MINISTER in the Prime Minister’s Department Mustapa Mohamed could have bided his time. He could have waited for the opportune time to explain to the Malaysian public.

Affectionately known as Tok Pa, the minister could have been told by his advisers that the Parliament of Singapore was to sit at 1.30 pm yesterday.

The order paper, which lists the agenda for the day’s sitting, had been drawn up and published well in advance on Thursday, December 31, 2020, courtesy of New Year’s Day falling on Friday.

The first item on the agenda – as the case usually is – was parliamentary question time for oral answers by ministers. Number 16 in the list was the following:

Chua Kheng Wee Louis: “to ask the Minister for Transport what has been the total expenditure incurred to date by Singapore on the high speed rail project and what are the terms specified in the bilateral agreement in relation to compensation claims upon termination of the agreement by either party”.

However, perhaps eager to defend the government’s decision to terminate the project amid concerns raised over any long-term losses, Tok Pa took to Facebook yesterday morning to maintain that cancelling the multi-billion project was the “best solution” for Malaysia due to the impact brought by the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s economy.

His posting was carried by the local media. TMI reported it at 10.16 am, slightly more than an hour after his 9.07am post.

Yet, it wasn’t to be Tok Pa’s day. His defence of the termination wasn’t the breaking story for the day. Instead, it was Singapore Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung, who stole the thunder from Tok Pa.

In his ministerial answer to the question posed above, he said the project was terminated because Malaysia had proposed to remove an assets company that had previously been agreed on.

According to Ong, when Malaysia proposed to remove the assets company, Singapore was unable to agree to this “particularly significant change”, which constitutes a “fundamental departure” from the bilateral agreement signed by the two neighbours in 2016.

His answers to Singapore Parliament, as reported first by Singapore media and carried by the media in Malaysia, must be the breaking story for the day.

Yet, aside from Ong’s seemingly “fundamental departure” answer from Tok Pa’s posting, there is also the issue of the compensation to be paid to Singapore following the termination.

Unlike Tok Pa, who cited a non-disclosure clause that would not allow Putrajaya to reveal how much it would be compensating Singapore, Ong wasn’t so restrained to reveal that Singapore had so far spent more than S$270 million (RM822 million) on the HSR project.

That is to be expected. Ong’s predecessor, Khaw Boon Wan had in fact revealed the sum of S$250 million in July 2018 in his ministerial answers to similar parliamentary questions asking for updates on the HSR.

Tok Pa’s advisers could and should have advised him that the sum of S$250 million has already been in the public domain for more than two years now.

He could have been more transparent with his Malaysian public, to whom he owes a duty.

The minister is in charge of economic affairs but has now taken to Facebook again to explain that “Malaysia expects the compensation needed to be paid to Singapore for the termination of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project to be much lower than the S$270 million (RM822 million) quoted by a Singapore cabinet member”.

Now, if the sum of compensation is a matter which “has not been finalised and will be discussed (read: negotiated) soon”, then Tok Pa, for all his ministerial experience, should know better.

That in negotiation, he who speaks first, loses. He could have spoken after Ong’s answer to his parliament.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.