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Singapore
This Week in AsiaGeopolitics

Singapore-Malaysia relations threaten to boil over as Mahathir makes splash about water prices

  • The prime minister has aired a long-standing gripe over Singapore paying less than 1 US cent per 1,000 gallons of fresh water from Malaysia
  • Mahathir says the deal, which was made in 1962, is on weak legal standing and Singapore will lose if the issue is brought to the World Court

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says the current water deal Singapore is “ridiculous”. Photo: Reuters
Tashny Sukumaran
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s dogged pursuit of a long-standing gripe – the price Singapore pays its neighbour for fresh water – is threatening to bring tensions between the countries back to a boil, just as officials say their disputes over maritime and airspace boundaries have been brought to an even keel.

The 93-year-old premier flagged the matter as a priority in bilateral ties soon after his election victory last year, and on Sunday he raised the ante with a claim that the Lion City’s position surrounding the price was on weak legal standing.

One prominent observer of bilateral affairs said the countries needed to abandon a policy of “sticking to legalities” to solve the decades-old diplomatic conundrum.

Mahathir, responding to reporters’ question on the topic, said it was “ridiculous” that Singapore pays 3 Malaysian sen, or cents, per 1,000 gallons of water – a price fixed in a 1962 agreement.

The resource-poor city state buys about half of its fresh water supply from Johor, the southern Malaysian state with which it shares a maritime border.

According to Mahathir, the 3-cent price dates back to a 1920s agreement between the Lion City’s colonial administrators and the Sultan of Johor.

Singapore insists that Malaysia during Mahathir’s first stint in power from 1981 to 2003 gave up the right to a price review.
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