Missing MRT link, part 2

Is the Singapore MRT finally going to the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru?

Forum discussions based on a Chinese newspaper article posted on SingaporeSurf on Feb 9 seem to suggest so.

So far, I have not seen any article on the same issue by mainstream English newspapers on both sides of the causeway. Other parties -- the governments of Malaysia and Singapore, and SMRT -- have not made any announcement to clarify whether it is indeed true that the two governments had given the green light for the significant cross-border project. So it's not quite clear what the real situation is, as my understanding of Chinese is almost zero.

As argued earlier, it is a necessary link in Singapore's MRT blurprint. But there are many complications surrounding such a project, as mentioned in an earlier posting -- JB-Singapore MRT?

S'pore-KL budget flights take off but...

The long-protected Singapore-KL air route has finally been opened up, slightly.

Singapore and Malaysia newspapers highlighted the historic entry of budget airlines in the air sector between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur on Feb 1. Three new players -- Malaysia's AirAsia, and Tiger Airways and Jetstar Asia of Singapore -- will operate a total of four flights a day. Most of the flights will still be dominated by the expensive Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.

Sophie's World has long argued for the liberalisation of the route, which was dominated by the national carriers of Malaysia and Singapore for the past three decades. It just didn't make sense to shield the two national carriers from the new kids on the block since budget airlines came into play in 2003.

Passengers and commentators will continue to analyse the situation and applaud the move as another step towards open skies in Asean. Sophie's World fully endorses Asean's Open Sky pact by the end of this year to hasten economic and social integration of the region with over 500 million people -- more than one-third the population of China, which is the world's most populous country.

But an open sky pact alone will not nudge the region's disparate economies towards greater integration as long as many countries remain highly nationalistic.

In the case of closely-knit Malaysia and Singapore, the long-term solution is not more flights alone as many people still won't be able to travel freely. Why? This is because air travel is still relatively expensive due to the litany of taxes imposed, and the subsequent connection cost to the city.

For example, The Straits Times highlighted the family of 21 who collectively spent S$3,200 on the maiden budget flight from Singapore to KL. It's a lot cheaper than the S$8,800 they would have forked out on either Singapore Airlines or Malaysia Airlines for the same round-trip flight. At S$3,200, it works out to S$152 per person for a round-trip fare, including all the taxes.

The family could have chartered an entire van or bus for far less and used it to ferry them around in KL for one week. But bus was not an option for them as they said they had some toddlers who couldn't stomach the bus journey to KL. That's not the point here.

The point is at S$152 per person (some budget tickets were given away for free as part of the maiden flight promotions), it is still a high price to travel 320km from Singapore to KL. Budget airfare, inclusive of taxes and surcharges, is still at least 50 percent higher than what many luxury coaches charge between the two cities. In fact, ST said many people paid under S$200 each for a budget airline seat. This is more than double the return bus fare of S$92 charged by luxury coach Aeroline.

The long-term solution to facilitate the extremely high traffic volume between the two capitals is a high-speed bullet train service. It's an idea that was mooted by several Malaysian businessmen in the 1990s and revived recently by Francis Yeoh.

Even former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had pushed for the idea as a way to further integrate the two countries. As part of the fast train service between KL and Singapore, Dr Mahathir had proposed a rail tunnel under the narrow Straits of Johor, which separates Malaysia and Singapore.

The rail tunnel project was part of the transportation blueprint in the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru that involved building a new overhead bridge to replace the old causeway, which connects the two countries.

Although Singapore had officially welcomed the rail tunnel idea, negotiation to build a new overhead bridge was almost stillborn from the beginning. Malaysia finally called off the bridge project two years ago as Singapore had made certain demands -- the right to use Malaysia's airspace and buy sand for its land reclamation -- that Malaysia could not fulfill.

Francis Yeoh appears to be still keen to push ahead with the bullet train project although the rail tunnel and bridge components have been derailed. He could build a new fast rail link to Singapore should Malaysia secure Singapore's blessing, or end the rail track in the city of JB.

