Unlike KL, Singapore has ’shown state authority’ over island

Unlike KL, Singapore has ’shown state authority’ over island

Referring to Sipadan, Ligatan in KL’s row with Indonesia, S’pore turns Malaysia’s own arguments against it

By Lydia Lim, Senior Political Correspondent
TABLES TURNED: Mr Bundy turned Malaysia’s arguement against it.

THE HAGUE (NETHERLANDS) - SINGAPORE yesterday argued before an international court that Malaysia has not displayed a glimmer of state authority over Pedra Branca and it was late in the day trying to oust its rightful sovereign.
Ironically, Malaysia had used the same arguments of having exercised acts of state authority on the islands of Sipadan and Ligatan in its dispute with Indonesia over who owned the two islands. Malaysia won the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002.

Ironically, too, in that dispute, Malaysia had levelled the same charge against Indonesia of making late claims of ownership and trying to oust it from the two islands.

Yesterday, on Day Three of Singapore’s oral pleadings before the ICJ, Singapore’s international counsel, Mr Rodman Bundy, deftly turned Malaysia’s arguments in the Sipadan and Ligatan case against it.

Singapore and Malaysia are appearing before the court to resolve their dispute over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca, an island 40km east of Singapore and which stands at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait.

Mr Bundy began by noting that in the Pedra Branca case, Malaysia had argued in its written pleadings that notices to mariners, that is, ship captains, are irrelevant for questions of sovereignty.

That was in reference to a notice issued by the Governor of the Straits Settlements to inform mariners that a lighthouse had been built on Pedra Branca.

In the Sipadan and Ligatan case, however, Malaysia had relied on the building and notification to mariners of unmanned lights on the two islands. It argued then that was a ’straightforward reflection’ of its sovereignty.

‘Consistency,’ Mr Bundy told the court yesterday, ‘appears to have its limits for Malaysia when territorial questions are at issue.’

Another international lawyer on the Singapore team, Professor Alain Pellet, also pointed to inconsistencies in Malaysia’s other arguments.

For example, Malaysia first claimed that the numerous examples that Singapore cited as displays of sovereignty were not, in fact, state activities.

These acts included Singapore’s naval patrols and investigations of shipwrecks that occurred in the waters around Pedra Branca.

But after Malaysia laid claim to the island in 1979, it tried to ‘back up its reasoning’, Prof Pellet said, by protesting against these very same acts.

In 2003, Malaysia protested for the first time against Singapore’s naval patrols in the area, which had been going on since 1975 when the Singapore navy was formed.

The sovereignty dispute began when Malaysia first laid claim to the island in 1979, by publishing a map that placed Pedra Branca within its territorial waters.

Singapore promptly challenged the claim.

Singapore’s lawyers also noted that the ICJ had stated in the Sipadan and Ligatan case that acts which took place after a dispute arose would be considered only if they were a normal continuation of prior acts and not undertaken to improve the legal position of the party relying on them.

Mr Bundy stressed that with respect to Pedra Branca, Singapore’s conduct ‘did not change one bit’ after Malaysia’s ‘belated claim’ emerged in 1979.

It simply continued to administer the island as part of its territory, as it always had, he said.

Mr Bundy also laid out in detail the numerous acts, including the passing of laws relating to Pedra Branca, that attested to Singapore’s longstanding sovereignty over it, dating back to 1847.

The evidence also showed that Malaysians themselves recognised that Singapore owned and controlled the island.

Mr Bundy told the court that in March 1974, a number of Malaysian officials sought permission from Singapore to visit Pedra Branca to carry out tidal surveys.

Singapore asked for the names, passport numbers and details of their intended length of stay, which were provided to it by an officer of the Malaysian navy.

A second incident took place in 1978, when two officials from the Malaysian Survey Department arrived unannounced on Pedra Branca.

They were told by the Singapore lighthouse keeper that they could not stay without prior permission from the Port of Singapore Authority.

