Malaysia’s PM Anwar Ibrahim Makes State Visit to Singapore – The Diplomat read full article at worldnews365.me

ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim immediately undertook a one-day state go to to neighboring Singapore, his third international journey since being appointed to the nation’s high political put up in November.

The crowded, single-day itinerary started with an official welcome ceremony on the Istana, adopted by a courtesy name on President Halimah Yacob and a gathering with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who additionally hosted an official lunch on the Istana in Anwar’s honor. In a statement yesterday, Singapore’s Ministry of International Affairs stated that Anwar’s go to “underscores the close and enduring relationship between Singapore and Malaysia, and our peoples.”

Throughout Anwar’s journey, he and Lee signed three agreements, the primary two of which have been framework agreements outlining cooperation on the digital and inexperienced economies between between Singapore’s Ministry of Commerce and Business and Malaysia’s Ministry of Worldwide Commerce and Business. The third was a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in private knowledge safety, cybersecurity, and digital financial system, between Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Info and Malaysia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital. Anwar then held a quick engagement with Singapore’s Malaysian diaspora earlier than departing the nation.

Anwar’s go to checks off one other state go to to Malaysia’s most proximate neighbors, after visits to Indonesia (January 8-9) and Brunei (January 24-25), with solely the Philippines – a nation with which he has an in depth private relationship – but to return.

Malaysia enjoys a singular relationship with Singapore, which was a part of the Malaysian Federation based in 1963 however separated from it two years later as a result of irreconcilable variations. Since then, bilateral relations have been shut but incessantly shot by way of with pressure. This was mirrored within the acerbic relationship between Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad, who traded barbs throughout the Johor Strait all through the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, at the same time as they joined forces to do battle within the “Asian values” debate that animated the early post-Chilly Warfare interval.

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Anwar’s go to may nicely ship a jolt to a relationship that has stagnated as a result of latest political instability in Malaysia, which has slowed down the pace of progress on various essential bilateral points. These embrace the restoration of land and air connectivity between the 2 nations after the border closures and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, a very essential difficulty on condition that previous to COVID-19 some 300,000 individuals crossed Johor-Singapore Causeway every day.

Different excellent points in Malaysia-Singapore relations embrace the decision of a long-running and sensitive dispute over the value that Singapore pays to attract water from Malaysia’s Johor River, and the excellent dispute over Pedra Branca, a maritime characteristic 7.7 nautical miles from Johor and about 25 nautical miles from the east of Singapore. There are additionally extra mundane however equally charged points like Malaysia’s export of rooster to Singapore, which Kuala Lumpur restricted last year in a bid to shore up home provides and scale back the surging worth of rooster.

Whereas Anwar didn’t immediately tackle any of those points throughout immediately’s go to, at the least not publicly, the scene has now been set for them to be resolved – supplied that Malaysia’s fourth prime minister in 4 years manages to serve out his full time period in workplace.