Dr M's aide: Syed Hamid should resign for wrongly advising PM

The Sun – 19/4/2006

KUALA LUMPUR: A former aide of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today (April 18, 2006) called on Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to resign as he had "wrongly advised" the prime minister, resulting in the cabinet's decision to scrap the bridge to Singapore.
Lawyer Matthias Chang, who was Mahathir's former political secretary, said the media have not been fair in portraying the former premier as trying to interfere with the present administration, adding that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should not be blamed for the decision on the bridge.
"Abdullah has done no wrong but his advisers, especially Syed Hamid as the chief negotiator, have failed in their duties. They did not give the best advice to him," he said, adding the whole episode is "a crying shame."
Chang said he decided to call for a press conference as he felt responsible to speak out the truth being a Malaysian citizen who has full knowledge and information about the whole issue.
He said there was no legal implication to the construction of a new bridge to replace the Johor Causeway.
He said Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had in 2002 agreed with Malaysia's plan to build the bridge - be it full or half - and said the causeway could be demolished after 2007.
"Goh wants the causeway to be knocked down after 2007. We are now in 2006. So, next year. So where is this legal impediment? The water issue, the pipe must be rebuilt, under the ground, under the sea, whatever. 
"But once the causeway is knocked down, of course the pipe root would be idle. It is not a problem. There is no legal impediment," he said at his legal firm here, stressing he is not speaking for Mahathir who had on Monday said the government made a mistake by abandoning the bridge project.
Chang said he was tasked by Mahathir to review all negotiations strategy between Malaysia and Singapore and had come up with 14 volumes of related documents.
The documents were later submitted to several groups including Wisma Putra, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim who was then minister in charge of law, the Attorney-General's Office, the present Malaysian ambassador to Singapore and the Queen's Counsel engaged by Malaysia for the water issue.
In 2003, Singapore's Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts published a book titled "Water Talks? If Only It Could" compiling all documents about the negotiations.
Included in the book is a letter from Goh, dated April 11, 2002, telling Mahathir he agreed with the bridge, but noted his favour for a full bridge to replace the causeway.
He had also written in the letter that if Malaysia wished to proceed with the bridge immediately and to replace its part of the causeway, he would still accept it although he thought it was not ideal.
There was also another letter from Goh to Mahathir, dated Oct 14, 2002, agreeing with Malaysia to discontinue the package approach and deal with the water issue separately as "the trade-offs are no longer possible".
On the sand and airspace issues, Chang said he did not know when or how they had come about because the questions had never been raised before Mahathir retired in October 2003.
Past news reports have been conflicting on whether the bridge was part of a package of other issues to be addressed by Malaysia and Singapore. 
Some reports in 2003, quoting Mahathir and Syed Hamid, said the bridge had never been part of a package deal, contrary to Singapore's claim.
The package deal was supposed to include the use of Malaysian air space by the Singapore air force, the status of Keretapi Tanah Melayu's land in the republic and Malaysian workers' savings in the Singapore Central Provident Fund. Water supply was initially part of the package but it was later removed to be negotiated separately.
It has been reported that when the water supply issue was removed from the package deal, Singapore decided it was not in favour of the bridge.
The republic continued to drag its feet in later attempts to arrive at an agreement on the bridge, prompting Malaysia to go ahead to construct on its side of the causeway.
According to news reports in recent years, Singapore would only agree to the bridge if there was a balance of benefits to both sides, asking for the supply of sand and air space rights as part of the conditions.
Source: The Sun | www.sun2surf.com