Pertikaian Malaysia-Singapura dalam Isu Air (Water Dispute Issues Between Malaysia-Singapore)

Abstract

This article discusses bilateral relations between Malaysia and Singapore in the context of the water dispute. The dispute began when Malaysia proposed to review the sale price of water to Singapore before continuing with signing a new water agreement. However, Singapore rejected the Malaysian claim because the latter did not doing it in 1987 as stipulated. Malaysia protested against the Singapore’s attitude because it felt that the review of the sale price of water can be carried out any time after the 25 years, while Singapore argued that the review should be done every 25 years. The different interpretations by the two countries on clauses 17 and 14 of the 1961 and 1962 Water Agreements caused the emergence of the strained bilateral relations. This tension heightened due to the roles of factors outside the 1961 and 1962 water agreement such as rights of mutual agreement, water pricing formula, the determination of the quantity of water, the component package system, the setting of the water price review period, the attitude of the leaders and role of the media. Therefore, to determine the extent to which relations between Malaysia and Singapore is affected by the water dispute issue, the paper discusses the role of the 1961 and 1962 Water Agreements in the bilateral relations of both counties. The main argument of this article is that the refusal of both countries to compromise in the the water agreement dispute causes the problem to be difficult to resolve, thus creating tension bilateral relations.