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(Bernama) Singapore hopes there will be a smooth transition of leadership in Malaysia when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi steps down next March.
"I hope for a smooth transition and for political stability," Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said of Malaysia to foreign journalists during a luncheon dialogue here today. Lee said Malaysia had gone through a number of major political developments in recent months and he hoped the power transition in Malaysia would go well. Abdullah is expected to pass the premiership baton to his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, under an agreement reached within their Umno political party although the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, of which Umno is a component member, won the general election early this year. Lee said he also hoped that Singapore and Malaysia would continue to work together and improve their relations under Najib. The dialogue, organised by the Foreign Correspondents Association of Singapore (FCA), was attended by over 100 foreign journalists based in the city-state. When asked whether the Iskandar Malaysia development in Johor was a threat or an opportunity to Singapore, Lee said "it is a challenge to us." Lee said that obviously Iskandar Malaysia would like to rival or outdo Singapore but the island republic would be much comfortable working with it "because we feel that Singapore and Johor, together we can be one big centre of vitality and growth and eventually create one critical mass and gain a wider range of opportunities and position ourselves for investors to come in." The prime minister said foreign investors could take advantage of what both Singapore and Johor had to offer. Lee said there would be more growth to go around and he added that the competition between the two neighbours "is not Singapore versus Johor, but Singapore versus Shenzhen or Singapore versus Shanghai or Singapore versus Mumbai". But he added that there was always more competition and cooperation in the national economy. Lee also touched on the development of the Asean Summit which was postponed by Thailand, the host for this year's meeting, to March next year due to the political crisis in Bangkok. The prime minister said the postponement was a setback to Asean because Asean's cooperation was vital to all its members. He said this cooperation had to press on regardless of the political developments in any member countries and it should not be held back by any member just because it was preoccupied by domestic matters. However, Lee said, the substance of the Asean Summit would proceed because the Asean foreign ministers would continue to meet and bring the Asean Charter to effect. He added that the Asean trade ministers were also arranging to meet and their agendas included meeting with their dialogue partners to put the final touches to the free trade agreements which had been concluded and needed to be decided upon and brought to effect quickly. Lee reiterated that the summit could not be postponed for too long because with the current global financial environment affecting all the Asean countries, its leaders needed to meet their dialogue partners to exchange views and compare notes and send a clear signal to the world that "Asean is still in business". He said that was why Singapore had suggested that the summit be held in January rather than later in March, and if there was a necessity, the summit could be held in Jakarta, the headquarters of the Asean secretariat, with the Thais still the host.
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coffersadministration of Malaysia in March