VERBATIM TEXT  

SPEECH BY

THE HONOURABLE DATO’ SERI DIRAJA

ANWAR BIN IBRAHIM

PRIME MINISTER

AT

INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF THE NEW ROAD ALLIGNMENT LINKING BUKIT KAYU HITAM ICQS COMPLEX, KEDAH, MALAYSIA

AND

THE SADAO CIQ COMPLEX, SONGKHLA, THAILAND

 10^th JULY 2026 (FRIDAY) | 11 AM

BUKIT KAYU HITAM KEDAH

 

 

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh dan salam sejahtera.

 

His Excellency Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand and Mrs. Thananon. Thank you very much for honouring us today.

 

On behalf of the fellow ministers and the Chief Minister of the State of Perlis and representative from the various provinces in the North, may I welcome you, I mean, this is just a few minutes from Thailand anyway. But, this is of course historic and memorable occasion.

 

2000 years ago, 2000 years ago, the Greek geographer Ptolemy drew what is now Thailand and Peninsular Malaya on a map. He called it the Golden Peninsular. Traders of the same age had their own name. I think in Thailand, in Thai is Suvarnabhumi. Am I right? You better correct me later. The Golden Land, now, centuries later, Milton, the British poet John Milton, called it Golden Chersonese.

 

So you see, we are here not only as friends, but as family members. And of course I have a very great personal relation with the Prime Minister who is a brilliant saxophone player. And when Thananon, I persuaded through her for Prime Minister Anutin to play, I thought he is just playing like an amateur, you know. And we have to tolerate as good leaders and for friendship I will just give a loud clap. But, I was really surprised. His performance in saxophone was par excellence. And it was not an easy song. It was ‘My Way’ of Frank Sinatra. Right, thank you very much again. It shows that the strong bond of friendship which augurs well for the future of Malaysia and the Kingdom of Thailand.

 

Now, Prime Minister Anutin and the Deputy Prime Ministers and delegation were there in Putrajaya yesterday and we were there to welcome them and now today to continue that collaboration. Amazing feat. We have a Prime Minister Anutin who is very practical, down to earth and wants it done fast. So, long standing issues we have taken us years, sometimes decades of negotiations, meetings after meetings. We try to resolve most of it yesterday in a very speedy manner. Thank you very much again. Khàawp khun khráp.

 

And today another historical venture. And in this state, particularly the north of Peninsular Malaysia, we have to grapple with attempts to propel economic growth for the welfare of our people. And I believe a similar position in the south and through this new venture project, we should be able to use it as a base to propel the economy of both regions. But it’s an outstanding feat. May I just reiterate, Prime Minister Anutin, not always that you have Prime Ministers coming all the way. Normally we meet at the capital city or some resort somewhere. But here I must really express profound appreciation.

 

When I suggested, and he said, yeah Anwar why don’t we come down and see for ourselves in the most remote area, even underdeveloped to ensure that we can do something and contribute to the advancement of these regions. So I salute you Prime Minister. Thank you very much.

 

Now, we are… in our discussions yesterday, we are extending it, beyond normal diplomatic engagements to having the resolve to try and create special economic, border economic zone. We cover north here of Malaysia and South Thailand to propel economic growth and it’s not something that can be done fast and easily. But, I think with the resolve of the leadership in Thailand and Malaysia. Insya-allah, God willing, we can spearhead this new development for Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak and Penang of course. I have to mention Penang that’s where I come from.

 

We reaffirm our shared goal of 30 billion US dollars bilateral trade by 2027 and we need to do much more. That’s why outstanding issues involving customs, immigration, seafood, trade, we have agreed to try and resolve it in the fastest manner possible. Because it would mean better lives, better livelihood for our traders and business community. And as Prime Minister Anutin said, people judge governments by whether things they actually change and perform. Not by the rhetoric and promises.

 

We have done so in a remarkable journey when we embarked on the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone and now the trade has crossed RM77 billion. I remain very optimistic that with the commitment of your government and Malaysia, we will do more. There’s no reason why lorries have to wait hours where checkpoints have got to be subjected to unreasonable delays. Therefore, we need faster clearance, reduce costs which will benefit our people.

 

So thank you again my dear friend and we don’t have a saxophone here, but we are of course kind of rush, it’s a Friday but let me again thank you and your Deputy Prime Ministers, the various ministers and officials who have worked incredibly hard to achieve this result and to my colleagues Saifuddin, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Economic Minister, the Chief Secretary, the State governments had worked to facilitate this incredible journey which have been, which we have waited for decades and also to the Ministry of Works, the contractors and workers from both countries, they make it possible. There are still things need to be done, we have the Sadao Bukit Kayu Hitam here, we have Rantau Panjang on the other side in Kelantan and we have border issues which I believe we can help resolve.

 

So, Khàawp khun khráp. Terima Kasih.