BEYOND SG

Doorstop Interview on Myanmar by Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo and British Foreign Minister David Miliband

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George Yeo

Statement by ASEAN Chair, Singapore's Minister For Foreign Affairs George Yeo on Myanmar

STATEMENT BY ASEAN CHAIR,
SINGAPORE’S MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
GEORGE YEO
NEW YORK, 27 SEPTEMBER 2007

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers had a full and frank discussion on the situation in Myanmar at their Informal Meeting this morning in the UN and agreed for the Chair to issue this Statement. They were appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used and demanded that the Myanmar government immediately desist from the use of violence against demonstrators. They expressed their revulsion to Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win over reports that the demonstrations in Myanmar are being suppressed by violent force and that there has been a number of fatalities. They strongly urged Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution. They called upon Myanmar to resume its efforts at national reconciliation with all parties concerned, and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy. The Ministers called for the release of all political detainees including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers expressed their concern to Minister Nyan Win that the developments in Myanmar had a serious impact on the reputation and credibility of ASEAN. They noted that Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has spoken to his ASEAN counterparts over the past day, and will be writing to Senior General Than Shwe.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers gave their full support to the decision of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar. They welcomed FM Nyan Win’s assurance that a visa would be issued to Mr Gambari in Singapore. They asked the Myanmar government to cooperate fully and work with him. Mr Gambari’s role as a neutral interlocutor among all the parties can help defuse the dangerous situation. The Ministers urged the Myanmar government to grant him full access to all parties in Myanmar, as they had done in the past.

George Yeo

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Minister George Yeo's speeh at the United Nations General Assembly (62nd Session)

The Challenge of Global Governance

Mr President

1 The item at the top of our agenda is climate change. The coming Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali needs our full support. This is one problem which can only be overcome by our collective effort.

2 If we fail, the future will be troubled. Small island countries like Singapore will be in grave danger. People living in the lowlands will have to move to higher ground. The pressure of migration into spaces which become more habitable because of global warming may well become unstoppable. There will be new conflicts in the world. We are now coming to understand better the role of climate change in the conflict in Darfur. It does not excuse the heinous crimes which have been committed there but understanding the water situation in that region will help us find more durable solutions for the future. Many historians are now re-assessing the role of climate change behind major political events in the past.

3 We cannot be sure whether our best efforts can stop global warming. The earth's climate has always gone through cycles. But even if all we can do is to slow down the process, that will buy us time to accumulate knowledge, develop new technologies and adapt. For example, the cost of recycling or desalinating water has been steadily coming down and is becoming completely affordable for us in Singapore. Improvements in water technology can diffuse political tensions in many parts of the world.

4 There are many problems we face which can only be overcome by the nations of the world acting together. Climate change is one. Another is the danger of global pandemics which must also be kept high on the global agenda. The late Director-General of WHO, Dr Lee Jong-Wook, once said that it was not a question of 'whether' but 'when'. With the mass movement of human beings, much of it at jet speed, a new bug can spread quickly. It was just a few years ago when we had the scare of SARS. We are still not sure why that epidemic burnt out so quickly but, lucky, it did. During the few months when it hit us in Singapore, our economy was severely affected. Our tourism industry was devastated. As our economy is so dependent on external trade, shutting our airport was not an option. Instead, we hurriedly converted military night vision devices into thermal scanners and used them at the airport so that arriving and departing passengers with fever could be pulled aside for medical examination. We knew we could not overcome this problem on our own. The Leaders of ASEAN convened an emergency meeting to which the Premier of China, the Chief Executive of Hongkong and the Director-General of WHO were also invited.

5 Whether it is climate change, global pandemics, the fight against terrorism, the multilateral trading system or international finance, we need better global governance. During the Cold War, the world was divided into two camps with each superpower taking the lead in its own sphere. That era is behind us. A multi-polar world is crystallising. On no major issue now can one country, however powerful, act on its own in complete disregard of the views of others. The situation in Iraq is a sad example of this. Russia, China, India and Brazil are emergent or re-emergent powers whose interests must increasingly be factored in. Smaller countries too have become more assertive, refusing to be ridden roughshod over by the bigger countries.

6 When major international institutions like the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, GATT and WHO were established many years ago after end of the Second World War, the world was very different from what it is today. Because of this, these institutions are not as effective as they ought to be. However, we have to work with these institutions as they are, not as we want them to be if they are established today. Unless there is another global conflagration, the improvement of global governance can only be achieved through gradual evolution not revolution.

