Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak reiterated that Malaysia never offered to sell sand to Singapore as a package deal with Singapore to replace the existing Johor Causeway.

"I can confirm this in the government and cabinet. This matter was confirmed by our high commissioner to Singapore (at that time) and the proposal (to sell sand to Singapore) had come from Singapore," said Najib according to Bernama .

Najib's statement was seemingly an immediate response to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's latest assertion today that it was the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration which made the offer.

Since May, Mahathir had repeated the allegation in which he believes would be tantamount to selling the sovereignty of the country as the amount of sand said to be sold, would double the existing land mass of Singapore.

At a press conference this morning, Mahathir said here were documents to back his claims but were bound by the Official Secrets Act, a claim which was repeatedly shrugged off by government leaders.

What weakness?

Speaking at the opening of the Rembau Umno divisional delegates meeting today, Najib said he had warned Abdullah about the issue because if Singapore were to double in size due to Malaysian sand, Umno and the government would suffer a major political blow.

He claimed that the cabinet could not accept the demands from Singapore to build the new bridge which includes the use of air space over Johore and sand.

"When we said we wanted to build a bridge, they said there must be reciprocity. The Singaporeans are not easy to deal with, if we want them to spend RM300-400 million, they would want their share too,

"So there was a proposal from Singapore requesting for air space, they want sand to continue with their project. So where is the government's weakness on the issue to build a bridge to replace the causeway between Johor and Singapore?" Najib asked.

In a bid to quell Mahathir's allegations, the government had last month declassified and publicised several correspondences dating back to 2002 between Mahathir and former Singapore premiers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong about the bridge project.

The declassification was a selective process and other documents pertaining to the negotiations were still under wraps, according Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Mahathir however insisted that the government had intentionally omitted declassifying letters pertaining to the sand offer, allegedly made by Malaysian negotiators.