The hearing continues today. Deputy Prime Minister and Law Minister S. Jayakumar will wrap up Singapore’s presentation, before the court resumes on Tuesday to hear Malaysia’s case.
Source : Straits Times - 09 Nov 2007

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Gardens by the Bay set to bring in S$1b over next 10 years in Sngapore

Gardens by the Bay set to bring in S$1b over next 10 years in Sngapore

By Hoe Yeen Nie,

• Phase 1 of Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay project at Marina South to be completed by 2010.

Gardens by the Bay set to bring in S$1b over next 10 years

SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan on Friday unveiled details of a S$900 million plan to turn Marina South into a lush Eden.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Mr Mah said the Gardens at Marina South is set to be a major tourist attraction, bringing in 2.7 million more visitors each year.

Tourism receipts are also expected to reach some S$1 billion over the next ten years, due to flagship events like the Singapore Garden Festival.

Gardens at Marina South is the first phase of a masterplan to create three of such gardens on prime waterfront land in the heart of the Central Business District, to help place Singapore in the same league as other global cities like New York and London.

Dr Tan Wee Kiat, Advisor to NParks, Project Director of Gardens by the Bay, said: “The other senses will come into play – smell, sound… and we will feature this in garden design, which is not often done in gardens in this part of the world. By nightfall, most of us just leave, but here we want people to stay.”

Apart from ‘Cooled Conservatories’ where flora from cooler climates will be displayed, visitors can also expect to see some ‘SuperTrees’ – tall skeletal structures on which climbing plants will grow.

The Gardens will also be a showcase of energy-efficient technologies as water from the Bay will be recycled to be used in the park.

The 54-ha development, which is expected to be completed by 2010, will also have space for retail shops and events.

Mr Mah said the world-class city garden will add value to the surrounding real estate, but added that it is not all about numbers.

He said: “I’m sure somebody would come up and say, ‘Look, if you had put apartments and offices on this land, you would have created more value!’ But is this what we want? Is this what Singapore is all about?”

The two other parks – one at Marina East and the other at Marina Centre – will be built at a later date.

A water-sports area will be built at Marina East, while a park will be incorporated into the Formula One circuit at Marina Centre.

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 09 Nov 2007

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GE Commercial Finance to bring in new products to Singapore

GE Commercial Finance to bring in new products to Singapore

These include real estate debt financing, healthcare financial services
By CHEN HUIFEN

ENCOURAGED by the strong growth in Singapore and the region, GE Commercial Finance is looking to introduce more financing products next year and hiring more hands to drive them.
The company has also introduced workboat financing solutions for the marine industry.

‘We are increasing our sales force quite a bit because we have a lot more products that we can bring,’ said GE Commercial Finance South-east Asia president and CEO Ed Ng. ‘For example, distribution finance. Basically, we can finance a company’s inventory or a supplier’s stocks with distributors.’

Other products in the pipeline are in the areas of real estate debt financing and healthcare financial services.

‘We can finance the development of a hospital, the equipment in a hospital,’ said Mr Ng. ‘A lot of people are riding on the government initiative to make this a medical tourism hub. There a few hospitals coming up . . . There are a lot of interest in hospitals. We’ve always been approached, on a confidential basis, by doctors, by investors, by existing players who want to get into the hospital space here.’

Apart from those new areas, GE Commercial Finance has also introduced workboat financing solutions for the marine industry, for which it has already sealed its first deal. It is on the hunt for another 20 new sales personnel, to add to its current sales staff of 25. When that happens, it would boost its talent pool in Singapore, where it currently employs 100 workers.

The extra manpower will be key to the company’s growth plans. While declining to reveal absolute figures, Mr Ng said that GE Commercial Finance’s assets are growing ‘in excess of 20 per cent in Singapore’, and ‘definitely in excess of 30 per cent in the region’.

The target is to speed up the growth pace to more than 50 per cent. This will mainly be achieved by organic growth, adding new businesses and expanding into new markets, such as Vietnam, where it is already considering setting up a physical presence.

‘They have a low-cost base, so you will find it a magnet for manufacturing investments,’ he said. ‘When a country attracts a lot of manufacturing and economic activity, financing is like the twin brother that rises along.’

