Kota Kinabalu: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says his differences with the Government are only on the aborted "scenic bridge" issue.

He said the Government has the right to cancel construction of a straight bridge to replace the Johor Causeway but construction of the scenic bridge should have been continued as it did not involve Singapore.

"If it has nothing to do with Singapore, we can proceed to build the bridge but unfortunately that was also shelved.

"I only disagree with the Government on this," he told 700 participants of a colloquium entitled "Internationalisation of the Malay Stock", here, Saturday night.

Dr Mahathir said this when responding to a participant during a dialogue at the colloquium.

The participant had sought Dr Mahathir's explanation on his stand for the bridge project to be continued.

Singapore was reported to have asked Malaysia to sell two billion cubic metres of sand to the republic over 20 years and allow the use of Johor air space for its military aircraft as conditions for it to agree to the bridge.

"So, this is my only difference with the Government... that's why I voice out my opinion although I've promised not to interfere with the Government (after my retirement).

"Although I've promised I will not interfere, since they (the Government) did like that, I've to say something. Even though I've said I will not interfere, when you see in front of you someone being beaten up, are you just going to sit down and watch? I did not promise to that extent.

"Initially, I thought, if possible, I want to avoid talking about controversial matters. I apologise if I made some clarifications on this issue. They seemed not to understand what is the controversy all about," he added.

The two-day colloquium from Saturday is organised by the Umno Youth International Relations and its Non-Governmental Organisations Bureau. - Bernama