Don't trust the guys across the causeway ......

I am beginning to be suspicious of the reasons behind YTL's continued proposal to build a high-speed train between KL and Singapore. During the Mahathir era, YTL initiated the proposal but nothing came of it. It was either rejected by Mahathir as being too expensive, or would create problems with Singapore, or because Mahathir simply didn't like it. Thus the proposal was shelved for several years, until resurrected by YTL not a few days ago who says that the cost is RM 8.0 billion.

It's true that a high-speed train travelling from KL to Singapore takes about 90 minutes. Travelling by bus takes about 5 hours (ie if one travels on the Aeroliner bus from PJ) or by air from KLIA takes about 3 1/2 hours, even if the flight time is 45 minutes. 90 minutes travelling is just like commuting by car from Subang Jaya to Bukit Bintang on normal days. I for one would like to go to Singapore in a mere 90 minutes. Singapore would be glad to have more tourists from KL rather than those "working" tourist from Johore Baharu.

The Malaysian Railway union workers are against the proposal as they believe that the project is not viable and, more importantly, its not in the best interests of the railway workers. As though in support of the proposal, the DPM of Malaysia stated that it was a privately-financed initiative and therefore not a single cent of government money will be used in the project.

I believe him.

What I don't believe and what I am skeptical about is what's going to happen to the KTMB land that runs north-south of Singapore, in fact cutting Singapore island in two. YTL would not propose a high speed train from KL to Johore Baharu when there's no money in it. YTL wants the high-speed train go all the way to Tanjung Pagar in Singagore. You and I know very well that Lee Kuan Yew has never been comfortable with the KTMB land that cuts Singapore in two. Its like a Malaysian corridor running from Woodlands to his own contituency in Tanjung Pagar. In the past, LKY has been attempting to persuade Malaysia to sell the corridor to Singapore. The likes of Daim, ex Finance Minister of Malaysia then, were involved in the negotiation.  Singapore was prepared to buy the land from KTMB for several billions Sinagapore dollars, but nothing came of it.

During the Mahathir era, there was a lot of hoo-hah on the KTMB land in 1989/1990. Only then did I know that the KTMB land is a lease land for the duration of 999 years. The early British masters had concocted an agreement between Malaya and Singapore for the Malayan Railway to lease ( not to own, as Singapore was a British colony while Malaya was treated separately as a British Protectrate) for a period of 999 years. As 999 years to me seemed to be perpetual ownership, it doesn't matter whether the land was leased or not. Anything can happen in 999 years between Malaysia and Singapore. It was about this time that I came across an article from an academic in Malaysia. I have forgotten most of the contents but still remember that KTMB land would lose its 999 year lease if KTMB no longer runs the railway line from Woodlands to Tanjung Pagar. If such a situation occurs, then the land would revert to Singapore. Singapore would then get the land for free and there's no more Malaysian corridor in Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew will be happy to die in peace knowing that, at last, all of Singapore is finally his.

As a matter of fact, there has been an agreement or rather, Points of Agreement (POA) in 1990 between Lee Kuan Yew and Daim Zainudin as to what to do with the KTMB land. The POA has been signed by the 2 men, but, according to Mahathir, was not ratified by the Malaysian Parliament for it to be legal. The POA fell through and KTMB continues to operate its rail service as before, much to the chagrin of Lee Kuan Yew.

Enter Francis Yeoh of the YTL group of companies. He sees it as a way of making a lot of money, even after investing a whopping sum of RM 8.0 billion for a bullet train from KL to Singapore. Firstly, more Malaysian tourists would visit especially to the two casinos that are waiting and somehow he would be compensated by Singapore in the event that KTMB loses its 999-year lease and the land becomes part of Singapore.  I am sure he gets the nod from Lee Kuan Yew who wants to rid Singapore of the Malaysian corridor. 

Its getting the approval from Malaysia that is the problem. If what Mahathir said was correct, then the 1990 POA or a new POA will have to go through Parliament where there is no one party with 2/3 rd majority that can easily swing in favour of the POA and getting approval for the project would indeed be difficult.

For me, I would rather see that KTMB maintains its status quo on the land by keeping it Malaysian. Don't be fooled by the cunning Lee Kuan Yew and his cohorts into any agreement that somehow would be manipulated to Malaysia's disadvantage. Just simply take the water supply agreements and Batu Puteh disputes as examples. Singapore likes to maintain its superiority over Malaysia.

What's wrong with us ? .....

The other day I came across bits of news from the local daily where the Ministry of Health  said that their latest statistic on AIDs was that 91,000 Malaysians are HIV positive and that some 6 thousands or so Malaysians have actually died of AID's related diseases.  What I know about HIV is that its a common ailment among those who are drug abusers (using shared needles to get high) and among those who are sexually permissive (practising rampant sex such as being involved in the swinging scene or liberal sex ). I thought to myself that this was serious since Malaysia was a country that tolerated no drugs nor sexual proximity especially among the majority of its population who were Muslim Malays. The figures looked ominously large for a small country.

How does the situation compare with other countries such as those in the Asean region and with countries in the western hemisphere where, in some of them, drug consumption is not illegal and where, in all of them, sexual proximity is tolerated. 

In its book on country data, the CIA ( The World Fact Book ) has compiled a list of statistics on information about almost all the countries in the world from a country with a population os small as a few thousand like San Marino to one as big as China or India. Though somewhat outdated the statistics recorded looked genuine. The CIA statistics are quite detailed in its informstion on country size, population, system of government, trade figures, agriculture, power generated, disputes, and many, many useful information. As I was curious on HIVs/AIDs, the statistics on how many are living with HIV positive, and how many have died, are all there.

Here I am surprised to note that countries like Holland, the Scandinavian countries,  that practise liberal sex and where drug consumption is not illegal have low incidents of population with HIV positive and much lower figures ( in a few hundreds ) of deaths due to AIDs.