Speechless Sophie

Sophie is speechless over the big hike in Singapore ministers' salary announced today. So she shall keep quiet today. :-(

Readers can read this little exchange instead.

Of fast cars and slow trains

Pix source: Formula One at Sepang (top) courtesy of Malaysia's Shukor Janis of Shuk Photo, and KTM (bottom) from Wikipedia

The race is on for Singapore to narrow the gap with Malaysia in the Formula One arena. Singapore is set to sign a deal to host F1 in a couple of weeks -- some eight years after Malaysia joined the F1 circuit.

Many people, including some commentators in Singapore, had criticised former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's decision to build a first-class track in the middle of the jungle. The Sepang track was conveniently billed as one of his wasteful mega projects.

But many people have come around to accept the wisdom of hosting the F1 event as a necessary tourist magnet.

Unlike many competitive areas between the two countries due to their proximity, there is room to host the big event in the two nearby capitals. As pointed out by Dr Mahathir's second son Mokhzani Mahathir in The Straits Times today, the races in Malaysia must not be held back to back. Mokhzani, who was instrumental in bringing F1 to Malaysia together with his father, said the races in Singapore and Malaysia must be held at different ends of the eight-month racing calendar. Malaysia at the start and Singapore at the end, he said.

Sounds reasonable to make it more appealing to fans who won't want to be under the equatorial sun for two straight races. And there two other key aspects to differentiate the two racing venues -- Singapore is likely to have street racing versus a closed circuit in Malaysia; and night racing in Singapore versus day racing in Sepang.

While the two countries are likely to see cars going at more than 300 km an hour outside Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore, we will have to wait for some time before we can see a fast train zipping from Singapore to KL at over 300 km. The two governments are still studying the proposal by YTL to build a bullet train from KL to Singapore, cutting travel time to just 90 minutes from the current 8-hour snail ride provided by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM).

According to Malaysia's The Business Times today, German engineering expert Siemens is keen to be the technology provider for the proposed high-speed train project linking the capitals of Malaysia and Singapore.

Tim Hunter, Siemens' new head of rail for Malaysia, painted an interesting route the proposed train service could take.

"Ideally, it would begin from KL Sentral, linking the airport and Johor Baru and Changi Airport - that would make sense to me because inter-modal exchanges are most important."

What a great route! One can hop from one airport to another in 90 minutes or so.

But he also noted a complication. He said the existing KTM routes would have to be upgraded significantly, as would the causeway crossing. The existing causeway linking JB and Singapore could well be the deciding factor for the entire project. There are many complications in the cross-border fast train link.

While we continue to wait for a faster train service linking KL and Singapore, we can get a taste of speed at 300 km from watching Formula One cars on Singapore's streets one day.

PS: Interesting trivia in the ST report today: When Dr Mahathir and Mokhzani met F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in 1995, Mokhzani said his father offered to build a circuit to host the Malaysian leg. Mr Ecclestone stood up and offered his hand.

Malaysian bloggers united

Malaysian bloggers are rejoicing over their establishment of the first association for bloggers following the lawsuit against two household names. The so-called National Alliance of Bloggers is led by President Ahirudin Attan or better known as Rocky, Vice President Jeff Ooi, and Secretary Nuraina A. Samad.

They have many supporters such as the artistic kickdefella (who created the poster of Rocky) and prolific Susan Loone. The popular bloggers Rocky and Jeff are embroiled in a landmark suit with New Straits Times and associates.

According to Rocky, the Alliance will not exist just in cyberspace or blogosphere. It will have a physical premise, office bearers, and subscription-paying members, just like any other registered societies.

Its main objectives will be to help protect bloggers and promote blogging.

It's definitely a right move to set up such an institution, which will add more clout to bloggers in Malaysia although the outcome of the defamation suit is still pending.

I wonder whether there's room for a Singapore chapter or a completely new club for the fast growing number of bloggers in Singapore.

Bloggers in Singapore may also face more lawsuits one day.

Still need passport

Malaysia has scrapped the plan for two passport-free zones in the southern Johor state (Photo from VnExpress) next to Singapore, according to reports. The move followed criticism by former Malaysian premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad that such zones could compromise the country's sovereignty. Please see excerpt of ST report below:

The two zones - one was to be set up on each side of the Causeway - would have allowed Singaporeans and other foreigners to move in and out without having to get their passports stamped.

The idea aimed to attract Singaporeans and other Singapore-based foreigners who were in the market for cheaper housing, dining and entertainment.

But the issue turned out to be a political hot potato. Some Malaysians feared such zones would reduce Malaysia's control over its territory.

Dr Mahathir went even further.

Responding to a question on the plan for a passport-free zone in the South Johor Economic Region, he said the idea was like giving up sovereignty to other countries.

'If we allow this...then it means it is not our territory any more. Many types of people enter Singapore,' he said at that time. 'They have an Israeli Embassy there. It means even Jews can come in.'

Malaysia does not have diplomatic ties with Israel as it is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, so such statements stirred up anger.

Hints of trouble surfaced when Dr Mahathir played the nationalist and anti-Singapore card in January this year. The passport-free zone is just one component of the grand plan called Iskandar to develop southern Johor. With or without the passport-free zones, the entire development blueprint is still fraught with difficulties despite the grand vision.

Updated: Blood Sand?

(Pix source: Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Singapore is truly pragmatic in its foreign policy. The Straits Times on April 3 played up the story that Myanmar is offering to be a long-term supplier of sand and other key building materials to Singapore.

But what has not been analysed is the expected balance of benefits in such a deal with a rogue state like Myanmar. Sand is no basic commodity in Singapore. Singapore needs plenty of land sand for its construction sector and an equally substantial amount of sea sand for its on-going land reclamation works to enlarge the physical island. But it is in short supply in Singapore following the ban on the sale of land and sea sand to Singapore by traditional suppliers Malaysia and Indonesia in the last decade. Please see earlier postings.

Therefore, Singapore is likely to take up the Myanmar offer, which is likely to come at a premium. It's probably a done deal. Diplomats don't make such announcements unless they are quite certain of the outcome.

What will Myanmar want in return? According to the Singapore MFA statement, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, First Secretary of Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council, "encouraged" more Singapore companies to invest in Myanmar.

We can definitely expect some big Singapore investments flowing to Myanmar as part of the quid pro quo with the junta regime. What is conspicuously absent in the short news report is Myanmar's status as a pariah state and the political implications of the sand deal. Singapore Patriot has mentioned some of the things I wanted to say.

Will the Myanmar sand deal be awkward for Asean? The deal with Myanmar is also coming at a time when Singapore will assume the Asean chairmanship in August this year. The grouping still can't agree on a right approach to deal with junta regime, which has hijacked democracy and refused to free iconic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Is Singapore acting purely on its self interest, or will it be enlightened enough to use the opportunity to convince the Myanmar generals to release Aung with promises of a balance of benefits?

If successful, Singapore will earn plenty of brownie points in the international arena. It would achieve what former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and others failed to accomplish.