As opportunities moved elsewhere, business people could not concern themselves with the development of the "growth triangle," and in any case the Singapore government had always had an ambivalent attitude to Batam Island: on the one hand Singapore with its scarce land hoped to use Batam as its hinterland, but on the other hand was worried that in the future Batam's "Asiaport" might threaten Singapore's own position.
商人利之所趨，顧不得「成長三角區」的發展；另一方面新加坡政府對巴譚島原本就充滿了矛盾複雜的情緒：土地有限的新加坡一方面希望以巴譚為腹地，一方面又擔心巴譚未來的「亞洲港」會威脅到自己。