7 We can do this at two levels - at the level of the major powers and at the level of small and medium size countries. At the level of the major powers, international institutions should increasingly reflect the multi-polar reality. For example, the reform of the UN including the UN Security Council should take into account the weight of India, Japan, Germany and Brazil, and the growing importance of regional organisations. Selection for heads of the IMF and the World Bank should be widened. Membership of the G8 should be enlarged to include countries like China and India. It is also important that international organisations be held to the highest standards of management. We must maintain their moral authority in the eyes of the world. That Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recent visit to a refugee camp in Darfur should be received with so much applause was because of the prestige of the UN and the hope reposed in the blue helmet.

8 For climate change, it is good that the US has convened a meeting in Washington of the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. As the world's biggest economy, the US has to exercise leadership but it cannot do this on its own. Without major emitters achieving a certain common understanding among themselves, we will not make much progress at the coming UNFCCC meeting in Bali.

9 For small and medium size countries, their involvement in international institutions should be enhanced. It is unhealthy if the only way small and medium size countries can ensure their interests are taken into account is by threatening to block the progress of others. Indeed, if every country in international organisations has the power of veto, the result must be paralysis. As a small country ourselves, Singapore takes the view that small and medium size countries have both rights and responsibilities. We too must have a sense of responsibility for the global system. A rules-based world gives us more freedom than one where might is right.

10 Regional groupings can help small and medium size countries strike this balance between rights and responsibilities. The African Union offers a good example of how the discipline of a group gives each of its members a greater say in world affairs than what it could have on its own. Group solidarity enables regional organizations like MERCOSUR, GCC and ASEAN to play bigger roles in the world. ASEAN will soon be strengthened by the leaders' adoption of a formal Charter next month. Both formal and informal arrangements have their uses. For example, the Forum of Small States, or FOSS for short, is a loose coalition of one hundred countries which meet regularly to exchange views and give support to one another. They make up more than half the members of the UN. Formal and informal groups can play a constructive role by taking the middle ground and moderating the excessive demands of radical members. Without such groupings, the WTO, which makes decisions by consensus, cannot work. With respect to the Doha Development Agenda, it is important that we use the Chairman's texts on agriculture and NAMA (industrial goods) as the basis for final negotiations. At the APEC meeting in Sydney recently, this was agreed to even though one or two countries had reservations. Let us, through the groupings we belong to, encourage each other towards compromise on Doha. The positions are not so far apart now and it would be a great pity to walk away from a Doha deal which could add hundreds of billions of dollars to global welfare.

11 However effective they are, international institutions cannot stop the natural rivalry among nation-states. The major powers will still push their weight around. But rules can be established for civilized behaviour and to prevent countries from extreme actions endangering the planet we share and our common heritage. We are not a union of nations but we are at the very least a confederation of nations. There are limits to the sovereignty we exercise as independent nation-states. For example, the countries of the world have not only a legitimate right but also a responsibility to decry the brutal suppression of demonstrators in Myanmar. Yesterday, the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN expressed their revulsion through a Chairman's statement which also called on the Myanmar Government to abandon their old ways and take a fresh approach towards national reconciliation with all groups in the country. We applauded the initiative of the UN Secretary-General to dispatch Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari and urged the Myanmar Government to work with him for the good of the people of Myanmar.

12 Mr President, six months before September 11, in March 2001, the people of the world watched with shock and horror the deliberate destruction of the ancient Buddha statues in Bamiyan by the Taliban. We must never allow such wanton acts to take place again whether the injury is to world heritage sites or to the environment or to human beings. Behind such acts is an attitude of hatred and intolerance which must not be condoned. If this century is to be one of peace and development, all of us must internalise a spirit of inter-faith understanding and common humanity. Recently, the Indian Government announced its intention to revive the ancient Buddhist university at Nalanda and offered it to Asian countries as a project to promote cultural and religious exchange. For hundreds of years, Nalanda was a great university drawing students from all over Asia to study not just Buddhism but also philosophy, science, mathematics and other subjects. This is a project deserving of our support.

13 We need many such endeavours in the world today to create a greater awareness of our common origins and our growing interdependence. Without that larger sense, the challenge of global governance will be difficult to overcome. Without all countries feeling a sense of shared responsibility for the earth's environment, for example, climate change will become much worse before effective measures are taken, by which time it may be too late.

George Yeo

Photo courtesy of UN

For Webcast of this speech, please go to the following URL link.
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/62/
After that, click on [28 Sep], followed by scrolling down to look for the name "Singapore".

