'SINGAPORE: The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project will be discontinued after the HSR agreement lapsed on Dec 31, 2020, the Prime Ministers of both countries said in a joint statement on Friday morning (Jan 1).
Both Singapore and Malaysia will now proceed with the "necessary actions".
In the statement, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said: "The Government of Malaysia and the Government of Singapore wish to provide an update on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR Project in view of the expiry of the suspension period of the HSR Project on Dec 31, 2020. ...
"Malaysia
has since allowed the HSR Bilateral Agreement to be terminated, and has
to compensate Singapore for costs already incurred by Singapore in
fulfilling its obligations under the HSR BA in accordance with the
Parties’ agreement," MOT said.' CNA
Why is Malaysia so happy to call this off and willing to pay compensation to the tune of $50m or more? Johore UMNO is not happy as it would affect business in the state. To reconnect Johore to Singapore through other means when the HSR would do the job more effectively raise queries as to the logic behind this move.
HSR could be the link to BRI, meaning goods from Singapore could tack along and benefit from the rail connection to Asia, China and Europe. Without this link, Singapore is left out in the cold. Singapore's key advantage as a transportation hub is connectivity. The cancelling of HSR to Singapore is basically to disconnect Singapore. This is a strategic move by Malaysia to cut off Singapore from the land bridge of BRI and Singapore has no answer to it.
If China and Malaysia were to jointly develop the ports in Klang or Malacca, the strategic role played by Singapore in sea transportation would be greatly undermined. With Gwadar and ports in Myanmar and Sri Lanka growing in importance, the bits and pieces in this maritime chess board are going to take away a lot of business from Singapore.
Singapore's strategic thinking or outdated strategic plans to plug on to the American power play is turning precarious and likely to turn bad as China continue to rise in economic power. The Americans also have no answer to this Chinese challenge as their only card left to play is military might, not economic. While the Americans continue with their destabilising the world strategy of creating wars everywhere to make nation states becoming dysfunctional, they totally neglected in developing their economic power and allowed China to rule in this area.
As long as the Americans are unable to start a military war with China or Russia, American military might and hardware are going to be very expensive and costly waste products in this competition for world dominance. China is going to call the shot with its manufacturing power and huge consumer market and its control of marine and land transportation in Asia, Europe, Africa and SE Asia. The Americans have no chips left to play and can only hope to create wars to upset the Chinese economic bandwagon.
Singapore has very little time to change its economic strategy, maybe it is already too late. The die has been cast and Singapore has been fixed for good.
ReplyDeleteIts all the work of the devil and that devil is the satanic Anti-China United States of America. The Anglo-Saxon-Jewish Americans think it can try to destroy The Belt and Road Infrastructure system starting with disconnecting Singapore from the system. The unthinking Malaysians are being conned by the warmongering Americans with unknown spurious reasons known only to the evil minds of the American trouble makers. Nevertheless in the international political chess board small nations like Singapore and Malaysia can only be used as pawns on the sacrificial table by the manipulating dirty Americans. Both Singapore and Malaysia can only be losers. In the final analysis the deranged Americans cannot stop the progress and advancement of all other countries headed by China in a win-win situation except only in the ultimate self-destruction of the United States. The Evil Empire must know that evil planners and evil doers must eventually face Karma or Retribution.
Death to the Anglo-Saxon-Rothschild Illuminati white Americans
Southernglory1
Monday, 4th January, 2021
Singapore leaders make three strategic mistakes that have caused undue disadvantageous to Singapore's geopolitical position in the world:
ReplyDelete1. Continuously, openly and actively aligned Singapore's security under the arm pit of Big Mafia USA.
2. Switching its economic, trade and investment strategies from dependence on China to dependence on India.
3. Harbouring the penchant to punch above their own weights for temporary showmanship, and as a result of this stupidity, Singapore gets a knock out punch in return.
Singapore's economy fell by 5.8%. Not too bad at all, considering the havoc caused by the Pandemic.
