“Sand” and now “Granite” tiff shows Indo-Singapore relationship not concrete!

Dear Friends,

Not a week go past without some surprising comments from Indonesian politicians about why more raw materials should be on the ban list to Singapore.

First it is sand, now it is granite. I wonder what is next?

“Whipping boy”- again

It is obvious that we are being used as a “whipping boy” again.

In the run-up to any political event (esply elections), we will inevitably be “it” again. Now even without any Indonesian elections in sight, we still get the honours!

We all understand why the Indonesians are anxious to get their extradition treaty so that they can get their hands on the “dirty” money stashed away allegedly in our monetary system, but there surely must be proper diplomatic mechanisms to sort out such bilateral issues.

Although I count myself as being very tolerant and always eager to see our neighbours prosper, (and I tell you that the Indonesians that I meet daily are without a doubt the nicest patients/clients that any doctor can ask for), I am getting quite irritated about the whole affair.

Why don’t SBY and LHL just go into a friendly “Four-eyes” huddle the next time they meet and trash out all our bilateral “unhappinesses” once and for all, so that we can be real good pals once again!

Who’s afraid of a Extradition treaty?

Or are we afraid to really put the extradition treaty on the table?

My fear is that too much is at stake here and only providence knows whether our economy will not get hollowed out if the Indonesians do get back every ill-gotten rupiah to their shores. Singapore’s inflated housing bubble would surely burst and our economic growth would be stymied.

For the above reasons, my “uneducated” guess would be that Singapore will continue to procrastinate whilst the Indonesian politicians kick up the usual ruckus on a regular basis.

But, once our economy has reached a different level , perhaps after the Integrated Resorts (euphemism for Casinos) have proven to be wild successes, only then will Singapore really sit down and sincerely deal with the extradition treaty. We have to sooner or later, tell me which civilised and developed nation ( apart from Switzerland) harbour their neighbours' fugitives and criminals? Of course they often cite human rights violations for not cooperating with their neighbours.

“Switzerland of the east”

After all, I am sure we do not want to be known as the Switzerland of the East for the wrong reasons. For those who are still puzzled, the Swiss are thought to be still harbouring Nazi gold, Marcos billions as well as trillions from past and present ( and corrupt) African politicians.

Cheers

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan

Ref: 1.Best answer to granite ban question is to seek clarifications: minister (Channelnewsasia 13 Mar 07)
2. Gerald's related post: Extradition Treaty with Indon will benefit Sg too