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Suspension of Seletar landing system, Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang to end in March: Khaw

SINGAPORE — Singapore has accepted Malaysia’s counter-proposal to extend until the end of March the mutual suspension of Seletar Airport’s Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang town in Johor.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Khaw Boon Wan announced that Singapore had suggested extending the mutual suspension of Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang town in Johor Baru and Singapore’s ILS procedures at Seletar Airport.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Khaw Boon Wan announced that Singapore had suggested extending the mutual suspension of Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang town in Johor Baru and Singapore’s ILS procedures at Seletar Airport.

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SINGAPORE — Singapore has accepted Malaysia’s counter-proposal to extend until the end of March the mutual suspension of Seletar Airport’s Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang town in Johor.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said this on Friday (Jan 25), hours after his Malaysian counterpart Anthony Loke told reporters in Malaysia that Putrajaya had suggested a shorter suspension of Seletar Airport’s ILS procedures.

Mr Loke said that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had proposed that the suspension last until March 31, instead of May 31, which was what Mr Khaw had proposed during a recent meeting.

Dr Mahathir felt that the suspension was too long and needed to be shortened, Mr Loke said.

In response, Mr Khaw wrote in a Facebook post that it was “a good idea to nudge our officials to follow up speedily on what the two ministers had agreed on the way forward”.

He noted that the aviation authorities from both countries have co-ordinated and published new notices to airmen at 6pm on Friday to put the new decision into effect.

“I am happy to see the two regulators working together for the larger good of civil-aviation safety and efficiency in our congested airspace,” Mr Khaw wrote.

After a Jan 8 meeting between Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah over ongoing territorial disputes, the two sides announced that Malaysia had suspended the permanent Restricted Area established over Pasir Gudang, and Singapore had shelved temporarily the roll-out of the ILS at Seletar Airport.

An ILS guides aircraft to stay on a specific descent path and tells them the descending angle.

The two ministers said then that the suspension would be in place for a month, in the first instance.

Earlier this week, Mr Khaw met Mr Loke to discuss airspace issues and later announced that Singapore had suggested extending the mutual suspension of Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang town in Johor Baru and Singapore’s ILS procedures at Seletar Airport. He had not specified then how much longer the suspension would last.

This was in order to give officials from the two countries more “discussion time” to reach a win-win outcome, Mr Khaw said at the time.

BACKGROUND OF WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING

Malaysia has protested that Singapore's plan to roll out the ILS at Seletar Airport will encroach into its airspace and hamper development in Pasir Gudang town.

Last month, the Singapore Government protested Malaysia's move to expand unilaterally its Johor Baru port limits into Singapore's territorial waters off Tuas in the west of the island, saying it violated sovereignty and international laws.

Malaysian government vessels have since been intruding into Singapore's waters, and Singapore has responded by extending its own port limits off Tuas.

The two countries have agreed to set up a working group on the maritime dispute, headed by Mr Chee Wee Kiong, permanent secretary at Singapore’s Foreign Ministry, and Malaysia’s foreign ministry secretary-general Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob.

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