Crooked bridge: let's see who is really the boss

Koon Yew Yin's take in Malaysiakini:

Stop pushing for the crooked bridge (excerpts):
However, should the pressure from the Mahathir camp continue to grow and become difficult to ignore, one way of defusing it is to have full public disclosure of the crooked bridge project, its history, the major and minor players who have been involved in it, the findings of various feasibility studies dealing with it, various cost-benefit scenarios and not least of all, the financial ramifications of the project, including the payment of more than RM100 million ringgit to the contractor for the decision to stop the proposal - a payment made despite the fact that the contractor did not do any physical construction work on site. Let the public be provided with all the facts of the project (much of which has not been available because of the operation of the Official Secrets Act) and let the public (especially competent professionals) help in the decision after a full and fair appraisal.

1. One of the objectives for breaking up the existing causeway is to allow ships to bypass Singapore port which will automatically affect Singapore's economy. That is why Singapore is not giving us the permission to break their portion of the causeway. As a result, Mahathir's lobbyists have proposed building the crooked bridge.

2. The bridge must be high enough to allow ships to go under the bridge. For such a short span, the gradient will be too steep for any train to climb. Moreover, trains cannot negotiate sharp bends.

3. I remember reading that this matter was discussed in the Singapore Parliament. It was pointed out that if Malaysia did not maintain the railway for longer than six months, Singapore could claim the right of all the railway land in Singapore territory.

4. I also remember that when we tried to stop Singapore's reclamation work, the matter was referred to the international court. The court decided that both countries have to agree for any development project within a certain distance from the boundary.

Please do not use this as a form of economic stimulus. We know only a few people get stimulated by such an exercise.

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