Malaysia on Tuesday summoned the High Commissioner of Singapore over allegations that it helped the US and Australia spy on its South-East Asian neighbours.
Singapore and South Korea played a key role in tapping undersea telecommunications cables in Asia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday, citing documents leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
Malaysia and neighbouring Indonesia have been key targets of Australian and Singaporean intelligence since the 1970s, the report said.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in an e—mailed statement that Kuala Lumpur was “extremely concerned” about the allegations and was investigating.
“If those allegations are eventually proven, it is certainly a serious matter that the government of Malaysia strongly rejects and abhors. The security and sovereignty of Malaysia remains the utmost priority of the Malaysian government,” he said.
“It cannot be over—emphasised that spying against a good friend and neighbour is unacceptable and goes against the true spirit of and commitment to good neighbourly relations.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the senior Singaporean diplomat in the country “to seek clarifications on the alleged spying activities by Singapore against Malaysia,” he added.
The Sydney Morning Herald said Singapore was a key third party helping the “Five Eyes” intelligence partners — the US, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — to monitor electronic communications in the region.
Singapore’s government—owned telecoms operator SingTel facilitated access to underwater communications cables, it said.
Singapore became part of Malaysia when it was founded in 1963, but was expelled two years later.
# dpa NOTEBOOK ## Internet — [Sydney Morning Herald report] (http://dpaq.de/IblTx) * * * * The following information is not for publication ## dpa Contacts — Reporting by: Mark Fenn — Editing by: Thomas Long Tel: +66 2 7142073; dpa maf tlo 260935 GMT Nov 13
Malaysia summons Singapore envoy over spying allegations
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