Come, my dear reader. You might be disappointed at this headline, but limpeh here gonna tell you why this is just going to be “business-as-usual” and why you should just chill.
History has taught us old people to lower our expectations… and then you won’t be hurt in the process.
Or maybe our calm demeanour is just us being tired of people’s shit.
When talks began for the SG-JB MRT (or Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System if you want the full name), people were excited.
After all, the idea was suggested in 1991. And 300,000 people cross the borders every day.
Then somehow, nothing came to fruition.
So it was once again suggested in 2010. This time, surely, it will be better! Cause they even set a timeline for this. Operational by 2018, they said.
Things looked like it was really moving along. In 2011, they had a tender for a preliminary engineering study, which was then completed in March 2014.
September 2014, Malaysia chose Bukit Chagar as their terminating station. This meant that this is really happening, right guys???
Nope. Somehow the alignment of the crossing still can’t be confirmed.
Dec 2016. An announcement that the link will adopt Thomson-East Coast MRT operated by a corporate entity. July 2017, announcement for the link to start operating by 31 Dec 2024.
Hold on, didn’t you guys say 2018 before? Well, I guess it is still happening… I’m sure you guys had your difficulties… We understand.
September 2017, memorandum of understanding signed between SMRT and Prasarana Malaysia. January 2018, S’pore and M’sia sign bilateral agreement on the project, with the construction of 4km link set to begin in 2019.
Yes! One more step forward! Almost there guys!
And Then Malaysian Elections Happened
Or it could be something else, and it just so happens that the timeline fits.
What happens between May 2018 and April 2019 is a series of exchange between Singapore and Malaysia that’s essentially the same as the conversation that happens when a boy becomes interested in a girl, but the girl isn’t interested and pretends to be semi-interested out of politeness.
The more boring version of what happened:
- End-May 2018, Malaysia’s new Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook mentioned that Malaysia remains committed to the project.
- Mid-July 2018, Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that we had not heard anything official from the new Malaysian government.
- End-July 2018, Loke Siew Fook expressed hope that the project would proceed as planned and that the Malaysian cabinet has given in-principle approval to the project.
- 13 October 2018, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority called for a tender for constructing a 1.1km tunnel and overhead bridge to Johor in end-September 2018. Construction scheduled to begin mid-2019.
- 14 January 2019, Khaw Boon Wan said the project is not progressing well, with Malaysia missing deadlines. Deadlines were extended until September 2018, then December 2018, then February 2019.
- 8 April 2019, announcement that Singapore and Malaysia working to temporarily suspend the project for 6 months.
- 21 May 2019, after all of that, it is officially suspended until 30 September 2019.
So at this point, I’m sure, my young ones, you understand how we can’t be disappointed no more.
Some naive ones seem to still hold their expectations high. They cling on to hope! Or maybe they are just pointing to the watches.
I hope the Federal Government won’t let us down, someone says.
And here is where I once again bring to you the headlines of this article…
SG-JB MRT Deadline Extended One More Month to 31 Oct 2019
And there’s really not much more information. Read the news if you don’t believe me.
Just a reminder, this isn’t a deadline to start anything. This is the deadline to decide whether to continue the construction. The previously given reason for the suspension in May 2019 was “to study scope, structure, and cost of the project.”
So yeah, I guess we’ll just have to accept the jams and squeeze like normal peasants.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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