The answers are still hazy.

What is clearer is that a fast train service could zip from Singapore to the heart of KL in just 90 minutes -- half the time needed to drive on Malaysia's North-South Expressway. The point-to-point travel will be even faster than air travel due to time needed for airport immigration clearance, baggage clearance and the 57-km road or rail connection between the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the capital.

Of course, demand will hinge on the eventual price of a train ticket. Sophie's World is hopeful that the price ticket for a fast train service, should it materialise, will be competitive compared to full-fledged airlines or even budget airlines.

But planners in Singapore and Malaysia must not ignore the ultimate bottleneck for road and rail travelers between the two countries -- the jointly-owned causeway.

Missing MRT link

Source: The Straits Times

Singapore will one day have the most extensive rail and subway network for any country in the world. The forward-thinking Singapore government has announced plans to spend S$40 billion to double the MRT network by 2020.

According to The Straits Times on Jan 25, Singapore will have 278km of rail link, from 138km today. Its network density will rise from 31km per million residents today to 51km per million - surpassing that of major cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo, and comparable to current densities in cities like New York and London.

Will the Singapore MRT blueprint be completed by then? Unlikely. There's always room for Singapore to create an even more extensive network as the population grows.

A missing link could be a MRT rail track from Singapore to the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru. It's not a radical idea. In fact, businessmen on both sides of the causeway are toying with the idea.

Such a link will definitely be useful to help ease the massive traffic at the causeway, the land-based bridge that links Singapore and Malaysia.

ST had estimated about 250,000 people enter Malaysia via the causeway every day. This works out to more than 90 million people each year. This is a staggering number as it is nearly 20 times the population of Singapore. The number of people using the causeway is almost one-fifth the 414 million riders who used Singapore's MRT in 2007.

Of course, there is no certainty that Malaysia and Singapore will agree to the proposed JB-Singapore MRT link. There are simply too many complications at the government-to-government level although it is a desirable project. The two governments can't even agree to build a new overhead bridge to replace the aging causeway and resolve a host of other bilateral problems.

And can they agree to a common ticketing system even if they manage to build a MRT link between Singapore and JB? Don't bet on it!

Malaysian bullet train going to Singapore?

Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh has made it clear again that he plans to build a bullet train service all the way to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur, according to a report today.

Will he and his YTL Corporation succeed in linking the capitals of Malaysia and Singapore via a fast train that could cut down travel time to less than two hours for many long-suffering travelers between the two countries?

“I am confident (to secure the project) because everybody wants it. The Malaysian government is pragmatic and at the end of the day if the public wants it, why not?,” he reportedly said.

Sure, everybody wants it. But can the two governments agree to such a plan that will greatly benefit the people of the two countries? Can the two governments really cooperate for the benefit of the population of the two countries or will they be driven by their narrow self-interest?

Sophie's World is not sanguine. Apart from problems arising from Malaysia's haphazard railway blueprint, the two governments can't even agree on very basic and long outstanding matters such as the:

1. Renewal of the water agreements between Malaysia and Singapore;
2. Redevelopment of the Malaysian railway land in Singapore;
3. Exchange of land in Singapore for the joint redevelopment of the Malaysian railway land
4. Use of Malaysian airspace by Singapore;
5. Sale of Malaysian sand to Singapore for reclamation;
6. Release of CPF funds of West Malaysians who no longer work in Singapore;
7. Dispute over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Putih;
8. Diversion of heavy traffic to the Second Link from the causeway;
9. Plan to build an overhead bridge to replace the old causeway; and
10. Cleaning up the filthy Straits of Johor, which separates the two countries.

Like the current talk (just talk) to build a monorail link between the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru and Singapore, it will be more ideal to build a new bridge to replace the causeway to facilitate the bullet train project. Please read earlier posting.

Now, where is the new Asean Charter?

