Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim’s First State Visit To Singapore Reaffirms Close Ties

Photo: Terence Tan, MCI

Singapore and Malaysia will take steps to strengthen their bilateral cooperation and resolve any outstanding bilateral issues. These were the key takeaways from Malaysia’s newly-appointed 10th Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim’s first official visit to Singapore on 30th January.

Photo: Terence Tan, MCI

In a lunch hosted at the Istana, Singapore’s Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong said that when both countries work together closely, they can “produce win-win outcomes with tangible benefits for our peoples and businesses.”

He also added that he was confident bilateral relations between Singapore and Malaysia can reach “greater heights” with the support of Mr Anwar.

Mr Anwar shared the same sentiments, sharing that he believes “no issue should be left unresolved”, no matter how contentious they may be. Mr Anwar gave examples of issues such as food security, the recurring Causeway traffic congestions and the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS), that he believes both sides can move forward on.

Singapore and Malaysia Signed Three New Agreements

Photo: Lee Hsien Loong, Facebook

Mr Anwar and Mr Lee also witnessed the signing of three agreements between Singapore and Malaysia, according to Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The MOUs spanned across the fields of green economy, digital economy and cybersecurity.

According to Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), this is Malaysia's first green economy agreement with any country, with the hopes of strengthening collaboration to decarbonise both Singapore and Malaysia’s industries and enable businesses and workers to seize opportunities in the green economy.

This also includes efforts to work together to set the standards and the deployment of charging points for electric vehicles. They will also exchange information on low-carbon solutions, including on technical and regulatory issues, and explore joint studies and demonstration projects, particularly in hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).

Photo: Anwar Ibrahim, Facebook

The agreement on the digital economy is expected to facilitate greater interoperability and collaboration on digital economy issues and enhance cooperation with Malaysia, in hopes of unlocking new growth opportunities, benefiting both countries’ businesses, workers, and communities. In the long run, this collaboration could also potentially serve as a pathfinder for digital economy cooperation within ASEAN.

Lastly, the cybersecurity agreement between the Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information and Malaysia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital outlines that both Singapore and Malaysia are to collaborate to facilitate the exchange of expertise in areas including data protection and cross-border data flows, as well as tackling cyber threats.

Meeting with Singapore’s President, Mdm Halimah Yacob

Photo: Liu Ying, MCI

Mr Anwar also called on President Halimah Yacob during his visit. In a Facebook post after their meeting, Mdm Halimah said that both leaders reaffirmed Singapore and Malaysia’s close cooperation, including during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that trade continued despite the various challenges.

Anwar Addressed Issue of Pedra Branca

Photo: Anwar Ibrahim, Facebook

Despite being a short one-day visit, Mr Anwar also carved out time to speak at the Malaysian High Commision. To an audience of mainly Malaysians residing or working in Singapore, he took the opportunity to address the highly-controversial Pedra Branca issue (or as our Malaysian counterparts call it, Batu Puteh).

Mr Anwar said, ““We have taken a very strong position, the present cabinet, expressing our regret for the failure of the then Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad, not to resort to appeal when we lost the case in the ICJ.”

He further clarified by saying that there is no point for Malaysia to enter into a conflict with Singapore over Pedra Branca: "Should we then go to war over Batu Puteh? No! Of course not! That's madness!"

Instead, he would like to focus on discussing other issues related to Pedra Branca, such as the environment, or some projects there that may affect Malaysia’s sovereignty or the borders.

Photo: Anwar Ibrahim, Facebook

After a successful first visit, Mr Lee has extended another invitation to Mr Anwar to visit Singapore again in the second half of the year for the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat.