S'pore & M'sia think alike on Asean's potential & international issues: President Tharman

"I've had a very productive state visit," President Tharman Shanmugaratnam concluded in his wrap-up interview with Singapore media on Jul. 15 after his four-day state visit to Malaysia.

Tharman said that both Singapore and Malaysia leaders are investing a lot in this relationship, making efforts to understand each other's thinking and pushing cooperation where possible.

"The healthy state of relations between Singapore and Malaysia is not a matter of luck," he said in his Instagram post.

Aligned on the need to abide by the law of the sea and to diversify trading links

The two countries "think alike" in areas such as ASEAN's potential and on international issues which include the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, Tharman said to the media at the doorstop

Both countries are committed to ensuring the straits remain safe and toll-free.

"We think alike on the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, the criticality of abiding by UNCLOS, the law of the sea that ensures safe transit through a strait used for international navigation strait, without tolls or fees."

He added that the way how the Straits of Malacca and Singapore are being managed by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore has worked well and achieved "win-win" for all users while abiding by the law of the sea.

His comments came on the heels of his meeting with Malaysian leaders, including Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, with whom he exchanged views on the geopolitical developments, which include the implications of the ongoing Middle East conflict.

With both countries being export-oriented and as the world becoming more divided, Singapore and Malaysia also share a keen interest in diversifying trading links, said Tharman.

Diversifying trading links is important to avoid being forced by geopolitics into either a US-led bloc or a China-led bloc, he explained.

Strengthening bilateral economic complementarity and Asean's potential

Tharman also said that Singapore and Malaysia are "maturing" our economic complementarity, building on the deep relationship we share.

The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone and the RTS Link are examples of such efforts.

While some businesses and service industries may "lose out", on the whole, both countries will be winners.

"We have to accept that, with the larger win, there will be some losses. And that is a mature way of thinking about the bilateral relationship, on both sides."

On Asean, Tharman believes that there is potential to unleash "a lot more" economic value.

"We are not yet there, but we have significant potential in Asean," he said, highlighting the region's prospect of being a "powerhouse" for green energy and processing power.

"We are really raising our level of ambition on ASEAN, and Malaysia and Singapore think alike in that regard. It is in the national interests of each ASEAN member state that we join forces on green energy, in processing power, and in the digital economy. It adds up to making Asean’s value proposition that much stronger in a world that is getting more fragmented."

More prolonged immersions to develop friendships among our students

In addition to the exchange programmes that we currently have, President Tharman believes that there is more to be done to bring together youths from both countries to deepen cultural exchanges.

"We cannot recreate what it was like in the old days – when young people literally grew up together, went to the same schools, and had family moving up and down the peninsular."

One way is to enable more prolonged immersion which may involve just a few schools or universities, he suggested while acknowledging that such immersive programmes are not easy to arrange.

However, Tharman believes that there will be a larger "strategic benefit" in time.

"There is nothing like living together, studying together, and hanging around together over a longer period, or repeated periods, that makes for lasting friendships and a more enduring understanding of each other."

This could be in joint studies or extended internships or entrepreneurship programmes, he added.