Singapore's Ministry on Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday that the country's foreign minister will meet with Malaysian foreign minister on Jan. 8. The meeting will take place in the Republic.
The scheduled meeting closely follows the meeting with between Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat which took place on Dec. 31. The previous meeting took place when Mr. Teo and Mr. Heng visited Putrajaya in order to convey a message to the Malaysian Prime Minister on behalf of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, according to Singapore's foreign ministry.
Aside from the scheduled meeting between the two countries' prime ministers, there are discussions about a possible meeting between the transport ministers of both countries. While this meeting is still under negotiations, Singapore's foreign ministry did not provide a timeline as to when this meeting will take place. Although the ministry said that the meeting will be scheduled soon.
The statement from Singapore's foreign ministry did not disclose the topics that are expected to be discussed at the upcoming meeting. However, there are sources quoting Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah as saying that the minister is looking forward to discussing issues about the two countries' airspaces.
Mr. Saiffudin recently revealed that during the Dec. 31 meeting between Mr. Teo and Dr. Mahatir he said, "My visit to Singapore is a continuation of the meeting yesterday. There are several issues, but the one that must be given immediate attention is Singapore's plans for the Seletar Airport which will pass through the airspace over Pasir Gudang, Johor."
A report from the Strait Times quoted Mr. Saifuddin claiming that Malaysia is protesting about Singapore's proposed airport and claim that the area is a restricted area.
In response, Singapore's Ministry of Transport said in a statement that the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia has already published a Notice to Airmen on Dec. 25 regarding the disputed airspace. The published notice informed Malaysia's aviation community of the decision to consider the area as a Permanent Restricted Area with the purpose of military activities over Pasir Gudang. Said activities will take effect starting Jan. 2.
Since its announcement, Malaysia has objected to the proposed new landing procedures at the Seletar Airport. The country claims that the Instrument Landing System procedures have adverse effects over Johor's Pasir Gudang Port and had since issued requests for the reclamation of management over the airspace.
