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ANNEX TO THE MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PROF S JAYAKUMAR IN PARLIAMENT,
25 JANUARY 2003
KD Malaya (Question asked
by Ms Irene Ng)
This was never an issue. The Malaysian Navy
departed from the Woodlands Naval Base on their own accord in
December 1997. In fact, then Defence Minister Syed Hamid gave
a warm final address at the passing-out ceremony in August 1997,
where he thanked the Singapore Government for its "help and
cooperation in making it possible to have a recruit centre here
for so long". He said that as Malaysia was an independent country,
it was timely that its navy had its own training centre. He
had also described Singapore-Malaysia relations as "good with
no problems or complaints".
It is strange that in 1997 there were "no
problem or complaints", but five years later the Malaysian leaders
have turned their voluntary departure from Singapore into an
issue and an example of how unneighbourly we have been. PM Mahathir
said that "they (Singapore) deliberately increased the rate
for the lease for the naval base in Woodlands that we were forced
to vacate and we vacated without being paid even a sen" (Bernama,
30 December 2002).
They allege that we 'forced' the Malaysian
Navy to leave the Woodlands naval base by increasing the rent.
What are the facts? Yes, there was a rent
revision in 1991. But the truth is that the Singapore Government
tried to find ways to help the Malaysians maintain their base
and stay in Woodlands when the rent revision was carried out
in 1991. When we increased the rental, it was part of a government
revision of property rates applied to all, not targeted at KD
Malaya, but in line with our market-based rental policy to maximise
the use of land in land scarce Singapore. This policy applied
to all, including voluntary and charitable organisations. The
increase of rental from S$1.936 million to S$6.152 million reflected
the difference between the rent that the Malaysian Navy was
paying, and the market rental rate of the day. We understood
that such a sudden and sharp increase in rental might cause
the Malaysian government budgetary difficulties and we went
out of our way to be as helpful as possible. So, in the spirit
of goodwill and on our own volition, we offered them a 20% discount
of the proposed rate of S$6.152 million, reducing the rental
to S$4.8 million, with a phase-in period of five years.
We also offered a second option, whereby
Singapore would build a camp on an alternative piece of land
nearby in place of the facilities at the Woodlands base, for
the Malaysian Navy to occupy at a nominal fee of about S$500,000
for as long as it needed. The new camp would have cost MINDEF
about S$50 million to build.
During all stages of the discussions on this
matter, Singapore repeatedly emphasised to the Malaysians that
we welcomed their Navy to stay at the Woodlands base for as
long as it wanted to. In 1981, then PM Lee Kuan Yew told PM
Mahathir that Singapore would not seek the return of the land
for as long as the Malaysian Navy needed to use it. PM Goh also
told PM Mahathir in September 1992 that he would like KD Malaya
to stay in Singapore for as long as Malaysia wished. It was
our policy to continue our close defence links with Malaysia.
Indeed, after the Malaysians announced that
they would withdraw from Woodlands in 1997, we reiterated our
assurance that they were welcome to stay and that our offer
of the substitute camp remained open. In December 1992, when
then Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak wrote to us
formally to inform us of their decision, then Defence Minister
Dr Yeo Ning Hong had replied to convey that PM Goh would like
the Malaysian Navy to stay in Woodlands. It was emphasised that
the Singapore offer of SAF-built facilities to be placed at
the disposal of the Malaysian Navy remained open, if it wished
to take it up later. But Malaysia never did.
Despite Singapore's best efforts to offer
alternative options to enable the Malaysian Navy to remain in
Singapore, then Defence Minister Najib had made a public announcement
on 25 November 1992 that the Malaysian Navy would relocate the
base from Woodlands to Malaysia after 1997. Until then, the
Malaysian Navy will stay at Woodlands "at the rate rental which
has been determined by the Singapore Government". Najib explained
that Malaysia's decision to leave was "based on economic factors".
He also said that "the Malaysian government understands the
decision of the Singapore Government to increase the rate of
rental on the basis of market principles", and this "will not
adversely affect the good relations in the realm of defence
between the two countries". It was clear that citing economic
reasons, the Malaysians had left Woodlands on their own accord.
That was five years ago. Now in 2003, we
are accused of not having displayed neighbourliness in our dealings
with them. But the KD Malaya case clearly showed that we had
put in tremendous effort to help them out. We did offer alternatives
at our expense. We offered to fork out S$50 million to build
another camp near the Woodlands site for the Malaysian Navy
to use at a nominal fee. This proposal, which entailed additional
capital outlay on the part of Singapore, was made in the spirit
of goodwill and to show the Malaysians that we were sincere
in keeping our word to them about staying on in Woodlands. It
was Malaysia which chose not to take up this offer. |
