Tg Pagar: Did a certain someone lose the plot?
Daim to the rescue? Apart from Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin is the only person this
side of the Causeway who knows the inside-out of the Tanjung Pagar 1990 deal with Singapore. Daim was the go-between between Dr M, who was then our PM, and Lee Kuan Yew, his
counterpart from the republic.
The basic agreements struck by Najib Razak and Lee Hsien Loong were, in fact, the basic agreements already 
reached by the two governments in the 1990 deal. So if it's true that Daim has been roped in to resolve some sticky issues with Uncle Harry, as what Syed Akbar Ali wrote in his latest posting h e r e, that's not bad news. At least we're assured that Malaysia won't be a pushover in this case. If you're old enough to remember CLOB, you'd know that Daim is capable of playing hard ball though in this case there may not be any need to as he and the older Lee from Singapore are known to be fast friends.
But if Daim is back, it could mean that Nor Mohamed Yakcop is losing his plot.
sometime I think its better to have Daim as Khazanah advisor so that NMY and Mokh & co dont have a blank cheque to issue anymore.
ReplyDeleteonly a devil knows how to handle another devil and replace those little devils.
Bring in Hassan Merican to lead Khazanah with full authority.
Dato, Syed A. Ali and Nor Mohd Yakop are related. I think they are cousins. So this Syed dont mention Nor Yakop name. Cover up.
ReplyDeleteAnon 3.52... you obviously don't read SAA's blog right... like the majority of malaysians, you don't read don't you?!
ReplyDeleteboss coffee
Oh No ! The fox is back guarding the henhouse !
ReplyDeleteGodfather
I like red devil comments. Why not used proven guy to lead, who led petronas to the world top companiies list.
ReplyDeleteanon 4:26 - you are so right....another couple of billion will now go into the pocket of this small silver haired man.
ReplyDeleteNOR MOHAMED IS NOT ARAB, HE IS A TAMIL SPEAKING INDIAN. HE WILL SURVIVE BECAUSE HE IS A GENIUS.....ACCORDING TO PEOPLE WHO KNOW HIM. DAIM IS NO MATCH.
ReplyDeleteThis is such as sad thing. How come something as important as this is only known to Mahathir and Daim. This is about national interest and pride. It showed how such important things like these were only decided by two people in the previous administration. The allegations that Mahathir and Daim had their own kitchen cabinet weren't allegations. It was the truth.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't they relinquish everything when they hand over the government to Najib? Why didn't they tell Najib everything? And why should we refer such things to them. Shouldn't there be a system in the government that ensures whoever becomes the Prime Minister he would be able to pick up where his predecessor left without any glitches? These two men aren't going to live forever. Ini diaorang ada lagi bolehlah. Katakanlah by now dua-dua (Daim and Mahathir) dah mati. Apa kita nak buat buat? Who should we refer to? Are we going to get screwed in the arse because these two men are dead? who gives them the right to make us depend on them after they are gone?
Steps should be taken to make the country not depended on these two people. Depa mungkin nak pegang lagi (from the looks of it seems they want to hold on forever) tapi Tuhan dah kata semua akan mati. kalau depa mati takkan kita nak resurrect balik Daim dan Mahathir to save us???
Better yet, are they really the saviour and sincere? kalau sincere give every detail to Najib lah. Why dont they give? Want Najib to always depend on you so that you will always have the government by the balls???
Penanak Nasik
Penanak Nasik,
ReplyDeleteMy bad. What I meant is these two are the only ones aware of every nuance involved in the Tg Pagar deal. For many years, it's been Kuan Yew's wits against Mahathir's in many things bilateral. There were officials from Malaysia involved but the thinking behind the POA and the proposed resolutions of many of our problems with Singapore originated from Dr Mahathir who was PM then, and agreed or opposed to by LKY, his counterpart.
In the case of Tg Pagar, as in several other dealings involving Singapore, Daim was the man in the centre. He was a close confidante of Dr Mahathir and a friend of LKY's.
Tun Dol, who was Foreign Minister in the 90s and quite a good one, too, was not involved in the Tg Pagar POA. His foreign policies when he became the PM weren't as dynamic.
In the 2010 bilateral talks on Tg Pagar, Singapore made full use of their biggest resource - Kuan Yew. He was there from the start, like Dr M and Daim.
Malaysia, however, decided to leave out the only ones who could have second-guessed and outmaneuvered Lee.
I hope I've explained better what I meant.
Pak Rocky
ReplyDeleteSurely you jest?
Didn't a Wisma Putra VIP state that the KTM land in Singapore was leased out by the then colonial administration in Singapore solely for the purpose of operating a railway line, and if the railway line ceased to operate, the land in question would revert to Singapore?
I suspect that, like in the Pulau Batu Putih/Pedra Branca case, the Malaysian side didn't read carefully through all the "fine print" or peruse all the relevant documents and agreements dating back to the colonial administration in Singapore.
Otherwise, what did PM Najib and PM Lee Hsien Loong agree to in respect of KTM's operations in Singapore?
Perhaps, PM Najib was given to understand that if Malaysia took this matter of KTM land in Singapore to the ICJ, it would result in a negative judgment for Malaysia?
And both Dr Mahathir and Tun Daim have kept discreetly silent after the agreement between PM Najib and PM Lee Hsien Loong was announced to much fanfare.