Mickey Mouse going to Malaysia?

This is an old story that just won't die, but not as old as Mickey Mouse (Image from Wikipedia)

According to Malaysian weekly The Edge, Walt Disney Co is looking to build a theme park on a 500-acre (202-hectare) site in southern Malaysia. The theme park will reportedly be sited at Bardar Nusajaya near the second link bridge in the Iskandar Development Region zone in Johor. The report said it would be ready in six years if a deal is signed.

The proposed Disneyland theme park and resort is slated to be bigger than Hong Kong Disneyland and about the size of Tokyo Disney Resort, the report said. Although the talks with Disney are progressing fast, discussions with other theme park operators, including Warner Bros Entertainment and MGM, have not ceased, the report said.

Will Mickey Mouse learn to speak Malay and appear at the theme park in Johor, which is next to Singapore?

Can Disney compete with the two integrated resorts and casinos that are coming up in Singapore? Las Vegas Sands and Genting International have gone full-steam ahead in building their resorts that are expected to be completed in 3-4 years. The casinos in Singapore are set to attract many gamblers and their families to Singapore. Casinos can help subsidise the rest of the resorts and theme park that are generally less profitable.

But any new theme park or resort in Malaysia won't have a casino. Unlike Singapore, Malaysia still has a ban on new casinos or gaming outlets since it granted the sole casino licence to the late Lim Goh Tong's Genting more than four decades ago.

Maybe there will still be room for Mickey Mouse in Malaysia as its concept is different from the two resorts in Singapore. But there are many problems at the Johor end.

Johor has the land and the resources to undercut Singapore but Malaysian planners simply lack the ability to execute their grand plans.

Johor has a long history of false starts in many overly ambitious projects -- Desaru, Waterfront City, a theme park by ex-UN Sec Gen, and even Universal Studios, which has since teamed up with Genting for the resort on Sentosa in Singapore.

The Iskandar Development Region is a grand plan but the government can't even resolve some basic problems in the state like proper city planning (Malaysia has since scrapped the proposed passport-free zones in Johor), crime, flooding and the failed attempt to jointly build a new bridge to replace the old causeway with Singapore.

So don't bet your last dollar that Mickey Mouse will finally learn to say "Selamat Datang ke Malaysia"*.

* Welcome to Malaysia in Malay

Cleaning up Johor Straits good for S'pore too

Punggol, which is located on the northeastern part of Singapore, will be given a new lease of life. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said during his National Day Rally speech on Aug 19 that the masterplan for the area dubbed 'Punggol 21-plus' is 'back on track'.

'Punggol 21-plus' will boast features like a freshwater lake - and a waterway running through the estate with homes and a town centre built on both banks, according to ST. The north-eastern coastal suburb will also get recreational facilities like water sports, gardens and parks with jogging tracks and eateries for al-fresco dining.

It all sounds great, but Punggol and the rest of the northern part of Singapore will never be as vibrant as the southern region of Singapore. The southern region, which has always been the commercial hub of Singapore, is rapidly being transformed into a more fun place.

The southern part of Singapore will have two world-class integrated resorts with casinos within the next three years or so. The government has awarded the Marina Bay site to Las Vegas Sands, which is building also building the world's biggest casino in Macau, and the Sentosa site to Genting International.

That's not all in the Marina Bay area. The new downtown is taking shape and there will be world-class gardens, a giant fresh-water reservoir, and a huge ferris wheel. There will be plenty of activities around the clean and pristine Marina Bay once all the plans are in place.

While the southern part of Singapore is attracting all the big dollars and attention, the northern part of Singapore will continue to be relatively subdued despite the latest plan to rejuvenate Punggol.

As Singapore is small with 704 square kilometres in area, every inch of Singapore, including the northern part, will have to be spruced up eventually. But it won't be easy to rejuvenate the northern coastline.

For a start, water off the northern part of Singapore, which is bounded by a strip of water known as Straits of Johor, is very dirty. The straits is a narrow waterway separating Singapore and its close neighbour Malaysia.

The straits is almost like a giant cesspool that has not been flushed for more than 80 years. Why? This is partly because the causeway, which was built on reclaimed land and cuts across the straits to link the two countries, has been blocking the free flow of water in the straits since it was completed by the British in 1924.

Singapore has done its part to reduce further pollution to the straits, spending $7 billion to build massive tunnels to move sewage to two new waste treatment plants in Changi and Tuas, instead of discharging waste into the straits.

Malaysia is also trying to clean up the straits, although not as successful.

In 1996, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad proposed an overhead bridge to replace the ageing causeway in a bid to free up the flow of water in the straits. It is part of a grander plan to turn the southern Malaysian state into a transportation hub. The project would have allowed small ships and barges to traverse the straits.

The bridge project has not taken off after ten years, complicated by internal Malaysian politics and disagreements with the Singapore government. Last year, current Malaysian government led by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, called off the bridge project. Malaysia could not strike a deal with Singapore, which wanted to buy sand and use Johor airspace as part of the quid pro quo to jointly build a new bridge.

The decision to abort the project incensed Dr Mahathir, who is still on a warpath with his successor despite bouts of heart attacks. The Malaysian statesman had early said he would stop his bickering if the bridge is built. He had continued to criticise the bridge issue as reported in malaysia-today.

The bridge project is expected to remain on the backburner for some time, as the two governments have not been able to resolve all their differences since the two countries separated in 1965.

With or without a new bridge to replace the causeway, Malaysia and the Johor state government must step up efforts to clean up the five dirty rivers flowing into the Johor Straits.

But it will be more ideal if a new overhead bridge could be built to replace the over-utilised causeway and allow water in the stagnant straits to circulate more freely.

A cleaner straits will be good for the long-term development of the coastal areas of both Singapore and southern Malaysia, which will have a new development zone called Iskandar Development Region.

A cleaner Johor Straits could also help make northern Singapore, including Punggol, a more thriving hub 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.