Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he wants to see more win-win cooperation between Singapore and Malaysia with him and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak enjoying a ‘very good relationship’.
In an exclusive interview with Datuk Seri Azman Ujang, Chairman of Bernama, at the Istana here on 28 Nov, PM Lee said that he and Mr Najib had been focused on bilateral relations and the leaders and people of both countries need to understand each other better through more profound interaction in order to appreciate each other’s perspective and views.
“The more we see one another, the more we work together on win-win cooperation, I think the better the propects for friendship and for harmonious relations,” Mr Lee said of the present relations between the two countries, which Najib had recently described as ‘never been better in our countries’ histories’.
The Chairman of Bernama asked many questions starting from the relationships of Malaysia and Singapore and the similar fact that both country leaders are sons of contemporary Prime Ministers at one time in the past.
Datuk Seri Azman Ujang then asked about the proposed High Speed Rail (HSR) linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore of which PM Lee said that it would not only bring economic benefits but would also make it much easier for the people of both countries to go back and forth.
PM Lee described the HSR project as ‘very ambitious, complicated and expansive,’ whose success would depend very much on good execution by both governments.
PM Lee then answered a question about Singapore recipe that has enabled the island state to always maintain its position as one of the world’s least-corrupt countries.
He also answered the Datuk’s question about how has it been since Singapore has been without the founding father, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
To this PM Lee said that the late Mr Lee had prepared well for the day when Singapore would have to continue without him. “In terms of preparing for the succession and gradually fading away from the public limelight, it was a process which he had done very consciously over many years,” he said.
The other question was about an agreement to settle the dispute over certain parcels of land in Singapore that once belonged to the Malayan Railway which has been signed by Prime Minister Najib and Prime Minister Lee In 2011. The highlight of that agreement was the establishment of a joint-venture company, M+S Pte Ltd, which was entrusted to carry out a joint development of this project in Marina South and Ophir-Rochor.
The Datuk asked what is the progress of that project so far?
PM Lee answered that the project is doing well, “I see the project at Marina South and at Ophir-Rochor, both buildings are coming up and rising steadily. On the Iskandar side, there are two iconic projects, one of them is the Afiniti Medini Wellness Center which are also making good progress,” he explained.
Other questions covered the cyber-security strategy launched In October 2016 where
one of the strategies is separating public agencies’ work computers from Web surfing, and about the next Presidential Election in Singapore will be reserved for candidates from the Malay community, and also if Singapore is anywhere near than before to having its first non-Chinese Prime Minister.
The full transcript of the interview could be read on the report of Bernama.
PM Lee posted the news of this interview in his Facebook.