The Future in Our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change

“THE FUTURE IN OUR HANDS:
ADDRESSING THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE
OF CLIMATE CHANGE”

HIGH-LEVEL EVENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
CONVENED BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS

THEMATIC PLENARY II – MITIGATION
“REDUCING EMISSIONS AND STABILISING THE CLIMATE – SAFEGUARDING OUR COMMON FUTURE”

STATEMENT BY

HIS EXCELLENCY MR GEORGE YEO
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

24 SEPTEMBER 2007

The recent APEC Summit issued a Leaders’ declaration on climate change which, though not binding, set high aspirations. The US in a few days time will also convene a meeting of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Without collective action to reduce carbon emission, we will fail. That was the weakness of Kyoto. We need the US as the world's biggest emitter to take the lead. Increasingly, China and India will need to be involved as well as they are becoming big emitters because of huge populations. In November, the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN-EU Summit, both to be held in Singapore, will also have climate change high up on the agenda.

2 The political will expressed by leaders should be translated into an effective plan of action at the coming UNFCCC meeting in Bali this December. This session called by the UN Secretary General, involving all countries, is timely.

3 Any new global framework must observe the key principles already articulated in the UNFCCC. Developed countries must continue to take the lead on reducing emissions. Developing countries should slow down the increase in carbon emissions based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and their respective capabilities, and in a manner which does not stifle their economic growth.

4 Reducing carbon emission is half the equation in reducing greenhouse gases. The other half is increasing carbon capture. In Sydney, APEC member countries resolved to increase forest cover in the region. The initiative to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), especially the promotion of sustainable forest management, is important.

5 Tropical forests and marine ecosystems play an important role in the health of our planet. We must protect them. At the National Institute of Amazonia Research (INPA) in Manaus recently, I was given a briefing on the influence of El Nino on the health of the Amazon forest. In 1997/98 when the El Nino effect was at its worst in decades, forest fires in Southeast Asia released 700 million metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere according to some experts. Last year which was a weak El Nino year, more than 8 million hectares of forest were destroyed by fire in the month of September alone. Peatland fires are a particular problem in Indonesia. One Indonesian minister explained to me that, during the Suharto government, for lack of knowledge, large areas of peatland were drained for cultivation. Dried peatland fires are almost impossible to extinguish. We still lack understanding of forests, mangrove swamps and coral reefs. Policy-makers themselves need to take a greater interest in the science.

6 Prescriptions by developed countries to developing countries on carbon emissions are sometimes perceived as self-serving. We cannot ignore developmental needs. Unless the system encourages local inhabitants to protect trees instead of chopping them down, the problem of deforestation cannot be solved. There must be assistance by developed countries in resources and expertise. However, there must also be a system of surveillance and control to ensure that money is properly used and not channelled into the wrong hands. Corruption is a major problem that has to be overcome.

7 Tropical forests and marine ecosystems can help sustain a rich economy. Mangrove swamps are ideal for aquaculture provided there is proper control on the use of chemicals and the disposal of wastes. However, much more research is needed. Developed countries can do a lot to help. It is not only carbon capture that we are concerned with, but also the biodiversity that these regions hold. Even a small patch of tropical forest in Singapore has more biodiversity than large parts of Europe or North America. It has been estimated that tropical forests in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America contain more than 50% of all the plant and animal species on our planet.

8 The Heart of Borneo initiative deserves our full support. It covers 220,000 sq km of land in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Brunei, which is not a big country, played a leading role and set aside 58% of its total land area for this initiative which is a magnificent contribution. The island of Borneo is home to 13 species of primates, 150 species of reptiles and amphibians, and over 350 species of birds and 15,000 species of plants. And, every year, there are new discoveries. In Sumatra, Singapore and Malaysia are working with neighbouring Indonesian provinces to tackle peatland fires and develop sustainable land-clearing practices. We in Southeast Asia can learn much from the experience of the Amazonian region where considerable research has been done and which now has a comprehensive system of surveillance.

9 Governments alone cannot do all the work. We have to engage the private sector and establish regulatory frameworks which bring positive market forces into play. Technology can solve many of the problems we face but the right incentives must be in place. We need the help of local communities as well. NGOs can play a very positive role monitoring progress and blowing whistles. Without passion and persistence, and a sense of the whole earth, we will not be able to overcome the resistance to effective action.

