Desecuritizing the water issue in Singapore–Malaysia relations

Contemporary Southeast Asia

Volumn 23, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 504-532

  Long, Joey ^a  

^a NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY   (Singapore)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84937339359     PISSN: 0129797X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1355/CS23-3F     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. The literature is vast and differences over definitions, analytical frameworks, agen-das, policy recommendations, whether or not the environment is a legitimate national or international security concern and whether analysts are “redefining” or “rediscovering” security are rife. On the “redefinition” of the security debate, see Richard Ullman, “Redefining Security,” International Security 8, no. 1 (Summer 1983): 129–53; Jessica Tuchman Matthews, “Redefining Security,” Foreign Affairs 68, no. 2 (Spring 1989): 162-77; Norman Myers, “Environment and Security,” Foreign Policy, no. 74 (Spring 1989): 23–41; Joseph J. Romm, Defining National Security: The Non-military Aspects (New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1993); Robert D. Kaplan, “The Coming Anarchy,” Atlantic Monthly 273, no. 2 (1994): 44–76; Marc A. Levy, “Is the Environment a National Security Issue?” International Security 20, no. 2 (Fall 1995): 35–62; Thomas F. Homer-Dixon and Marc A. Levy, “Correspondence: Environment and Security,” International Security 20, no. 3 (Winter 1995/96): 189–98; Lorraine Elliott, “Environmental Conflict: Reviewing the Arguments”, Journal of Environment and Development 5, no. 2 (June 1996): 149–67; Lawrence T. Woods, “Rediscovering Security”, Asian Perspective 21, no.1 (Spring-Summer 1997): 79–102; Alan Dupont, ed., The Environment and Security: What are the Linkages? Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence, No. 125 (Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1998); and relevant articles in Daniel H. Deudney and Richard A. Matthew, eds., Contested Grounds: Security and Conflict in the New Environmental Politics (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999). For analytical frameworks, see especially the works by Thomas F. Homer-Dixon, including his “On the Threshold: Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict”, International Security 16, no. 2 (Fall 1991): 76–116; “Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases,” International Security 19, no. 1 (Summer 1994): 5–40; and Environment, Scarcity, and Violence (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999). Interesting case studies include Miriam R. Lowi, “Bridging the Divide: Transboundary Resource Disputes and the Case of West Bank Water”, International Security, no. 1 (Summer 1993): 113–38; Lyuba Zarsky, “The Prospects for Environmental Cooperation in Northeast Asia”, Asian Perspective 19, no. 2 (Fall-Winter 1995): 103–30; Colin H. Kahl, “Population Growth, Environmental Degradation, and State-Sponsored Violence: The Case of Kenya, 1991-93”, International Security 23, no. 2 (Fall 1998): 80–119; and Thomas F. Homer-Dixon and Jessica Blitt, eds., Ecoviolence: Links Among Environment, Population and Security (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998).
2. Michel Frederick, “A Realist’s Conceptual Definition of Environmental Security”, in Contested Grounds: Security and Conflict in the New Environmental Politics, edited by Daniel H. Deudney and Richard A. Matthew (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999), p. 97.
3. Michel Frederick, “A Realist’s Conceptual Definition of Environmental Security”, in Contested Grounds: Security and Conflict in the New Environmental Politics, edited by Daniel H. Deudney and Richard A. Matthew (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999), p. 98.
4. See Malin Falkenmark, “Fresh waters as a factor in strategic policy and action”, in Global Resources and International Conflict: Environmental Factors in Strategic Policy and Action, edited by Arthur H. Westing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), pp. 85–113; Peter H. Gleick, “Water and Conflict”, International Security 18, no. 1 (Summer 1993): 79–112; idem, “Water Scarcity and Conflict,” in The Environment and Security: What are the Linkages? Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 125, edited by Alan Dupont (Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1998), pp. 35–44; Miriam R. Lowi, “Bridging the Divide”, pp. 113–38; and Jih-Un Kim, “Drifting on the Drying Water Pool: China’s Water Scarcity and its Political Foreboding”, Asian Perspective 25, no.1 (2001): 133–55.
