ID :
66484
Thu, 06/18/2009 - 20:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/66484
The shortlink copeid
FENCING THE BORDER, A GOOD INVESTMENT, SAYS DR MAHATHIR
KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- The high fencing with barbed wires
erected at the border between Malaysia and Thailand was a good investment
because Malaysian customs were able to collect more import taxes than the cost
of putting up the fence, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said
Thursday.
He said even though Malaysia had to maintain border guards to patrol the
road running alongside the fence along the Malaysian side, the cost to patrol
the border was covered by the extra income from taxing goods which otherwise
would have been smuggled.
Dr Mahathir said he decided that Malaysia must build a high fence at the
border with Thailand when he was prime minister because there was a lot of
smuggling going on and that the smugglers had built huge stores to hold
contraband goods on the Thai side.
"Although there were border guards, somehow they were not able to put a stop
to the smuggling. So a high fence covered with barbed wire might prevent the
smugglers' lorry from getting across," Dr Mahathir said at the 11th
International Surveyors' Congress, here.
Dr Mahathir said he had decided that the fence be built within Malaysia,
about two metres from the border to enable Malaysia's border patrol to inspect
the fence and the border stones from outside and if the Malaysian border patrol
had to arrest the smugglers, it would be within Malaysian territory.
Dr Mahathir also said that among the first things he settled with
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew when he met the latter after becoming
Malaysia's prime minister was the border between Singapore and Malaysia in the
Tebrau Strait.
"It was agreed that the deepest trench in the strait would be taken as the
maritime border and once surveyed and marked it should be regarded as the
permanent border.
"Reclamations may cause the deepest points to shift but the border would
remain. It turned out that the deepest points were about midway between
Singapore and Malaysia. This was also regarded as the border on the causeway,"
Dr Mahathir said.
The former prime minister also admitted that his experience with surveying
and surveyors was limited mostly to determining the borders of Malaysia.
-- BERNAMA
erected at the border between Malaysia and Thailand was a good investment
because Malaysian customs were able to collect more import taxes than the cost
of putting up the fence, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said
Thursday.
He said even though Malaysia had to maintain border guards to patrol the
road running alongside the fence along the Malaysian side, the cost to patrol
the border was covered by the extra income from taxing goods which otherwise
would have been smuggled.
Dr Mahathir said he decided that Malaysia must build a high fence at the
border with Thailand when he was prime minister because there was a lot of
smuggling going on and that the smugglers had built huge stores to hold
contraband goods on the Thai side.
"Although there were border guards, somehow they were not able to put a stop
to the smuggling. So a high fence covered with barbed wire might prevent the
smugglers' lorry from getting across," Dr Mahathir said at the 11th
International Surveyors' Congress, here.
Dr Mahathir said he had decided that the fence be built within Malaysia,
about two metres from the border to enable Malaysia's border patrol to inspect
the fence and the border stones from outside and if the Malaysian border patrol
had to arrest the smugglers, it would be within Malaysian territory.
Dr Mahathir also said that among the first things he settled with
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew when he met the latter after becoming
Malaysia's prime minister was the border between Singapore and Malaysia in the
Tebrau Strait.
"It was agreed that the deepest trench in the strait would be taken as the
maritime border and once surveyed and marked it should be regarded as the
permanent border.
"Reclamations may cause the deepest points to shift but the border would
remain. It turned out that the deepest points were about midway between
Singapore and Malaysia. This was also regarded as the border on the causeway,"
Dr Mahathir said.
The former prime minister also admitted that his experience with surveying
and surveyors was limited mostly to determining the borders of Malaysia.
-- BERNAMA
