Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin or Minister in the PM’s Department Abdul Wahid Omar should clarify if anything has been achieved on the coming Rapid Transit System (RTS) project in the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting.

It’s again very shocking to read the news released by both the Johor state government and Singapore Transport Ministry that the RTS project is still pending due to some communication problems.

The RTS is expected to start operation by 2019, yet I don’t think the date is viable now since both governments are passing the buck to each other for delaying the project.

In an earlier press release, the Johor State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Executive Committee chairperson Hasni Mohammad told the public that the state government has already announced Bukit Chagar as the terminal station. Yet, the Malaysia-Singapore Join Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia (JMCIM) didn’t come out with any conclusion in their last meeting held on Feb 6.

On the other hand, the Singapore Transport Ministry has insisted that they have not received any official confirmation on the terminus from the Malaysia government, according to their press release in response to Hasni’s statement.

This only proves how bad is the communication between two neighbouring nations.

As leaders who take part in the Joint Ministerial Committee, either Menteri Besar Khaled or Abdul Wahid should clarify if anything has been achieved, especially on the coming RTS project in the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting.

Khaled should not remain silent as if this has nothing to do with him since he is the MB of Johor and also the representative of Malaysia in the meeting.

He should at least clarify if the federal government has been informed of the decision made by the state government that terminal station of the RTS would be located at Bukit Chagar. Meanwhile Abdul Wahid should also make public if he has informed his Singaporean counterpart on the decision about the terminus.

It is clear that we need investments from neighboring nations, while better cooperation among the countries in same region will only benefit us. This is especially since Malaysia holds the position of Asean chair in 2015.

Any further delays in improving public transportation and the attitude of passing the buck in dealing with such an important infrastructure project will only cause trouble to Iskandar Malaysia.

WONG SHU QI is Johor DAP policy director and Senai state assemblyperson.