5. Peter Gleick, “Water and Conflict”, p. 84.
6. For the Middle East, besides Miriam R. Lowi’s works, see also Natasha Beschorner, Water and Instability in the Middle East, Adelphi Paper 273 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); and Ed Blanche, “Mid-East water woe can only get worse”, Jane’s Intelligence Review 11, no. 11 (November 1999): 26–27. For the Mekong, see Evelyn Goh, “The Hydro-Politics of the Mekong River Basin: Regional Cooperation and
7. Environmental Security”, in Non-Traditional Security Issues in Southeast Asia, edited by Andrew T.H. Tan and J.D. Kenneth Boutin (Singapore: Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, 2001), pp. 468–506; Paul Gonsalves, “Water Security and the Mekong”, Jane’s Intelligence Review 12, no. 6 (June 2000): 34–35; Joakim Öjendal, “Regional Hydropolitics in Mainland South East Asia: A New Deal in a New Era?” in The New Regionalism and the Future of Security and Development, edited by Bjorn Hettne, András Inotai and Osvaldo Sunkel (London: Macmillan Press, 2000), pp. 176–209; and Milton Osborne, “The Strategic Significance of the Mekong”, Contemporary Southeast Asia 22, no. 3 (December 2000): 429–44.
8. See Andrew Tan, Intra-ASEAN Tensions, Discussion Paper 84 (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2000); idem, Problems and Issues in Malaysia-Singapore Relations, Working Paper No. 314 (Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1997); Tim Huxley, Defending the Lion City: The Armed Forces of Singapore (St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2000), pp. 58–63; idem, “Singapore and Malaysia: A Precarious Balance?” Pacific Review 4, no. 3 (1991): 210; Kog Yue Choong, Natural Resource Management and Environmental Security in Southeast Asia: Case Study of Clean Water Supplies in Singapore, IDSS Working Paper 15 (Singapore: Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, 2001); and Paul J. Smith and Lt. Col. Charles H. Gross, Water and Conflict in Asia (Honolulu, Hawaii: Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, 2000), pp. 2–3. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s former Prime Minister and current Senior Minister, also addresses this topic in his memoirs, From Third World to First, The Singapore Story: 1965–2000 (Singapore: Times Media, 2000), pp. 258, 276, and 287-88. Regarding the somewhat strained relations between Singapore and Malaysia, see also N. Ganesan, Bilateral Tensions in Post-Cold War ASEAN, Pacific Strategic Papers (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1999); idem, “Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Some Recent Developments”, Asian Affairs 25 (Spring 1998): 21–36; and idem, “Factors Affecting Singapore’s Foreign Policy Towards Malaysia”, Australian Journal of International Affairs 45, no. 2 (November 1991): 182–95. Besides scholars, the potential for armed conflict between the two countries over water has also stirred the imagination of a novelist. See Joseph Parapuram, Once in a Blue Moon (London: Minerva Press, 2000).
9. The 1961 Agreement permits Singapore to extract about 391,000 cubic metres of raw water daily from Gunong Pulai, the Tebrau River, and Scudai River while the 1962 Agreement entitles it to draw 1,136,000 cubic metres of raw water daily from the Johor River. See “Singapore’s vital water links with Johor,” Straits Times, 20 July 1988.
10. N. Ganesan, “Malaysia-Singapore Relations”, p. 26.
11. Tim Huxley, Defending the Lion City, p. 45.
12. Tim Huxley, Defending the Lion City, p. 49. See also Michael Leifer, Singapore’s Foreign Policy: Coping with Vulner-ability (London: Routledge, 2000).
13. Quoted in N. Ganesan, Bilateral Tensions in Post-Cold War ASEAN, p. 37.
14. Datuk Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia-Singapore Relations (Singapore: Institute of Policy Studies, 1990), p. 11.
15. Andrew Tan, Problems and Issues in Malaysia-Singapore Relations, p. 17; Tim Huxley, “Singapore and Malaysia”, p.210; and Shanti Nair, Islam in Malaysian Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 225–30.
