Mahathir issues another letter on scrapped project

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has disputed the arguments by ambassador-at-large Tan Sri Fuzi Abdul Razak on the Government’s decision to scrap the bridge project to replace the Causeway.
In a two-page letter, Dr Mahathir reiterated various points that he had raised in earlier statements and letters.
Among them are:

SINGAPORE has to take full responsibility financially or otherwise for any alteration to the pipeline that may become necessary in the event the bridge is built;

FORMER Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had in a letter to him agreed that Malaysia could build the bridge;

SINGAPORE should not have brought up the sand and airspace issues as Goh had agreed to the construction without imposing any conditions; and

THE Government should take the dispute, if any, for arbitration in international courts.

Dr Mahathir believed that in the final analysis, the Government was more interested in selling sand to Singapore than building the bridge.
Ahmad Fuzi had said the decision helped prevent the two sides from being embroiled in endless political bickering and legal disputes, adding that following the decision, Malaysia did not have to consider lifting the ban on the export of sand and granting Singapore the limited use of its air space for search and rescue.
“Tan Sri Fuzi's rambling explanation about the bridge serves only to convince that the Government's priority and intention is to sell sand to Singapore. If it is not allowed to do so, then Malaysia will not get its bridge,” said Dr Mahathir.
“This keenness to sell sand is strange, for Malaysia does not need the proceeds from sale of sand. Despite my alleged profligate ways when I was prime minister, Malaysia is not so bankrupt that it has to depend on selling sand.”