KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — A Malay rights group protested outside the Singapore High Commission here today, demanding the republic apologise to Malaysia for purportedly stepping on its northern neighbour’s sovereignty as controversy grows over alleged regional espionage.
Irwan Fahmi Ideris, head of Perkasa Youth, said failure to apologise would mean that Singapore is “rude” and disrespectful of Malaysia, stressing that this was a matter of “trust”.
“Why you try to investigate on our country? Why you should know what our movement for?” he told reporters today.
“Why this thing happen, that’s the question. Why they are spying us? What did we do wrong?” he later asked.
Summoned for an explanation, Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ong Keng Yong, had denied the spying claims and told Wisma Putra the republic meant no harm.
Despite the envoy’s assurance, Irwan was doubtful and insisted Singapore stop its spying, saying he feared such activities would jeopardise improving bilateral relations.
“It’s not impossible since we see Australia and Indonesia, they are having a problem.
“This matter already happened, so we afraid that matter will happen to Malaysia as well,” he said, referring to Indonesia’s unhappiness over Australia’s reported spying on the country.
Irwan also thanked Wisma Putra for taking prompt action by summoning Ong to explain the reported spying activities.
Irwan was speaking after he handed Perkasa Youth’s memorandum of protest to two representatives from the Singapore High Commission’s office here.
He named the duo as the commission’s first secretary Tan Chee King and first political secretary Harris Rusdi Chai.
In a statement yesterday, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman related Ong assured him Singapore meant no harm and promised to clarify the spying claims to Wisma Putra as soon as possible.
Singapore daily, Straits Times, also reported yesterday the envoy had denied knowledge the republic had helped facilitate American-Australian espionage in the region.
But Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Malaysian government took a serious view of the spy claims as Singapore is its closest neighbour, and demanded the republic show proof it had not conduct any espionage activity.
“Whatever information that we have, anything that concerns espionage that is mentioned by anyone related to our country is something that we don’t take lightly.
“If Singapore says that this is not true, then it must provide us with information to refute the allegation and the proof that it is not true,” he told reporters after closing the Practical Training on National Cyber Crisis 2013 (X-Maya 5) yesterday.
Recently, top secret documents leaked by US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden showed that Singapore, which was once a part of Malaysia before breaking off in 1965, is a key partner of the “5-Eyes” intelligence group led by the United States, which was revealed to have tapped telephones and monitored communications networks in Kuala Lumpur.
In a report by Australian media group Fairfax Media last Sunday quoting Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, it was revealed that Singapore, which is one of the US’ closest allies, is a key “third party” providing the ring - comprising the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand - access to Malaysia’s communications channel.
In August, Fairfax had reported that the Singaporean intelligence is a partner of Australia’s electronic espionage agency, the Defence Signals Directorate, to tap the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable that runs from Japan, via Singapore, Djibouti, Suez and the Straits of Gibraltar to Northern Germany.
This access was allegedly facilitated by Singaporean telecommunication operator Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel), which is owned by Singapore government’s investment arm Temasek Holdings.
According to Fairfax, Malaysia and Indonesia had been key targets for both Australian and Singaporean intelligence even since the 1970s, since most of Indonesia’s telecommunications and Internet traffic goes through the island city-state.
Australian newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald reported last month that Australia’s intelligence agency was using its diplomatic missions in several Asian countries, including Malaysia, to intercept phone calls and internet data.
The report cited information disclosed by Snowden, saying that signals intelligence collection occurs at Australia’s High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, as well as at its embassies in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East Timor.
The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor had previously revealed a top secret map showing 90 US electronic surveillance facilities worldwide, including in American embassies in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, that bug phones and monitor communications networks.
No such facilities, however, are located in Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, according to the map dated August 13, 2010.
