Singapore sends note to Indonesia on detention of ships carrying granite

The Straits Times, March 5, 2007
By Clarence Chang, STI senior correspondent




FOREIGN Minister George Yeo said Singapore has sent a third-party note to the Indonesian Embassy on Monday, asking that Indonesia immediately release ships and tugboats carrying granite supplies which have been detained and prevented from leaving Indonesia for Singapore.

Mr Yeo said the note asked for a confirmation of what Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda had told him at an Asean Foreign Ministers retreat in Siem Reap last week - that Indonesia has not banned the export of granite to Singapore, and that there were only ‘administrative’ procedures to be complied with.

Mr Yeo said Mr Wirajuda had also told him that Indonesia’s ban on land sand since February was done for environmental reasons and nothing more.

Yet, in the past week, Mr Yeo said, the Indonesian navy has been detaining many tugboats flying the Singapore flag just because they were carrying granite in their cargo.


Ties with Indonesia: A 'bad soap opera'?

Mr Yeo was speaking in a half-hour speech during debate on his ministry’s budget, after nine MPs had asked about the state of Singapore’s ties with the rest of the world and the immediate region, especially with Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Indranee Rajah had described the ‘peculiar’ signals given by Indoensian lawmakers - some who had linked the ban with Indonesia attempts to pressure Singapore to conclude an extradition treaty or to renegotiate the price of sand - as ‘a bad soap opera’.

Tampines GRC MP Irene Ng referred to this as ‘bully boy tactics’, while Jurong GRC MP Dr Ong Chit Chung went further to regard the actions as that of a ‘jealous’ neighbour ‘seeing red over our little red dot’.

Referring to such 'wild and strange' statements from different quarters, Mr Yeo replied that 'from time to time’, Singapore must expect certain countries to ‘pressure’ it to ‘give’ in to their demands. But Singapore must stand its ground, he said.

Mr Yeo said he understands the MPs’ sentiments, which is 'shared by many Singaporeans’, and urged the House to take such ups and downs in ‘our stride’.


Ties with Malaysia: More visits and link-ups

On Malaysia, for example, Mr Yeo called it a ‘new phase’ in ties, as his Malaysian counterpart Syed Hamid Albar had also recently said.

He said he was personally ‘delighted’ when Malaysian gaming group Genting International secured the bid to build Sentosa’s intergrated resort.

In fact, Mr Yeo said, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will also be having a retreat in Kuala Lumpur in May.

Despite the ups and downs in ties with Johor, the National University of Singapore will also confer an honorary doctorate on the Sultan of Johor next month. More economic cooperation on Johor’s Iskandar development region is also on the cards.


Ties with Thailand: We'll weather the storm

Relations with Thailand, Mr Yeo said, are also strong enough to 'weather' the recent hiccup over former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's visit to Singapore - an issue which involves a 'domestic' conflict in Thailand that has inadvertently affected the Republic.

On the plus side, both governments had agreed that Temasek Holdings' acquisition of Thailand's Shin Corp - which had upset certain quarters in Thailand - was a purely commercial venture, Mr Yeo added.

In any case, the minister stressed, Singapore has always valued its political and people-to-people ties with Thailand.