16. Ven Sreenivasan, “Don’t take our goodness for granted, Mahathir tells Spore”, Business Times, 5 August 1998; see also Eddie Toh, “Suspend fresh ties with S’pore, urges Umno Youth chief”, Business Times, 4 August 1998; Michael Leifer, Singapore’s Foreign Policy, pp. 149–53; and for other examples, see Alan Dupont, The Environment and Security in Pacific Asia, Adelphi Paper 319 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 68–69.
17. Tim Huxley, “Singapore and Malaysia: A Precarious Balance?”, pp. 204–5 and 210; and Andrew Tan, Problems and Issues in Malaysia-Singapore Relations, pp. 6–7, and 17–18.
18. Tim Huxley, for example, sketches a war scenario involving Singapore’s military attempt to secure control over the water extraction and treatment plants in Johor in his seminal work Defending the Lion City, pp. 58–63. The Malaysian counter-offensive is examined in Muhammad Fuad Mat Noor, “Konflik Malaysia & Singapura: Analisis kritikal kekuatan angkatan tentera dan keupayaan dalam konflik”, Perajurit (12 November 2000), pp. 3–9.
19. Andrew Tan, Intra-ASEAN Tensions, p. 24.
20. Tim Huxley, Defending the Lion City, p. 249.
21. Andrew Tan, “Problems and Issues in Malaysia-Singapore Relations”, p. 25; and Tim Huxley, Defending the Lion City, p. 71.
22. Singapore’s water authority is the PUB, formed on 1 May 1963 and tasked to ensure that the island-state’s industrial and economic development as well as its population’s well-being would be sustained by the provision of an adequate and dependable supply of potable water. The Water Department’s responsibilities included building reservoirs, improving and extending the existing water transmission and distribution systems, planning and executing new water projects to satisfy projected water needs, and spearheading campaigns to conserve water. See PUB, Yesterday and Today: The Story of Public Electricity, Water and Gas Supplies in Singapore (Singapore: PUB, 1985).
23. Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman, 1989), p. 13.
24. The construction of sufficient water desalination and recycling plants to replace any water shortfall will reportedly be completed in 2010 but can be hastened if a water crisis occurs before 2010.
25. For elaboration on the concept of desecuritization, see Ole Wæver, “Securitization and Desecuritization”, in On Security, edited by Ronnie Lipschutz (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), pp. 46–86.
26. Besides the 1961 and 1962 agreements, Singapore’s lease of the impounding reservoirs in Johor had been made possible by an earlier arrangement between the British administration in colonial Singapore and the Johor Sultanate during the 1920s. PUB, Yesterday and Today, pp. 8–15, 32–33, and 39–42. Numerical figures for the holding capacity of Singapore’s reservoirs can be found in Adriel Yap Lian Ho, “Water for Singapore: Management of a Resource in a Subregional Economic Zone” (B.A. [Hons] Academic Exercise, National University of Singapore, 1994/95), p. 25.
27. Lee Hsien Loong, “Speech: Bedok Waterworks’ Opening Ceremony”, 16 October 1986, National Archives of Singapore.
28. Lim Hng Kiang, “Speech: Groundbreaking Ceremony of BKE/SLE Water Catchment Pond”, 5 August 1996, National Archives of Singapore.
29. “Eight more storm-water ponds to be built”, Straits Times, 28 January 1999.
30. PUB, Annual Report, 1999 (Singapore: PUB, n.d.), p. 13; and Chan Yoon Kum, “We will not go thirsty”, Straits Times, 4 April 1997.
31. PUB, Annual Report, 1999, pp. 14–15; PUB, Annual Report, 1981 (Singapore: PUB, n.d.), p. 2; “Waterworks visit among ‘Save Water’ activities, Straits Times, 12 June 1997; and “National Education Programme — Educating the Young”, PUB News (March 1998), p. 4.
32. “Seawater helps to save a cool $3m,” Straits Times, 4 April 1990. See also Kog Yue Choong, Natural Resource Management and Environmental Security in Southeast Asia, p. 10.
33. Evangeline Gamboa, “PUB and EDB team up to cut water use”, Straits Times, 22 June 1983; and “PUB checks to weed out water wasters”, Straits Times, 24 March 1990.
