Did we cave?

Singapore is set to sign the extradication and defence treaty after 2 years of negotiations with Indonesia either today or tommorrow in Bali. On their ground and probably on their terms. After a 2-3 months ban of sand the the restriction of granite.

Did we cave in to the pressures that Indonesia exerted on us by banning sand and restricting granite?

The reopening of the quarries in Ubin cannot be a long term solution to this problem.

We can continue to import sand and granite from other sources but for how long and at what costs.

I believe the sand and granite was just a flexing of muscles from Indonesia telling us how dependent we are on them, so we better not piss them off. Imagine if they decided to cut foodstuffs, how much more would we suffer.

So much for Singapore always having alternatives. After all that is said and done, we're just a little red dot. Maybe we should consider expansion. Like the Romans did. Please ISD, I'm just joking.