GeorgeYeo

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Minister George Yeo's replies to Parliamentary Questions on 17 Sept 2007

Dr Fatimah Lateef: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) in light of Singapore assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN for the next 12 months, what will be our focus and strategies; (b) whether he will provide an update on the process of ASEAN integration, with regard to recent views that the pace of ASEAN integration should not be set by the slowest members; and (c) whether he will provide an update on the drafting of the ASEAN Charter.

Minister George Yeo's REPLY:

Mr Speaker Sir,

1 Singapore assumed the Chairmanship of ASEAN at the end of July and will remain in the seat for a year until July next year. We have a full agenda ahead of us. Foremost is the signing of the ASEAN Charter at the Summit in Singapore this November. We also expect the Leaders then to endorse a Blueprint with clear roadmaps for establishing the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. Similar blueprints for the Security and Socio-Cultural Communities will be initiated during our Chairmanship, to be ready by the next Summit towards the end of next year.

2 The environment and climate change are also high up on our agenda. For the ASEAN and the East Asia Summits, the theme will be "Energy, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development". We will be initiating practical cooperation projects that can help mitigate some of the effects of environmental degradation in our region and contribute to the global debate on climate change, particularly preparations for the 13th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali in December this year.

3 We will also work to improve ASEAN’s engagement of its Dialogue Partners. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of ASEAN’s dialogue relations with the EU and the US, special summits will be held with the EU in November this year and with the US early next year. We will also mark the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN+3 process, which has significantly improved ASEAN's cooperation with China, Japan and Korea. In addition, we will do a review of the ASEAN Regional Forum and see how we can take it to a higher level.

4 Not all issues on our agenda can be resolved within a year. Some should be considered as work in process for which we should add value during our watch. Integration, for example, is a long-term objective. The establishment of the Charter is a major milestone in the ASEAN journey. As we had worked in the past year with the Philippines, the previous Chair, we will work with the Thais, the incoming Chair, to ensure continuity and commonality of purpose.

5 Mr Speaker, Sir, ASEAN has made good progress in its integration efforts because the Leaders share a common view that each of us is better off with a strong ASEAN than without. We have to respond to the rise of China on one side, and India on the other. Greater integration will enhance our competitiveness and strengthen our negotiating position.

6 Yet, ASEAN, however integrated, will not become a union like the EU. We are too diverse in our history, culture and economic development for this to be possible. Recognising this reality, there is a consensus within ASEAN that the pace of integration should not always be determined by the lowest common denominator or the slowest member. Let's move quickly where we can in a practical way. Members who are ready to move first in particular areas should be free to do so, provided the door is left open for others to join when they are ready. We have therefore built in flexibilities for the newer ASEAN members when setting targets, such as the ASEAN-X and the 2+X provisions. Examples of such an approach are the Air Cargo Rights Agreement, the Framework Agreement on Services and the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement.

7 The Charter will be a key instrument in ASEAN's integration efforts. It will make ASEAN a more effective and rules-based organisation. Dr Lateef asked for an update on the drafting of the ASEAN Charter. It is at an advanced stage. The High Level Task Force met last week and will present the final draft to the Foreign Ministers at our coming meeting at the end of this month in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Barring last-minute surprises, we should be able to complete the Charter in time for the Singapore Summit in November. As there is an agreement not to complicate negotiations by revealing details of the Charter at this stage, I ask for Members' indulgence not to be pressed on this.

. . . .
Supplementary Question No. 1:

Mdm Halimah Yacob: I do not intend to press the Minister on the specifics of the Charter but I would just like to ask the Minister when he said that the Charter will result in a more rules-based ASEAN, what does that really mean? Because in the same breath, he also said that it will not be akin to the EU with its own sets or common sets of regulations and rules. Does it mean that having the Charter being more rules-based will make it easier for us to resolve common areas of problems such as the haze for instance? Thank you, Sir.

Minister George Yeo's REPLY:

Mr Speaker Sir,

A key element in the Charter will be the establishment of dispute settlement mechanisms, which means that when disputes arise as to the interpretation or implementation of agreements, they will be referred to independent panels who will then rule one way or the other to adjudicate.

When a pattern of such judgements are made, an ASEAN jurisprudence will gradually develop, it will then be very important for countries to ensure that when agreements are made, that lawyers look at those agreements to anticipate how judgements will be made when there are disputes. So this will make ASEAN a more rules-based and hopefully a more predictable organisation.

When I said that we will not become like the EU, it is in the degree of our integration. The EU has its European Court and a European Parliament which legislates on behalf of the whole union. We do not anticipate such developments for ASEAN.