34. See Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister for Trade and Industry, “Speech: Launch of the National Save Water Campaign”, 24 June 1995, National Archives of Singapore; and “Cisterns that use only half the water of existing ones”, Straits Times, 23 March 1997.
35. “Water price to double by 2000”, Straits Times, 11 June 1997. Parenthetically, to ameliorate the effects of higher tariffs and taxes on low-income families, the government gave such households monetary rebates of S$200 and S$100. Such incentives ensured that societal burdens would be equally distributed and that poorer households would not be unfairly affected by the conservation policies. “Pricier water from July,” Straits Times, 27 February 1999; and PUB Press Release: Public Utilities Annual Report 1999, 29 June 2000, pp. 1–2.
36. “Water price to double by 2000”, Straits Times, 11 June 1997. Parenthetically, to ameliorate the effects of higher tariffs and taxes on low-income families, the government gave such households monetary rebates of S$200 and S$100. Such incentives ensured that societal burdens would be equally distributed and that poorer households would not be unfairly affected by the conservation policies. “Pricier water from July,” Straits Times, 27 February 1999; and PUB Press Release: Public Utilities Annual Report 1999, 29 June 2000, The consumption was growing at an annual rate of 3.2 per cent between 1994 and 1996.
37. Ramahad Singh, “Controlling Unaccounted-for Water in Singapore,” in Towards Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific (New York: United Nations, 1998), pp. 48–49.
38. Ramahad Singh, “Controlling Unaccounted-for Water in Singapore,” in Towards Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific (New York: United Nations, 1998), pp. 49–50.
39. Ramahad Singh, “Controlling Unaccounted-for Water in Singapore,” in Towards Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific (New York: United Nations, 1998), pp. 52–54.
40. Ramahad Singh, “Controlling Unaccounted-for Water in Singapore,” in Towards Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific (New York: United Nations, 1998), pp. 57–58.
41. Ramahad Singh, “Controlling Unaccounted-for Water in Singapore,” in Towards Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific (New York: United Nations, 1998), p. 52.
42. Ramahad Singh, “Controlling Unaccounted-for Water in Singapore,” in Towards Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific (New York: United Nations, 1998), p.59.
43. Lilian Ang, “S’pore may tap the sea as source of water: Cheow Tong,” Business Times, 12 March 1995; and “Invest in water desalination plants, says MP”, Business Times, 4 June 1997. Notably, desalinated water, which cost about US$1.80 per cubic metre in 1997/98, was going for US$0.70 per cubic metre in 2001. Its cost is still falling. See Sharmilpal Kaur, “Cheaper to desalinate sea water than to import it”, Straits Times, 15 March 2001.
44. In the reverse osmosis process, saline water is forced at high pressures to pass through synthetic membranes to remove the salt. The once revolutionary multi-stage flash distillation method, conversely, entails boiling seawater through a series of chambers before the vapour is condensed into pure water. Singapore’s water authority was willing to incorporate both methods into its desalination plan. Tan Hsueh Yun, “Desalinated water will get back a pinch of salt”, Straits Times, 12 November 1997.
45. PUB, Annual Report, 1997 (Singapore: PUB, n.d.), pp. 11–12; Ven Sreenivasan, “Self-Sufficiency in Water Possible, but Costly: BG Lee”, Business Times, 11 June 1997; and Tan Hsueh Yun, “Singapore’s first desalination plant to be ready in 2003”, Straits Times, 11 June 1997. For an account of preventive measures, spill response operations and the Maritime and Port Authority’s ability to cope with oil spills, see Dominic Nathan, “Fighting the spill”, Straits Times, 18 October 1997; Geraldine Yeo, “Mah says oil spill disaster could have been worse”, Straits Times, 5 November 1997; and Ginnie Teo, “Men, not machines, rule the seas”, Straits Times, 16 November 1997.
46. PUB, Annual Report, 1999, p. 3; “3 water plants for S’pore by year 2011”, Straits Times, 4 May 1998; and Sharmilpal Kaur, “30m gallons a day to drink”, Straits Times, 22 March 2001.
