PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Official Opening of The Chancery of the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to be here today to attend the official opening of the new Chancery of our Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

This year is SG50, it’s the 50th Anniversary of our independence, and it is also the 50th Anniversary of Singapore-Malaysia relations. So, opening the new Chancery is a good way to commemorate our friendship and to remember how far bilateral relations have come. I would also like to thank the High Commissioner for his good wishes just now and to all Singaporeans and friends of Singapore who came to the High Commission to sign the condolence book on my father’s passing and to pay their respects. I am deeply touched by the outpouring of condolences and good wishes, especially from our closest neighbour, Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur is one of our most important overseas missions, because Malaysia has always been an important partner for us. If Malaysia does well, both Singapore and Malaysia will prosper. If our relations are good, then we can pursue many win-win opportunities together. But if relations run into problems, it will lead to a lot of misunderstanding and trouble for both sides.

We have many Singaporeans who work in and live in Malaysia. Some of you are here today; just a small sampling of the much larger number in KL, and in the rest of Malaysia. Very often, they get together happily. Once in a while, they will need consular services or help. And so we have to service our Singaporean community well.  And therefore we place special emphasis on the KL mission. We post some of our best officers here and we expect a great deal out of it. What they watch, how they read the situation and what they report back to HQ, all this makes a big difference to how well we understand our closest neighbour, and how successfully we can manage problems which arise and work together. So I am very happy that we have done up this mission and upgraded it.  

I am also glad that our bilateral relations are good. We have resolved a number of long-standing bilateral issues in an amicable way. We have taken a pragmatic approach, found common ground and pursued win-win solutions. For example, on the Point of Agreement, on Railway Land, or the follow-up joint venture projects – the M+S projects, which are progressing well, the Marina One and Duo at Ophir, and the wellness projects in Iskandar.

Next week, I will be holding a Leaders’ Retreat with Prime Minister Najib. It is my turn to host, he’s coming to Singapore. We will have a dinner together and we will be discussing new areas of cooperation. One of which is the High-Speed Rail. If we can get the High-Speed Rail going and running, this will be a very important project which will foster closer ties between our people. And then we can come up have lunch and go back down to Singapore again. Anytime, the lunch in KL justifies the trip.

There will be other cooperation to explore, and other issues to manage between us, from time to time. And I hope that when issues come up, whether it’s cooperation or whether it’s difficulties, we can handle them in the same constructive spirit, working together whenever we can, and putting things aside to settle later where the time is not ripe and matters cannot be solved immediately, or where possible, resolving them in an impartial, objective way, without affecting our overall relationship, for example through arbitration, as we have done more than once.

So there is no lack of work for High Commissioner Vanu and his staff here at the mission. I am confident that High Commissioner and the staff, both the home-based as well as the local staff, will continue to give of their best, and contribute to good relations between Singapore and Malaysia.

Congratulations once again. Thank you very much.

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