Minister George Yeo at APEC Business Summit in Sydney

Opening remarks by Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo at a panel session entitled “Full steam ahead? Can the Asia Pacific meet the challenges ahead and seize the opportunities?” during the APEC Business Summit in Sydney, 3.30pm, 6 September 2007.

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Challenges for the Global Trading System

1. This weekend, APEC Leaders will issue a call for an early conclusion of the Doha Round. The two Chairman's texts on agriculture and NAMA (industrial goods) provide a good basis for final negotiation. The positions are not so far apart now. The proposed reduction in export and domestic subsidy of agriculture will benefit developing countries and add significantly to global welfare.

2. However, despite the best efforts of Director-General Pascal Lamy who had a productive meeting with ministers yesterday, the prospects are not good. Without the developed countries taking a strong lead, which means overcoming the objections of powerful domestic lobbies, the Round cannot close. The leadership of the US in particular is critical. Developing countries must also respond constructively. If we fail in the coming months to reach agreement, there will be a delay of at least a few years. Worse, once the pressure is off, protectionist sentiments in many countries will become stronger again.

3. We cannot assume that economic liberalisation is an inevitable trend because of globalisation. It has certainly benefited Asia. With the end of the Cold War, an additional three billion people have entered the global marketplace, eager for a better life. Asian middle classes are growing by the tens of millions every year. With unprecedented urbanisation, the demand for a whole range of goods and services has shot up explosively. This has raised global GDP and kept commodity prices high.

4. The costs and benefits of globalisation are not evenly spread. Some countries benefit more than others. Many experts predict that the centre of gravity of the world economy will move to Asia some time in the next few decades because of its huge population. While Asians may rejoice at this prospect, those living on other continents must view such a future differently, a few with the gravest concern. History has not ended. Big shifts of the kind we are now seeing are almost always accompanied by political conflicts of one kind or another.

5. The biggest challenge to the global trading system is political. Without trust in the fairness of the international system, there will once again be a scramble by the big countries for natural resources and markets, which frequently in the past led to wars. Already there is keen competition for energy by countries like China and India because of justifiable concerns that international supplies will be disrupted at critical moments. Recently, when China announced its intention to establish sovereign investment funds, alarm bells rang in the US, Europe and Japan. Action leads to reaction. When national insecurities feed on each other, conflicts can quickly escalate if there is no larger framework of cooperation and dispute resolution that is recognised to be impartial.

6. For all its faults, the WTO has a good reputation. When panels of the WTO abjudicate, the judgements carry not only legal weight but moral weight as well. For this reason, it is crucial for Doha not to fail. FTAs are not a substitute for the WTO. They are, at best, second best. Even after the Doha Round has been concluded, there will be new issues for the WTO to address like investment rules, competition rules and treatment of intellectual property. Strengthening the international system is a prerequisite for peaceful development in the 21st century. In the last century, for lack of an international system, the rise of new powers led to two world wars and a great depression. If we repeat the same mistakes in the coming years, the future will be bleak, and problems like climate change will never be effectively addressed until it is too late. Indeed calls by developed economies to reduce carbon emissions are viewed with cynicism by many developing countries as measures which would slow down their progress.

7. We need leadership and political will among the major countries to maintain the international system including the global trading system. For this reason, it is necessary for the G8 to be enlarged to include China, India and Brazil - sooner rather than later - so that we do not work at cross purposes. International organizations established at the end of the Second World War like the UN, the IMF and the World Bank also need reform to reflect a very different global reality. Either we change to avert crises or we wait for crises to force change on us.

George Yeo

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo's responses at Q&A session of the APEC Business Summit on 6 September.

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Little Things - The new soft power

The founding father of United States, Benjamin Franklin, has always held a special place in my heart.

His biography (New York Times Best Seller) titled "Benjamin Franklin - An American Life" by Walter Issacson, sits proudly in my office's bookshelf among all my financial books, Securities Commission's guidelines and annual reports. Whenever I need some inspiration, especially in seeking a pragmatic solution out of some conflicting objectives, I tend to pull the book out, flip a random chapter and see what I can learn from this amazingly creative genius and statesman when “creative” as a virtue was not even recognised during his time.

Benjamin Franklin said "Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding or relating; but when they consider that though dust blown into the eyes of a single person, or into a single shop the whole day, is but of small importance, yet the great number of the instances in a populous city, and its frequent repetitions give it weight and consequence, perhaps they will not censure very severely those who bestow some attention to affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day."