47. Quotes from “Water: Add and Multiply”, Streats, 26 May 2001. See also Sharmilpal Kaur, “In the pipeline — more recycled water plants”, Straits Times, 20 January 2001; “Add, multiply to meet water needs”, Straits Times, 26 May 2001; and Irene Ng, “Wafer-fab plants opt for recycled water,” Straits Times, 31 August 2001.
48. Adriel Yap Lian Ho, Water for Singapore, p. 26.
49. “Singapore team finds water potential in Riau,” Straits Times, 10 April 1990; and Paul Jacob, “S’pore signs water pact with Indonesia”, Straits Times, 29 June 1991.
50. Yeoh En-lai and Liang Hwee Ting, “Massive water project is floated”, Straits Times, 2 July 2000.
51. Yeoh En-Lai, “Riau in Sumatra keen to fill S’pore’s water needs”, Straits Times, 2 July 2000.
52. On 26 November 2000, former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid accused Singaporean leaders in a jeremiad of being self-seeking, blustering that Indonesia might yet support Malaysia in severing its water links with Singapore. “Singapore’s vulnerabilities exposed after Wahid’s criticisms,” Agence France Presse, 28 November 2000.
53. Yeoh En-Lai, “Riau in Sumatra keen to fill S’pore’s water needs”, Straits Times, 2 July 2000.
54. Irene Ng, “Unwise to Work for Full Self-Reliance on Water”, Straits Times, 26 January 2001.
55. “Govt Prepared to Use Reserves to Get Enough Water for S’pore,” Straits Times, 17 April 1995.
56. Lee Kuan Yew, From Third World to First, p. 276. Emphasis mine.
57. Lee Kuan Yew, From Third World to First, p. 288.
58. For Malaysia’s pledge to honour the agreements, see, for example, “Johor will con-tinue water supply to Malacca and S’pore, says MB”, Straits Times, 5 May 1999; Chong Chee Seong, “No need to tell Singapore about water plan,” New Straits Times, 21 December 2000; Irene Ng, “Tough talks, then progress on KL pact”, Straits Times, 5 September 2001.
59. Here, the estimation of the year Singapore will be able to achieve a position of en-hanced water security excludes its ability, if it comes to fruition, to access the water stocks in Indonesia. If the Indonesian supply is available prior to 2010, Singapore will practically negate Malaysia’s ability to use water as a political leverage sooner rather than later.
60. PUB, Annual Report, 1999, p. 13; Ng Kian Hong, “Overview of Water Conservation in Singapore”, in Towards Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific (New York: United Nations, 1998), p. 32; and see Census of Population Office, Singapore Department of Statistics, Singapore Census of Population 2000: A Quick Count (Singapore: Department of Statistics, 2000).
61. See Census of Population Office, Singapore Department of Statistics, Singapore Census of Population 2000, p. 3; Saw Swee Hock, The Population of Singapore (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1999); “5 Million People? Not Likely,” Straits Times, 20 October 1999; and Chua Mui Hoong, “S’pore is Short of 200,000 Babies,” Straits Times, 20 October 1999. For the connection between China’s population crisis, environmental stress, and political conflict, see Jack A. Goldstone, “Imminent Political Conflicts Arising from China’s Population Crisis,” in Contested Grounds: Security and Conflict in the New Environmental Politics, edited by Daniel H. Deudney and Richard A. Matthew (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999), pp. 247–66; and Jih-Un Kim, “Drifting on the Drying Water Pool.” It should be noted, nonetheless, that the growth rate of the global population is declining. See “The truth about the environment”, The Economist, 4–10 August 2001, pp. 63–65.
62. “3 Water Plants for S’pore by Year 2011”, Straits Times, 4 May 1998; Laurel Teo, “Recycling to Meet 15% of Water Needs by 2010”, Straits Times, 12 January 2001; Sharmilpal Kaur, “20% of sewage water can be recycled”, Straits Times, 30 January 2001; and Irene Ng, “Wafer-fab plants opt for recycled water”, Straits Times, 31 August 2001.
63. Peter Gleick, “Water Scarcity and Conflict”, pp. 36–37.
64. Lee Kuan Yew, From Third World to First, p. 276.
65. Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Power and Interdependence, p. 13.