GE Commercial Finance started out in Singapore in 2002, following its worldwide acquisition of factoring pioneer Heller Financial, which already had an office here. Over the years, its business activities in Singapore have expanded to include asset based financing, cashflow financing and transaction based financing. Singapore is also the headquarters for GE Commercial Finance’s South-east Asia operations.

The bulk of its customers are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a wide range of industries, but Mr Ng reckoned that there is still scope to grow the segment. Many SMEs, especially, have yet to realise that there are many ways to derive capital from assets and that growth can be achieved without the burden of ownership.

‘It’s very natural for SMEs throughout Asia to want to own things,’ he said. ‘In the US and Europe for example, SMEs have gotten wiser. They look at their balance sheet objectively, they find working capital to grow.

‘For example, an SME there may say, ‘I don’t need to own the building I have because I can convert it to cash. I have a fleet of trucks, but I don’t need to own them.’ There are so many things you can convert to cash - like inventory. You don’t have to own to grow.’

Source : Business Times - 09 Nov 2007

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Unlike KL, Singapore has ’shown state authority’ over island

Unlike KL, Singapore has ’shown state authority’ over island

Referring to Sipadan, Ligatan in KL’s row with Indonesia, S’pore turns Malaysia’s own arguments against it

By Lydia Lim, Senior Political Correspondent
TABLES TURNED: Mr Bundy turned Malaysia’s arguement against it.

THE HAGUE (NETHERLANDS) - SINGAPORE yesterday argued before an international court that Malaysia has not displayed a glimmer of state authority over Pedra Branca and it was late in the day trying to oust its rightful sovereign.
Ironically, Malaysia had used the same arguments of having exercised acts of state authority on the islands of Sipadan and Ligatan in its dispute with Indonesia over who owned the two islands. Malaysia won the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002.

Ironically, too, in that dispute, Malaysia had levelled the same charge against Indonesia of making late claims of ownership and trying to oust it from the two islands.

Yesterday, on Day Three of Singapore’s oral pleadings before the ICJ, Singapore’s international counsel, Mr Rodman Bundy, deftly turned Malaysia’s arguments in the Sipadan and Ligatan case against it.

Singapore and Malaysia are appearing before the court to resolve their dispute over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca, an island 40km east of Singapore and which stands at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait.

Mr Bundy began by noting that in the Pedra Branca case, Malaysia had argued in its written pleadings that notices to mariners, that is, ship captains, are irrelevant for questions of sovereignty.

That was in reference to a notice issued by the Governor of the Straits Settlements to inform mariners that a lighthouse had been built on Pedra Branca.

In the Sipadan and Ligatan case, however, Malaysia had relied on the building and notification to mariners of unmanned lights on the two islands. It argued then that was a ’straightforward reflection’ of its sovereignty.

‘Consistency,’ Mr Bundy told the court yesterday, ‘appears to have its limits for Malaysia when territorial questions are at issue.’

Another international lawyer on the Singapore team, Professor Alain Pellet, also pointed to inconsistencies in Malaysia’s other arguments.

For example, Malaysia first claimed that the numerous examples that Singapore cited as displays of sovereignty were not, in fact, state activities.

These acts included Singapore’s naval patrols and investigations of shipwrecks that occurred in the waters around Pedra Branca.

But after Malaysia laid claim to the island in 1979, it tried to ‘back up its reasoning’, Prof Pellet said, by protesting against these very same acts.

In 2003, Malaysia protested for the first time against Singapore’s naval patrols in the area, which had been going on since 1975 when the Singapore navy was formed.

The sovereignty dispute began when Malaysia first laid claim to the island in 1979, by publishing a map that placed Pedra Branca within its territorial waters.

Singapore promptly challenged the claim.

Singapore’s lawyers also noted that the ICJ had stated in the Sipadan and Ligatan case that acts which took place after a dispute arose would be considered only if they were a normal continuation of prior acts and not undertaken to improve the legal position of the party relying on them.

Mr Bundy stressed that with respect to Pedra Branca, Singapore’s conduct ‘did not change one bit’ after Malaysia’s ‘belated claim’ emerged in 1979.

It simply continued to administer the island as part of its territory, as it always had, he said.