This parallels' Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller "Blink" which supports the idea that it is the little things that make humans decide whether a place is safe or dangerous. Our minds pick up small little signals and symbolic representation of wealth, power and comfort or the lack of them all the time. For example, to turn a bad neighbourhood into a safe one, it is not enough to root out the criminals infesting the place. You need to whitewash the walls and remove the graffiti and do so again and again to make a symbolic stance that you want the neighbourhood to be clean and tidy. At some point, the transgressors will give up and the people felt that the place is worthwhile enough to keep it away from criminal infestations. It is the little things that win the day.

As Singapore positions herself as the "London of Asia"- a new renaissance-like makeover for the entire country, we must be mindful of the little things.

The little things to me are these -

• As you sat in a cafe, you found out there are 20 ongoing art exhibitions in public and private galleries, that the Pet Shop Boys and Aron Kwok were here.
• The policemen patrolling the streets and tourist spots are well-dressed, technologically equipped, polite and friendly.
• The toilets are clean and the flushing mechanism works. Increasingly I notice squatting toilets with water hoses are available next to the normal sitting toilets. Habits differ :-)
• Well-trained and helpful hotel staff, waiters and sales assistants.
• Free internet access.
• A government-assisted public housing (HDB) garden with a BBQ pit that looks like this:

• People of all races including expatriates, mingle freely and comfortably. Coffee shop tables have laptops on them. Students, businessmen and freelancers are tapping away, sipping their coffees.

Having said all the above, I have no illusion that there are inherent problems to solve in Singapore -ageing, widening income gap and competition from developed/developing superpower houses like India, China and the Middle East. I visited Bahrain last year and they figured out that oil power won’t last forever but a mixture of talents, capital, opportunity, personal safety and creature comforts makes a country incredibly strong and vibrant. So almost everybody in the government GET it these days – make your country attractive to global capital and talents, have a stable and fair legal system, make your citizens educated and technologically centric, expand the domestic economy and throw all the ideological chips in the shoulders aside. So the big things are taken care of or at least, everyone knows the what to do with the Big Things.

Yesterday, I was speed reading Richard H.K. Vietor’s “How Countries Compete: Strategy, Structure and Government in the Global Economy” at a Funan Centre's bookstore. Singapore was prominently featured in one of the chapters. We are one of the few countries which GOT it in our infancy years but it is quite clear that there is a global awakening. And very soon, we won’t be one of the smart kids in the global classroom but just one of those good kids who merely pass exams. Getting the Big Things right won’t be enough in the years to come. You got to get the small things right. The little things are the new Soft Power. That is how we will compete in the 21^st Century.

Get the small things right and the big things become more attractive. Benjamin Franklin got it right 300 years ago. No reason to get it wrong now.

Harold Fock

A Greener World

My 2nd-hand car's tyres were worn out after excessive braking (my fault) and bad driving (other people's fault or :-). Upon recommendation from my friend Vic Sent, who races at Sepang Circuit on weekends and therefore knows a lot about cars, I decided to change my tyres at a tyre specialist store at Kaki Bukit Industrial Park.

The shop owner was called Ah Meng and he was extremely knowleagable. He even offered a 2nd-hand rims from the original german manufacturer priced t 1/4 the original price and to para-quote Warren Buffet "I cant resist such under valuation!"

What is incredible is that Ah Meng explained that he would be filling my tyres with nitrogen instead of the normal compressed air. Based on studies, he believed that nitrogen filled tyres run better and enjoy better fuel economy. And by reducing fuel consumption, "you are helping the environment. Got to be green..."

I was not very impressed by the scientific cliam of nitrogen being a better gas to fill your tank. An inert gas is an inert gas. Discovery Channel debunked the myth that filling a football with helium won't increase the throwing distance at all. But what do I know about cars?

What is truly impressive that the global challenge of achieving a greener environment has hit home. Here is a mechanic/car shop owner/entrepreneur in a macho culture world but he understood the need to be green (never mind the nitrogen science although I am not qualified to judge if it works.. but nitrogen in my car sounds Batmanish cool).

The  world's governments may be slow in focusing on green issues. The citizens may refuse to change their bad habits. But I feel humanity is slowly recognising the need to protect the only planet in the solar system that supports life (as far as we know). It has begun.

Harold Fock

Minister George Yeo's remarks to the press following Bilateral Meeting with Portugal Foreign Minister Dr Luis Amado

Minister George Yeo's Remarks to the press following Bilateral Meeting with Portugal Foreign Minister Dr Luis Amado in Lisbon on 30 August 2007

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