Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will lead a high-level delegation to Singapore for the 10th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat on Monday (Oct 30).
The annual retreat, the first to be held since the pandemic, is a key platform for the leaders of both countries to discuss bilateral issues and explore new areas of cooperation, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on Sunday.
The previous retreat was held in 2019 in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya and subsequent editions were postponed due to COVID-19 and successive changes in the Malaysian government.
This year’s retreat will also be Anwar’s first in his current capacity as premier, and MFA said it is an opportunity for both countries to “take stock of the growing cooperation”.
PM Anwar will arrive in Singapore on Sunday before attending the retreat the next day, where he will call on Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The prime ministers and their delegations will then meet for bilateral discussions and witness the signing of bilateral agreements on key areas of cooperation, MFA said.
This includes updating a business development fund agreement and working together to develop small- and medium-size enterprises in both countries.
The retreat has historically produced some important agreements and is sometimes taken as a bellwether of the bilateral relationship.
At the 2010 retreat, the two countries, after a years-long deadlock, reached an agreement over the future of railway land in Singapore owned by the Malaysian government, while the 2018 retreat yielded an agreement on the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link project.
Analysts expect this year’s edition to be similarly significant.
“This leaders’ retreat will be important from an optics standpoint because it will signal the move away from the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan administration in 2018 to an Anwar-led Unity Government administration starting in 2022,” said Dr Ong Kian Ming, director of the philosophy politics and economics programme at Taylor’s University in Malaysia.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who attended the 2019 retreat as Malaysia’s leader, frequently clashed with Singapore over issues like maritime boundaries and the price of water bought from Johor.
Dr Ong, who served as a deputy minister of international trade and industry in the Mahathir government, told CNA that ties between the two countries have “warmed up significantly” since Mr Anwar took the helm.
“Anwar doesn’t have the same kind of baggage and hangups with Singapore that was so obviously present with Mahathir,” he said.
“This means that it has been much easier to discuss possible areas of cooperation without having the shadow of old issues such as the water issue hovering in the background.”
Areas of discussion could include the contentious Pedra Branca and High-Speed Rail.
The Malaysian delegation attending the retreat includes Foreign Affairs Minister Zambry Kadir; Transport Minister Anthony Loke; Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz; Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad; Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution; Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Ewon Benedick; and Attorney-General Terrirudin Mohd Salleh.
Singapore’s delegation includes Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong; Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean; Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan; Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam; Trade and Investment Minister Gan Kim Yong; National Development Minister Desmond Lee; Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat; and Attorney-General Lucien Wong.
