The government's initial insistence to construct the 'crooked bridge' without proper negotiations with their Singaporean counterparts has embarrassed the country, said an opposition leader today.

According to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Johor information chief Dr Zaliha Mustafa, the Singaporean government's call for proper discussions to be held before proceeding with future projects had put a spotlight on the Malaysian government's 'immaturity'.

"This shows the immaturity of our government in this issue. As citizens who cherish the sovereignty of our country, we ask that this does not repeat itself in the future," she said.

Zaliha also questioned how Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi came up with the RM100 million sum as the amount of compensation needed to be paid to bridge contractor Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd.

Yesterday, Works Minister Samy Vellu said that under the agreement with Gerbang Perdana, the government would have to pay RM1 million for each month the project is delayed.

Works on the bridge restarted three weeks ago after it was halted to make way for negotiations.

"We want transparency and we need to know if it was worth paying so much to the company. The government must reveal why such an amount," said Zaliha in a statement today.