ReplyDelete4. Using failed third world country's fake talents' half baked ideas to drive Singapore's future, likely into a third world country.
ReplyDelete5. By paying themselves by the millions so as to become Multi-Millionaires, or even billionaires, has made their heads swelled so large that their brains now looks like a drop of sand encased in a huge dark cave.
ReplyDelete6. As a result, their arrogance has no comparison on this tiny island and their collective Ego has grown so huge that no coverings are able to hide it from public perception.
7. And Complacency and Incompetence set in naturally and consequently without fail.
8. With a sickly looking Emperor (without clothes) still holding on to power, unwilling to let go, trying to undo what he has done - a gigantic economic failure, using public savings to patch up the Deep Giant Holes dug for him by the Empress Dowager, this tiny piece of rock cannot only sink and not float. The time is near. Very near.
8. Unless a miracle happens, there is very little hope for the tiny rock to recover. All the odds are against the fate of its people, a collective bunch of complacent common idiots led by an elite group of educated idiots, disguised as heaven-sent angels to save the tiny rock from sinking but in fact are the very same people who are sinking the tiny rock.
How to change it's strategy? It is because there is little leeway for further changes that we have to go the Casino route, and back to third world hawking and bringing back pirate taxi operation to keep unemployment low. The COVID19 makes all this even more relevant now.
ReplyDeleteIf there had been other choices, do these things have to happen? We can still compete with the likes of ASEAN, but when it comes to globally, China, Japan and South Korea are tough high tech competitors that we are coming up against.
Decades ago, we were talking about the Asian Tigers, the economic success countries of Asia. Little do we think or worry about China then.
ReplyDeleteNow the Chinese Dragon has put the Tigers in the shade, that even the bald eagle is unable or finds it difficult to compete and needs to use underhand tactics to keep up.
The only way out is to go on the knees to beg beg China for forgiveness and then put Singapore under China's umbrella. And also purge Singapore's leadership of traitors who sell out Singapore under many different guises, especially the Anti-Chinese clique that is planning to seize power to control Singapore on behalf of India and/or USA.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very difficult task but, if done well, can at least may be able to help Singapore rise again to a certain level.
This is the danger Singapore is facing. Once power slips from Hsien Loong's hands, Singapore will go to India or the USA.
ReplyDeleteSingapore will becomes an Aputlay states....
DeleteKind Regards JC
Political Struggles (Groupings) In Singapore At Present
ReplyDeleteThere are four races (ethnic groups) vying for control of Singapore at the present moment. They are:
1. The Pro-Western Group - that controls Singapore with dwindling power, and being challenged by the Pro-India Group.
2. The Pro-India Group - with very strong leadership and closing-in the grip on power tighter and tighter.
3. The Pro-Malaysia Group - with weak leadersheep now in hibernation and easily put into cold storage. However, when the time is ripe, this group can be a force to be reckoned with.
4. The Chinese Group - devoid of a true central leadership, very loosely linked. This is the biggest gtouping, yet pathetically disintegrated and disinterested in the struggle for power in a more coordinated and serious way. They are busy making money and do not have the time nor the appetite for political power.
Suffice for me to stop here. Going further may step on somebody's toes and things may become unpredictable and dangerous for me.
Singapore is likely to make a claim for $270m from Malaysia for work already done.
ReplyDeleteWould Malaysia cough out this sum to pay Singapore?
Petaling Jaya—In a Facebook post on Monday morning, January 4, Minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Department, Mustapa Mohamed, said that the amount Malaysia needs to compensate Singapore for the cancellation of the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project cannot be disclosed due to both countries being “bound by a secrecy clause.”
ReplyDeleteMr Mustapa clarified that the final amount has not yet been finalized. He added that the amount Malaysia is to pay Singapore is “not punitive, but it is to pay back the specific cost of the project Singapore has spent.”
Furthermore, he added, “Our side is waiting for the details of that cost from Singapore, and once received, it will be researched before confirmed. The types of claims that are allowed have been agreed together.”