Singapore fugitives in JB, part 2

There's been another case of crime in Johor Baru with a Singapore connection.

According to The Star on Monday, a man, who has been on the wanted list in Singapore for 20 years, and two others have been detained in connection with the kidnapping of a businessman’s son in JB.

The report said the three men, in their 20s to 40s, were arrested in a series of raids around the city soon after the 23-year-old victim was released after a ransom of RM600,000 was paid recently. The suspects initially asked for a RM1 million ransom.

The report didn't make it clear whether the mastermind of the plot is a Singaporean, although it said he's a hardcore criminal wanted in Singapore for committing several armed robberies.

This is not the first case of cross-border crime in JB. According to an earlier posting, there were many other fugitives in Singapore who had fled to neighbouring Malaysia such as Singaporean one-eyed dragon Tan Chor Jin and Malaysian Took Leng How in the Huang Na case. They were eventually tracked down by police in the two countries and brought to justice in Singapore.

But the latest kidnapping case in JB is probably eclipsed by the beginning of the sensational case in Kuala Lumpur -- the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu (pix from Guang Ming daily via ST).

The Malaysia press have been working overtime to report the case. Please see The Star, which has posted plenty of pix and video clips of the trial.

Defence analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and two other special action force policemen have been accused of the gruesome murder -- she was shot twice in the head before she was blown to bits by C4 explosives. Razak Baginda has acknowledged having an eight-month extramarital affair with Shaariibuu from late 2004.

Many reports have also said that Razak Baginda is a close associate of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has vehemently denied any involvement in the case.

The Mongolian model case will definitely continue to hog the headlines.

Singapore fugitives in JB

Many Singaporeans like to complain about the crime situation in Malaysia, especially in the border city of Johor Baru. Yes, it's true that JB is literally a cowboy town due to the high crime rate. This is probably due to the high number of transient workers and residents in the city as noted in a previous post.

However, not all crimes in the city are committed by Malaysians. This is shown in the latest judgement against a Singaporean. Lim Tiong Seng (left in the ST pix) and a Malaysian accomplice were sentenced to death by the Johor Baru High Court for an armed robbery bid in JB in 2001, according to reports this week.

It's not been easy for the Malaysian enforcement agencies to cope with surging crimes in JB or in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. It doesn't help when some Malaysian policemen aren't exactly morally upright.

It's also not easy for the immigration departments on both sides of the causeway to prevent fugitives in Singapore from fleeing to JB. This is shown in the case of former National Kidney Foundation ex-chairman Richard Yong, who reportedly fled to JB recently to avoid payment of the estimated $11 million judgment against him. According to ST, Yong was able to leave Singapore because officials of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority were not told about his bankrupt status until hours after he had passed through the Woodlands checkpoint.

Yong is not the first one to have fled from Singapore to JB and he won't be the last one. There were many other fugitives in Singapore who had fled to neighbouring Malaysia such as Singaporean one-eyed dragon Tan Chor Jin and Malaysian Took Leng How in the Huang Na case. They were eventually tracked down by police in the two countries and brought to justice in Singapore.

Regardless of the nationalities of criminals in Malaysia, Singapore and Malaysia must work even more closely to help bring their criminals and fugitives to justice and make life safer for citizens on both sides of the causeway.

Johor a safe haven?

The Malaysian government has been going on the offensive to show that it's determined to fight crimes in the country, especially in crime-infested Johor which is next to Singapore.

According to reports, the southern state of Johor actually saw a drop of 8.9 per cent so far this year in serious crimes such as murders, muggings and extortion. Property crimes such as carjackings and burglaries dropped by 6.73 per cent in the same period.

Well, dad and I are not totally convinced that the crime rate in the state is on a real downward trend. Not when crime rates in the state had gone up by double-digit rates in the past. Even the fuming Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum (NST Pix) accused the police of manipulating crime rate figures to confuse the public, according to New Straits Times last month.

