Have you ever wonder why Mahathir is so obsessed with building a bridge to Singapore. Why is he so furious when his successor dropped the project? And why is he pursuing this subject again through his latest blog? I had thought this crooked bridge is permanently sunk when Najib took over as new prime minister. I was wrong. Look like Mahathir is attempting to raise it from the depth, thus putting intense pressure on Najib handling of bilateral relationship with Singapore. Mahathir has written in his blog yesterday regarding the reasons why the Causeway should be demolished in the Malaysian side to make way for his ‘scenic bridge’. Singapore does not agree to a new bridge unless there is a ‘balance of interest’.
Mahathir was very upset and gone berserk when Badawi abandoned the crooked bridge project. He blamed Badawi for not honouring his promise to continue his pet project. Mahathir even cajoled his successor that if he builds the crooked bridge, he will stop criticising Badawi. Badawi ignored his warning, and Mahathir went on to discredit his handpicked successor and led a dirty campaign to force Badawi resignation. Badawi eventually resigned. Whether it was the work of Mahathir, no one can verify.
Why is Mahathir so bent on building this crooked bridge? He justifies the benefits with better traffic flows and cleaner environment. But his most vocal pitch is sovereignty, and even suggests that Malaysia is not independent if they need Singapore agreement to build the bridge. That is an emotional appeal to the public on nationalism. The use of sovereign right is a shrewd move by Mahathir to pressurise politicians not to disagree with him on the building of this crooked bridge.
I have follow this straight to crooked bridge saga for a long time. I like to share my conspiracy theory. This is totally my personal view and my concoction. It is NOT substantiated in anyway.
My theory is based on the following observations.
1. Mahathir deep repugnance and outright contempt for Singapore and LKY.
2. His blinding obsession to construct this bridge, even after he has left office.
3. His undying and relentlss effort to pressure Badawi and Najib to build this bridge.
4. His impatience and implusiveness to get the crooked bridge built even without any agreement from Singapore
5. Mahathir even declared that Malaysia will foot the entire bill for the bridge. How could he be so generous?
6. Demolish the Causeway
All these are the telltale signs of Mahathir sinister plot. Mahathir hatred for Singapore is well documented. He has the penchant to be vindictive and has trampled over all his political foes unscathed. This is his last change to put the dagger in the lion heart which has constantly outperformed and outshined him. In his 22 years as PM for Malaysia, he has failed to make Singapore subservient to him. He was never able to squeeze any concession out of Singapore as many negotiations fails to meet his expectation. The score card on his dealing with Singapore is miserable. The crooked bridge is his last chance to settle this score. Unfortunately, he cannot articulate this ulterior motive in public.
He was so impatient that he unilaterally started the bridge project without any agreement from Singapore. Surely, he must be aware that any bridge must have an end point in Singapore and Singapore must provide that beach. When Singapore opposed it, he took the option to build a half bridge. In order for the half bridge to have height and acceptable gradient for vehicles, a crooked bridge is designed. He may have even anticipated Singapore objection. Can you not see his desperation in getting this bridge built?
At the same time, the Singapore government is calmly acting ignorant as not to fall into his trap. So it is not about sands or some other issues in the ‘’balance of interest” negotiation. It not about cost or economic either. Singapore government is just delaying the inevitable. The bridge will be built someday but not now. WHY?
It’s all about water. Yes water.
The pipes that carry raw water from Malaysia to Singapore lay over the Causeway. Malaysia sells raw water to Singapore at a meagre price of 3 sens per 1000 gallons. It then sells back treated water at 50 sens per 1000 gallons. The treated water is sold to Johorean at a hefty profit. Now Johore has its own water treatment plant and is capable of meeting is own needs and does not need to repurchase water from Singapore. It’s no more mutual dependent.
The water infrastructure in Johore are all built and maintained by Singapore. If and when the causeway is demolished, so does the pipes that carry water to Singapore. It will be naive to expect Malaysia to the lay new pipes under the sea or lay pipes on the crooked bridge to supply raw water to Singapore at 3 sens. Cost wise, it cannot be justified. Commonsense dictates that Singapore will have to foot the bill. But the toughest questions is, where to lay the pipes from the halfway mark of the causeway through the Straits of Johore. Haha, we now need permission from Malaysia to lay new pipes both under the sea and over land. This is where Mahathir creates a situation where Malaysia will have the upper hand. Malaysia can declined approval giving any excuse available like environment etc.
Another serious problem is the interim period when the causeway is demolished, where will the water come from. That is Mahathir idea of a grand “checkmate”. He will be the greatest champion of a Malay nationalism, forcing Singapore to her knees to accept terms dictated by Malaysia while we are ‘checkmate’. Surely, Malaysia has plentiful of water to supply to Singapore, but it will be price dictated by the Malaysian. Of course he can’t present his plan now as he will look despicable and mean. If this plan succeed, he can proudly claim his greatest prize.
Singapore has to play the ignorant games now as not to give away its uneasiness. We can buy sand anywhere like we did in the last few years. But for water, we are not truly self sufficient yet, 40% of our water needs come from Malaysia. For that, we need the Causeway to be there as long as possible. If and when Singapore announced another desalination plant, you can understand why.
Mahathir blog on this crooked bridge is to restart his sinister campaign. He is putting pressure on Najib. He is making Najib looks unpatriotic and stupid if Najib dare not build this bridge with his idea of sovereignty. Mahathir shrewdness is unparalleled. He used Badawi as his dagger but Badawi threw it away. Now he passes the dagger to Najib. Singapore has to plan for contingency if Najib does succumb to Mahathir pressure. Surely our politicians have all options available but it is something I would be very uncomfortable to put it on my blog.
----------------------------------------Living to see the world----------------------------------
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