Land Reclamation

Recently during our Integrated Humanities lessons, we have been learning a lot about land reclamation. From there, I learnt that Singapore’s constant land reclamation activities has been creating some arguments and rivalry between Malaysia and Singapore. Both sides are probably not very happy with each other.

On 1997, Malaysia had banned the sale of sand to Singapore. This was an obvious sign of Malaysia disapproval of Singapore’s land reclamation. However Singapore remained insistent, and started importing sand from Indonesia instead. This move obviously angered Malaysia.

In the year 2003, Malaysia submitted a scientific report to Singapore, showing how Singapore’s land reclamation activities had affected their ecosystem, and wanted Singapore to stop. Singapore however, still did not stop reclaiming more land, and ignored the report.

However, in the year 2007, Malaysia had complained to Singapore about the land reclamation activities, saying they had narrowed the Straits of Johor, causing a flood to occur that year. 17 people were killed in the flooding, while 100000 people were evacuated. In that same year, Indonesia banned sand exports to Singapore as well.

Personally though, I feel that Malaysia’s claims are totally uncalled for. Singapore’s land reclamations take place mostly in the South, while the Straits of Johor are in the north. By right, the Straits of Johor should not have narrowed. However, it is a fact that Singapore’s land reclamation activities is causing a lot of unhappiness.

This land reclamation not only worsens Singapore’s relation with other countries, it also affects the environment. There has reportedly been a case of soil erosion in the West Coast Park, which may bring huge problems for the marine environment.

However, I still feel that Singapore’s land reclamation activities should continue. I believe that the land reclaimed will bring Singapore a lot of benefits too, and that some arguments with Malaysia are unavoidable sacrifices. On top of that, Singapore and Malaysia are already not on good terms, and land reclamation probably did not affect Malaysia much, just that Malaysia is reading too much in that matter, and that they are just simply trying to find trouble for Singapore. Whatever it is though, Singapore should try to explain with Malaysia, so as to try to less the rift that has been caused.