Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad ’s dogged pursuit of a long-standing gripe – the price Singapore pays its neighbour for fresh water – is threatening to bring tensions between the countries back to a boil, just as officials say their disputes over maritime and airspace boundaries have been brought to an even keel. The 93-year-old premier flagged the matter as a priority in bilateral ties soon after his election victory last year, and on Sunday he raised the ante with a claim that the Lion City’s position surrounding the price was on weak legal standing. One prominent observer of bilateral affairs said the countries needed to abandon a policy of “sticking to legalities” to solve the decades-old diplomatic conundrum. What’s behind the Malaysia-Singapore dispute? Mahathir, responding to reporters’ question on the topic, said it was “ridiculous” that Singapore pays 3 Malaysian sen, or cents, per 1,000 gallons of water – a price fixed in a 1962 agreement. The resource-poor city state buys about half of its fresh water supply from Johor, the southern Malaysian state with which it shares a maritime border. According to Mahathir, the 3-cent price dates back to a 1920s agreement between the Lion City’s colonial administrators and the Sultan of Johor. Singapore insists that Malaysia during Mahathir’s first stint in power from 1981 to 2003 gave up the right to a price review. The Lion City also says the price it currently pays is fair because it has spent over S$1 billion (US$742 million) maintaining waterworks in Johor, in effect subsidising Malaysians who benefit from water treated by the city state. Mahathir’s government disputes these arguments, saying instead that its neighbour is profiteering by buying water at decades-old prices and reselling it for a profit. “I mean, it is ridiculous. Something that was agreed in 1926, three cents per thousand gallons of water. At that time it was reasonable,” Mahathir said on Sunday. “But today it is not reasonable. I want to know if in the year 2060 it is still going to be three cents per thousand gallons.” Mahathir conceded that both sides needed to agree to a price review, but suggested Singapore would opt out of any attempt at third-party adjudication. Malaysia by-election: a win for Barisan Nasional – and racial politics The neighbours – which split acrimoniously in 1965 – had previously taken a territorial dispute to the International Court of Justice, or the World Court, with Singapore prevailing in that instance. But Mahathir said in this case “they don’t want to go the World Court”. “If they go to the World Court, they will lose,” the premier said. His comments have come in tandem with similarly hawkish remarks by the influential chief minister of Johor, Osman Sapian. Osman, a member of Mahathir’s party, on Friday said his state planned to become “self sufficient” in treating water on its own instead of relying on Singapore. He said the idea was currently in the planning stages. In Singapore, where officials have stressed that water supply is an “existential issue”, the response to Mahathir’s latest comments has been circumspect. In its latest statement, the Singaporean foreign ministry said Osman’s comments did not “affect Singapore’s position that all parties, including Johor, must honour the terms of the 1962 Water Agreement, which no party can unilaterally change”. It did not respond to what Mahathir said on Sunday. The Malaysian and Singaporean foreign ministers have said their disputes over air space and maritime boundaries – which sparked a war of words in December – are now smooth following official-level negotiations. Malaysia’s bad-boy rapper Namewee: out of jail, but are China’s censors ready? Bilahari Kausikan, a plain-speaking former top Singaporean diplomat, had suggested in a lecture last month that the surge in bilateral problems – including fresh sparring over water prices – was a consequence of Mahathir using “Singapore as a bogeyman or whipping boy to rally the Malay ground”. While there is some consensus that support for Mahathir’s coalition is falling among the country’s Malay majority, local observers have previously said Bilahari’s “bogeyman” theory does not hold water because the city state is a minute factor in Malaysian politics. Mahathir’s doggedness over the issue stems solely from his strong view that Singapore is profiteering at Malaysia’s expense, they say. In earlier comments last week, he lamented that Johor residents did not appear to be concerned by the water price dispute. “Singapore rapidly developed because we have been supplying them with water, but I find the Johoreans rarely talk about it,” Mahathir said. “The rich are depending on the poor? This is not only illogical but also morally wrong. We must put stress on this issue.” Mahathir’s Malaysia still ‘open for business’ with China despite stalled rail link: top trade official Dr Ong Kian Ming Shahriman Lockman, a senior foreign policy analyst with Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said the countries “cannot continue with this remarkably anomalous situation and insist on sticking to the legalities for long”. “This [is] bound to cause resentment and it’ll be in both countries’ long-term interests to arrive at a fair price for raw water,” he added. This was echoed by Dr Hoo Chiew Ping of the National University of Malaysia, who said both nations had to “set aside differences” and engage in honest dialogue “based on facts”. Editor’s note: an earlier version of this story did not attribute to Mahathir the view that the 3-cent price dates back to the 1920s