SINGAPORE: Negotiating a safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be a slippery slope, said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim on Thursday (May 14).

Speaking on CNA’s Deep Dive podcast, he stressed that no one can guarantee such passage anyway.

“The slippery slope that we are on is that the moment you negotiate, the moment you trade away, the moment you put a price tag on it, it means that your principles can be bought, can be traded, can be paid off,” said Mr Zhulkarnain, who used to handle maritime issues as a lawyer. 

“The moment that we do that … we are not going to have a position of strength to start from.”

The Straits of Malacca and Singapore carries almost triple the vessel traffic of the Strait of Hormuz, making it the busiest shipping lane in the world, and all kinds of goods – not just oil – move through it.

“Anything that we take vis-a-vis the Strait of Hormuz issue will have to be seen in light of what we feel is important for us, in terms of our sovereignty, in terms of our security, in terms of our livelihood here,” he added.

If the same situation arose in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, Singapore would want the waterway kept open, he added.

“We don’t want to be blockaded. We don’t want to depend on the highest bidder and pay through our noses in order to get supplies to Singaporeans,” he said.

“We want the world to understand that. And we want the world to stand with us if that happens to us.”

This is what makes the issue an existential one, he said.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in April that Singapore would not negotiate for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, as doing so would undermine fundamental principles of international law.

Transit through such waterways is a right, not a privilege, he said at the time.

Iran has said it has allowed ships from several countries – including China, India, Pakistan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines – to cross the strait since its forces effectively slowed traffic through the narrow sea lane after a conflict began in late February.

In deciding the list, Iran assesses whether a country is directly hostile or supportive of the US-Israel position in the conflict, observers told CNA.

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