A report even said that the crime rate in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur shot up by a mind-boggling 40 per cent in the first three months of this year. And KL seems like a safer place than Johor Baru as there are more transient residents and visitors in the latter.

No doubt, Malaysia is trying to contain the crime situation in Johor as the federal and state governments step up efforts to woo Singapore and other foreign investors to the Iskandar Development Region.

But as mentioned in an earlier posting, former Singapore PM Lee Kuan Yew was definitely correct when he said in a defamation suit in 1997 that Johor was "notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings".

So dad will remain sceptical about the current blitz against crime until he is certain that he can drive in JB, KL or elsewhere in Malaysia without having to lock his car, like in Singapore.

How to live in JB with so much crime!!!!

The southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru is just next to Singapore but they are definitely worlds apart. Unlike Singapore that is very safe, the crime level in JB doesn't seem to be abating despite efforts to beef up security in the state.

Former Singapore PM Lee Kuan Yew was definitely correct when he said in a defamation suit in 1997 that the Malaysian state was "notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings". Although Kuan Yew had expunged the remarks in order to maintain friendly relations between Singapore and Malaysia, the remarks still strike a chord among residents in the state.

Third Aunt was robbed recently. Sixth Aunt was also robbed recently by a knife-wielding man in front of her house behind the popular Holiday Plaza mall. She highlighted this story in The Star on March 19 in which a businessman -- Low Ee Chong (as shown in The Star pix) who is the brother of Pengkalan Rinting state assemblyman Low Teh Hian -- was badly injured and robbed in front of his house.

The headline of Sixth Aunt's e-mail: How to live in JB with so much crime!!!! Indeed. There are many other horror stories.

But it's not time to talk anymore. It's time to go on a massive anti-crime blitz in the MSC state -- not the Multimedia Super Corridor but Mugging, Shooting and Car-jacking state.

Welcome to Singapura!

The incessant traffic snarl on both sides of the causeway has spawned a growing number of cottage industries in the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru.

Visitors entering Singapore via JB will witness more beggars asking for money from motorists and enterprising boys selling copies of 4-D gaming results, especially after 7pm.

For the first time, dad saw an instant pizza delivery service for motorists today. The young man in the third pix gladly advertised Domino's Personal Pizza for only RM5 apiece or about S$2.20 each. Not a bad service if you are starving while stuck in the jam.

While caught in the traffic crawl, dad thought of other enterprising ideas to help motorists bypass the constant traffic jam since the two governments cannot come to terms to build a wider bridge to replace the old causeway linking Malaysia and Singapore.

Those new ideas include a ferry/boat service to Singapore, a helicopter service to Singapore, a cable car system to connect the two cities, or even a direct budget flight from JB to Singapore via Bangkok or Jakarta. Like the plan to build a new mass rapid transit network in JB and link it to Singapore's MRT subway system, all these ideas will take time as they will involve bilateral discussions.

In the meantime, dad is certain that some enterprising businessmen in JB will come up with a mobile toilet service soon for those who brave the causeway jams daily to enter Singapore.

Floods on Both Sides of the Causeway

(Pix source: The Straits Times)

IT rained cats and dogs in Singapore and in the border Malaysian town of Johor Baru yesterday. Singapore's Met Dept said it was the heaviest rainfall in 75 years, while Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman described it as a 'once in 100 years' occurrence.

Parts of Singapore were submerged in water but the damage didn't appear to be too widespread in the developed island nation.

However, the situation was more serious in Third World town of JB. More than 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes after floods hit most parts of Johor.

The flood is a rare phenomenon in Singapore since the flood alleviation programme in the 1980s and 1990s. And such events will be event rarer in Singapore once the Marina Barrage is completed next year to help turn Marina Bay into a fresh water bay and helps regulate tidal flows to stem flooding of inland low-lying areas. Must say it's a simple and brilliant idea.

But the same cannot be said about JB, which will continue to experience massive floods in the future -- definitely more than once in every 100 years. See earlier postings on Johor's woes.