoke about the efforts being made to alleviate traffic at the causeway.

Anwar spoke about the many Malaysians who needed to wake up at 4am in order to cross the border to get to work, as well as Singaporean tourists to Johor that would get caught in heavy weekend traffic.

The upcoming Johor-Singapore Rail Transit system (RTS) was one of the ways that such traffic could be alleviated, but PM Lee also spoke about plans to improve the experience from the Singaporean side.

PM Lee noted the efforts of the CIQ at Johor Bahru to improve traffic, as well as Johor's Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Onn Hafiz Ghazi, who PM Lee said had been visiting the CIQ “at all hours” to check up on the conditions.

Singapore intended to improve things on its side as well, by redeveloping the Woodlands CIQ for the long term so that it would have more capacity, could handle bigger volumes, as well as improving the flow through of traffic.

This would ultimately lead to the tearing down of the existing CIQ structure and the building of a larger building.

Special Economic Zone

On the potential of a Special Economic Zone, PM Lee said that it was the subject of a feasibility study to see what the two nations wanted the SEZ to focus on.

PM Lee speculated that an SEZ might have special tax arrangements, or bonded warehouses, and thus easier border flows.

It would also mean easier arrangements for people who have to work on both sides of the Causeway, allowing them to go in and out of the zone.

This would enable companies within it to get the right mix of personnel that they need for their industries.

The plan for the SEZ would be to enhance the ecosystem of the Iskandar Development Region as well as Singapore, a way to do something meaningful for the IDR and focus investor attention on it.

Anwar said that Malaysia would try its level best to accelerate the process, saying that there was a very short timeline to agree on the parameters of a potential MOU, with the goal of signing it by the 11th of January 2024.

Anwar also met with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, their first meeting since Tharman became president.

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Top image via Lee Hsien Loong/Facebook