Mr Bundy also laid out in detail the numerous acts, including the passing of laws relating to Pedra Branca, that attested to Singapore’s longstanding sovereignty over it, dating back to 1847.

The evidence also showed that Malaysians themselves recognised that Singapore owned and controlled the island.

Mr Bundy told the court that in March 1974, a number of Malaysian officials sought permission from Singapore to visit Pedra Branca to carry out tidal surveys.

Singapore asked for the names, passport numbers and details of their intended length of stay, which were provided to it by an officer of the Malaysian navy.

A second incident took place in 1978, when two officials from the Malaysian Survey Department arrived unannounced on Pedra Branca.

They were told by the Singapore lighthouse keeper that they could not stay without prior permission from the Port of Singapore Authority.

The hearing continues today. Deputy Prime Minister and Law Minister S. Jayakumar will wrap up Singapore’s presentation, before the court resumes on Tuesday to hear Malaysia’s case.
Source : Straits Times - 09 Nov 2007

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mindy@mindyyong.com

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Jump in number of new PRs, citizens - Singapore

Jump in number of new PRs, citizens - Singapore

Record number likely this year; upswing will help tackle population problem

By Li Xueying

THE number of foreigners becoming either Singapore citizens or permanent residents will likely hit a new record this year.
And the upswing will go some way in tackling Singapore’s population problem, a key long-term challenge.

About 7,300 Singapore citizenships were granted in the first half of this year, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told The Straits Times.

If the trend continues, Singapore will have 14,600 new citizens this year.

The figure is about 10 per cent higher than the record 13,200 citizenships granted last year. In 2005, 12,900 citizenships were given.

These numbers are a big jump from the typical tally of 8,000 becoming citizens annually in the previous four years.

More foreigners are also seeking the benefits of permanent residence. Some 46,900 of them were granted PR status in the first nine months of this year, compared to 57,300 for all of last year.

With falling birth rates and an ageing population, Singapore has been trying to attract foreigners to settle here.

As chairman of the National Population Committee, Mr Wong has been tasked with tackling the problem.

He said the new immigrants hail predominantly from South-east Asia, as well as South and East Asia, an ‘understandable’ pattern as they tend to share similar linguistic and cultural backgrounds with Singaporeans.

One such new citizen is former Chinese national Wang Jie, 43, who took up citizenship this year, together with her university lecturer husband and their 17-year-old son.

The main draw for them: Singapore’s education system.

‘My son’s studies have improved since we came here because the teachers are much better,’ said Madam Wang.

She is also getting a second wind in her career as a Chinese language tutor thanks to strong demand. ‘I even have plans to open my own tuition centre,’ she said.

The new citizens and PRs add to a pool of Singapore residents whose number stands at 3.68 million as of June. This is out of a total population of 4.68 million.

The remaining one million foreigners include 756,000 who are working. There are 110,000 here on an Employment Pass or S-Pass, and 646,000 on Work Permits.

While the newcomers add to the much-needed population numbers, social stresses have also resulted.

For instance, property agents have noted the formation of ethnic enclaves in certain housing estates. Singaporeans have also complained about competition for jobs.

But Mr Wong said Singaporeans should recognise that immigrants are part of a diverse workforce that will enhance Singapore’s standing in the global economy.

‘Our challenge is not the number of jobs available; it is that we do not have enough people to match the current rate of job creation,’ he added, pointing to full employment numbers here.

On whether more could be done to inculcate in foreigners the ways of Singapore, he said he believed Singaporeans generally welcomed them. ‘While there is no need to pretend that there are no differences between new immigrants and native Singaporeans, we should recognise that and accept that integration takes time and effort.’

He cited ongoing outreach efforts by schools, grassroots groups and expatriate bodies but added that there was also ‘only so much the Government can do on its own’.

‘Integration is a dynamic process that requires sustained efforts across all segments of society,’ he said.

Sociologist Tan Ern Ser is sanguine about the challenges of integration. ‘My sense is there is already a process of self-selection in that only those who could adapt and integrate would choose to settle down in Singapore.’
Source : Straits Times - 09 Nov 2007

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