The former prime minister also said it would look “weird” if Malaysia built its own bridge while Singapore used their old Causeway.

“I asked the Singapore prime minister when I was serving as PM back then but he told me that he wants to retain the causeway for another 30 years,” he told reporters when met outside the Dewan Rakyat. He was referring to Lee Hsien Loong.

“So if we have half of a new bridge and half of the old Causeway, then that will be a bit weird in many aspects,” he added.

Najib said the bridge project was cancelled during his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s time and that the government paid a large sum in compensation to the contractor.

“We must now look at whether this crooked bridge will benefit Malaysians as a whole,” he added.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad mooted the crooked bridge idea at the tail-end of his first tenure as prime minister from 1981 to 2003.

He said Malaysia would build a crooked bridge – a six-lane, S-shaped highway curving to allow the passage of ships below it – if Singapore refused to demolish its half of the Causeway.

Earlier today, DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong said the party was supportive of the idea of a third bridge to neighbouring Singapore, but that a crooked bridge as mooted by Mahathir during his first tenure as prime minister was not an “immediate priority”.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, Liew, who is deputy defence minister, said it was important to ensure that traffic flow on both sides of the Causeway was smooth, adding that this was what the government should focus on.