Azmin denies meeting Singapore officials on HSR, but says date for talks 'has been fixed'

KUALA LUMPUR — In an apparent U-turn, Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali on Tuesday (Aug 7) denied meeting Singapore officials to discuss the fate of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project.

But he added that a date for talks on the issue has been arranged.

The about turn came after the Republic's Ministry of Transport (MOT) refuted Mr Azmin's claim on Monday that he met with "senior officials from Singapore" over the weekend to discuss the rail project.

"They are right. When I mentioned it yesterday, did I say I met officials from MOT?" he told reporters in Parliament, adding that he had met with a "Singaporean" when he visited Malaysia's Home Affairs Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in Singapore on Sunday.

Mr Muhyiddin was recuperating in a Singapore hospital from surgery to remove a pancreatic tumour. He was discharged on Tuesday.

However, Mr Azmin did not reveal who the Singaporean was.

He added that he had previously explained that Malaysia could not meet Singapore by its requested date of July 31 as it was preoccupied with the ongoing parliamentary session and other domestic issues and that he would come up with a proposed date in August.

"And a date has been fixed," he said on Tuesday. "And I will be in Singapore soon."

Asked what he hoped to achieve in the talks, he said he "cannot jump to conclusions" as "this is not fair to the other side".

"Certainly, I will present our case...and it is only fair for them to have this opportunity to listen from me in the official meeting. Then we discuss."

TODAY has reached out to MOT for comments.

Mr Azmin had reportedly said on Monday that he had met informally with several officials and that the meeting had gone well.

"I went to Singapore yesterday to visit Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and I took the opportunity to meet Singapore's senior officials to discuss about HSR. It went positively," Malaysia's news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.

"The official meeting will take place sometime in August."

Following the report, a spokesperson from MOT said on Monday that no meeting has been scheduled, nor has taken place between Mr Azmin and Singapore officials overseeing the HSR project.

"As of 6 August 2018, the Malaysian Government has not provided the clarifications sought by Singapore and has not communicated their proposed dates for such discussions," the spokesperson added.

United Malays National Organisation’s president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi slammed the economic minister on Tuesday, saying that it was shameful and shocking bahaviour.

“The official statement by the Singaporeans that the meeting never took place has shamed Malaysia.

“It makes us look like big liars who go round making up stories,” Mr Zahid said in a statement.

The HSR project, first proposed by Malaysia in 2013, is a 350km line that would have slashed rail travel time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to 90 minutes.

But its fate has been uncertain since the new Pakatan Harapan government won the May 9 election, with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and some of his cabinet ministers vowing to scrap the project in order to trim Putrajaya's RM1 trillion (S$336 billion) debt.

Since then, Putrajaya has sent mixed signals on the issue, saying that it wants to postpone the project instead of cancelling it.

Malaysia has also made conflicting remarks on the proposed meeting between both sides on the issue.

Singapore's transport minister Khaw Boon Wan told Parliament on July 9 that the Republic had sent a diplomatic note to Malaysia on June 1 seeking clarification on its position on the HSR project.

Meanwhile, Singapore continues to incur cost on the project, with expenditure expected to hit some S$300 million by year-end, Mr Khaw told Parliament on July 9, warning that a "significant" amount of the funds spent would be "completely wasted" if the project was called off.

Mr Azmin was then quoted by Malaysian media on July 16 as saying that he hoped to meet the Singapore government "by the end of the month".

MOT said on July 20 that it had asked Putrajaya to clarify its official position in writing by July 31 and to indicate, also by that date, if it still wished to hold bilateral talks on the strained project.

It later received a letter from Mr Azmin dated July 23, where he said that the Malaysian government was "studying the details of the HSR Project and will commence discussions with Singapore soon".

But Mr Azmin then told reporters on July 31 that the deadline of July 31 set by Singapore was a "suggestion".

"That is Singapore's suggestion. As I mentioned in my letter last week [to Singapore] we will firm up the date," he added. "We are quite occupied for Parliament, hopefully we will meet in early August."AGENCIES

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