66. Adriel Yap Lian Ho, Water for Singapore, p. 26.
67. The feasibility of buying water from a firm in Canada was explored by Choo Bee Yian and G. Chandradas, “Water by tanker”, Straits Times, 28 August 1998.
68. Sharmilpal Kaur, “30m Gallons a Day to Drink, From the Sea”, Straits Times, 22 March 2001. An accelerated building programme assumes that construction works take place in twenty-four hour shifts. In such a scenario, it may be possible for a desalination plant churning out 186,000 cubic metres of water daily to be made operational within three years. Interview with Alfred Wong, Civil Engineer, UTRACO Pte Ltd, 10 April 2001.
69. “Singapore’s virtual water links with Johor”, Straits Times, 20 July 1988.
70. “Johor to Stop Buying Treated Water from Singapore”, Agence France Presse, 22 September 2000.
71. Irene Ng, “Tough talks, then progress on KL pact”, Straits Times, 5 September 2001; Irene Ng and Brendan Pereira, “Thorny issues that go back many years”, Straits Times, 5 September 2001; Irene Ng, “Now up to officials to flesh out details of the pact”, Straits Times, 6 September 2001; and Ng Boon Yian, “Pact politics”, Today, 6 September 2001.
72. The price of desalinated water in 2001 was 123 Singaporean cents per cubic metre while recycled water costs 70 Singaporean cents per cubic metre in 2000. See Sharmilpal Kaur, “Cheaper to desalinate water than to import it”, Straits Times, 15 March 2001; and Oo Gin Lee, “Do you mind drinking treated sewage?” Straits Times, 29 June 2000.
73. For a collection, see Irene Ng, “A Bridge Over Troubled Water Supply”, Straits Times, 16 January 2001.
74. It is worth noting that Goh went on to assert that if water was used as leverage, Singapore would turn to alternative water sources. See Irene Ng, “Unwise to Work for Full Self-Reliance on Water”, Straits Times, 26 January 2001.
75. Kamal Ahmad, “Does S’pore appreciate Malaysia’s neighbourliness?” Straits Times, 24 February 1998. Under the terms of the so-called “skeletal agreement” reached in September 2001, Singapore agreed to the relocation of the Malaysian railway station from Tanjong Pagar to Kranji instead of Woodlands; to the construction of an under-ground railway tunnel from Johor to Kranji; to the siting of Malaysia’s Customs, Im-migration and Quarantine complex at Kranji once the tunnel work is completed; to the demolition of the Causeway for a new bridge; to the early withdrawal of Central Provident Fund savings by West Malaysians; and to give Malaysia twelve plots of land in Bukit Timah and a plot in Shenton Way in exchange for the lot at Tanjong Pagar. Malaysia, conversely, has agreed to supply Singapore with water beyond 2061 and to permit the city-state’s air force to train in Malaysian airspace. See Irene Ng, “Tough talks, then progress on KL pact”, Straits Times, 5 September 2001.
76. “Johor to Stop Buying Treated Water from Singapore”, Agence France Presse, 22 September 2000.
77. For details about earlier negotiations, see Harpajan Singh and Mergawati Zulfakarin, “Look elsewhere for extra water, Singapore told”, Star, 5 June 1999.
78. Irene Ng, “Tough talks, then progress on KL pact”, Straits Times, 5 September 2001.
79. Irene Ng, “Tough talks, then progress on KL pact”, Straits Times, 5 September 2001.. See also Irene Ng and Brendan Pereira, “Thorny issues that go back many years”, Straits Times, 5 September 2001; Irene Ng, “Now up to officials to flesh out details of the pact”, Straits Times, 6 September 2001; and Ng Boon Yian, “Pact politics”, Today, 6 September 2001.
80. The disclosure of Singapore’s approach was reported by Harpajan Singh and Mergawati Zulfakarin, “Look elsewhere for extra water, Singapore told,” Star, 5 June 1999; while a Singaporean official clarified some of the issues in “No need to tell Singapore about water plan”, Agence France-Presse, 8 June 1999.
81. See “Prosper-Thy-Neighbour Policies Key Tenet for Region,” Straits Times, 21 March 1996, for a sense of the “prosper-thy-neighbour” rhetoric.