{"id":10014,"date":"2019-02-22T12:31:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T04:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=10014"},"modified":"2019-02-22T12:39:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T04:39:27","slug":"johor-bahru-port-limits-issue-can-be-resolved-more-quickly-than-water-issue-malaysia-foreign-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=10014","title":{"rendered":"Johor Bahru port limits issue can be resolved more quickly than water issue: Malaysia foreign minister"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 (NNN-BERNAMA) &#8212; The Johor Bahru port limits issue between Singapore and Malaysia can be resolved more quickly compared to the issue over water, Malaysia&#8217;s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He mentioned eight issues concerning both countries, including the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/news\/singapore\/singapore-malaysia-southern-johor-airspace-seletar-airport-10997022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instrument Landing System procedures for Seletar Airport<\/a>, as well as the 1974 airspace agreement.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One or two of those issues have the potential to be resolved in the near future,&nbsp;he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor the moment, I see the Johor Bahru port limits issue as being one of the eight&nbsp;involving relations between Malaysia and Singapore which can be resolved first,&#8221; the minister told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI believe there will be good relations with Singapore and the discussions will be smooth,&#8221; he added. &#8220;On the port limits, it can be resolved in the near future compared to the water issue, which I expect to take more time as it is quite complicated.&#8221;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two countries are locked&nbsp;in a maritime dispute sparked by Malaysia&#8217;s unilateral decision to extend the Johor Bahru port limits last October, and the subsequent intrusion of Malaysian government vessels in Singapore waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Singapore lodged a &#8220;strong protest&#8221; with the Malaysian government, saying its neighbour&#8217;s extended port limits&nbsp;had encroached&nbsp;into Singapore&#8217;s territorial waters off Tuas.<br><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to&nbsp;Singapore&#8217;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Tuesday, the attorneys-general of Singapore and Malaysia met in December last year for water talks, but&nbsp;discussions were &#8220;overshadowed&#8221; by the maritime and airspace issues.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Still, Saifuddin said talks on the&nbsp;1962 Water Agreement between Singapore and Malaysia are on a positive note, and that the government is optimistic about it even though more time is needed.<br><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What is most important is&nbsp;that the government had made progress and held discussions with Singapore, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn the water issue, I and the Singapore foreign minister are looking for a suitable date in the near future to meet and hold further discussions,&#8221; said the Malaysian minister. &#8220;The willingness of the Republic is very encouraging, compared to before when there was no progress.&#8221;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad wants to review the terms of the water agreement, saying&nbsp;last June that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/news\/singapore\/mahathir-water-singapore-malaysia-price-ridiculous-10466780\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the price of raw water sold to Singapore is &#8220;ridiculous&#8221;.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 1962 Water Agreement, which expires in 2061, entitles Singapore to draw up to 250 million gallons a day (mgd) of water from the Johor River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Singapore pays 3 sen per thousand gallons of raw water and sells treated water back to Johor at 50 sen per thousand gallons, a fraction of the cost of treating the water.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johor is meanwhile entitled to a daily supply of treated water of up to 2 per cent or 5 mgd of the water supplied to Singapore. &#8212; NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 (NNN-BERNAMA) &#8212; The Johor Bahru port limits issue between Singapore and Malaysia can be resolved more quickly compared to the issue over water, Malaysia&#8217;s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said. He mentioned eight issues concerning both countries, including the&nbsp;Instrument Landing System procedures for Seletar Airport, as well as the 1974 airspace agreement.&nbsp; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10014"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}