Commentary on Singapore

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• Introduction

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Small States in a Big World
• Be Proactive
• Be Not Afraid
• Be Law Abiding
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• What is Securitisation?
• The Securitisation of Singapore
• Political Arena
• Economic Arena
• Social-Cultural Arena
• Military Arena
• Foreign Policy
• The Outcomes of Singapore’s 50 Years of Securitisation
• Challenges Confronting Singapore’s Securitisation Policies
• The Future: De-securitising Singapore’s Politics as Part of the New Normal

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• The Multidimensional and Multilayered Ties Between Singapore and Europe
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Shared History: From Regional Empires to ASEAN
• Bilateral Warmth
• Meeting Future Challenges
• Conclusion

In his November 2015 S. Rajaratnam Lecture for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diplomatic Academy, Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong quoted an ancient Chinese saying which states: “Small countries have no foreign policy”. More recently, on 1 July 2017, the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Kishore Mahbubani, wrote an opinion essay entitled, “Qatar: Big lessons from a small country” in The Straits Times. He stated that “small states must behave like small states” and quoted with apparent approval what Thucydides, an Athenian historian and general said 2,400 years ago — “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.

Since the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between Singapore and the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter simply referred to as “China”) on 3 October 1990, bilateral relations between the two countries have enjoyed steady development with frequent high-level exchanges, close economic, cultural and educational contacts, as well as the establishment of government-to-government projects in Suzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing in China. Singapore ministers and local Chinese leaders jointly helm provincial Singapore-China business councils. Yet, the relationship between the two countries over the past 27 years has not always been smooth sailing.

The United States (US) is one of Singapore’s more important economic and strategic partners. Both countries enjoy strong commercial ties through trade and investments, as well as a long-standing strategic partnership through defence cooperation.

ASEAN is a living, breathing modern miracle. It has brought peace and prosperity to one of the most difficult and diverse corners of planet Earth, the Balkans of Asia. In the process, one of the biggest beneficiaries has been Singapore, a modern, global city surrounded and protected by the ecosystem of peace crafted by ASEAN. My new book on ASEAN documents how this ecosystem was created…

As the late Dr Michael Leifer pointed out in his highly acclaimed book, Singapore’s Foreign Policy: Coping with Vulnerability (2000), Singapore attained its independence in 1965 with two basic insecurities to cope with — political insecurity and economic insecurity.

The following sections are included:

• Overview
• Changing Indonesia, Changing Approach to Strengthening Ties
• Impact of the Change in the Role of the Military
• Impact of Decentralisation
• Impact of Civil Society and Religion
• Impact of Growing Nationalism
• Two Important Issues That Will Shape Bilateral Relations
• Conclusion

In 2016, Singapore and Japan celebrated the 50^th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. In an epoch of great power transition and uncertainty in East Asia and the world, no one is truly prescient or clairvoyant about the future. However, it can be said that given the considerable convergence of interests and values, and a habit of cooperation and trust built between the city-state and Tokyo over the past five decades, their bilateral relations are likely to remain excellent in the foreseeable future. This article will first address the puzzle: why is this dyadic relationship so good despite the brutal occupation of the British colony of Singapore by the Japanese imperial military between 1942 and 1945? It will then examine the comprehensive relationship and evolving friendship between Singapore and Japan at both state and societal levels. Following that will be a consideration of the likely direction of Singapore-Tokyo relations from 2017 to 2027.

The relationship between India and Singapore is generally thought of as being problem-free, which means that there are no festering issues between them. In reality, it is more than that. It is a robust and multifaceted relationship that is long-standing and growing deeper with the passage of time.

On 12 October 2016, the Australian Parliament provided an occasion for the governments of Australia and Singapore to highlight the close friendship the two countries enjoy when Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong delivered his address — the first by a Singapore head of government. Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull welcomed PM Lee as “a great friend of Australia”. Bill Shorten, the Leader of the Opposition, said that “Australia has no closer friend in Asia than Singapore”. A year earlier, then PM Tony Abbott spoke of bilateral ties going beyond friendship; he envisaged Singapore to be “family in the years and decades to come”. PM Lee’s speech that October was equally warm and friendly, recalling his personal encounters with Australians he had come to know over the years…

The following sections are included:

• The Tenets of Singapore’s Foreign Policy
• First 25 Years of Relations with Europe (1965–1990)
• Second Period of Relations with Europe (1991–2010)
• Third Period — 2011 and into the Future

The following sections are included:

• Singapore-Russia Relations — An Overview
• Engaging Russia Effectively by Understanding It

When the United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945, it had 51 member countries. Today, the number has more than tripled to 193. Every newly independent state seeks entry into the UN almost as a first order of government business. Its seat in the UN is its most fundamental confirmation of its membership in the community of nations. Singapore was no different. We joined the UN on 21 September 1965, just a month after becoming independent. More than half the UN membership is composed of small states such as Singapore, with a population of less than 10 million people. For many small states, the UN is an important part of their foreign policy; Singapore is no different, and has always been a strong supporter of the UN. The UN represents an international system based on rules. A world governed by a system of norms and codes of conduct that treat each state equally is clearly better for small states than the law of the jungle. The challenge remains convincing the great powers, which have the wherewithal to act unilaterally, that such a system is not only for the common good but also in the national interest of each of them.

In early 2017, when it looked like Singapore was never getting back its military vehicles that were seized by Hong Kong Customs, citizen bloggers turned to people diplomacy. Penning catchy Singlish songs, they humorously pleaded with China to return our nine “Terrex Chia”. The videos went viral. Shortly after, Hong Kong released Singapore’s military hardware…

The following sections are included:

• “Times are A-Changin”
• Explaining the Established Policy of Preponderance
• China’s Rise and Singapore’s Recalibration to a True Balance of Power

It is all quiet on the leadership transition front in Singapore. That is how the fourth generation (4G) leaders would like it. Leave them alone to decide who among them will become leader, they requested, after questions were raised about the progress of the search for a successor to the current premier.

In a statement on 4 January 2018, they said: The younger ministers are keenly aware leadership succession is a pressing issue and that Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong intends to step down after the next general election. We are conscious of our responsibility, are working closely together as a team and will settle on a leader from amongst us in good time…

In the next decade, Singapore’s most challenging problems will likely result from two mutually-reinforcing global trends. They are neoliberal globalisation and authoritarian populism.

To avert dystopian futures that can result from being stuck in the intersection of these two trends, Singapore must turn away from debased and irrelevant forms of pragmatism to more thoughtful forms. That is to say, Singapore needs to embrace a pragmatism that is not, ironically, trapped within dogmatic assumptions about nature and circumstance, that does not amount to blind faith in the market, and is not simply addressed to a middle ground construed as a simplistic calculation of some imagined numerical majority’s preferences…

Since the 1990s, it has been an axiom of geopolitics that World War III, should it occur, would take place in Asia, the zone of power transition with numerous outstanding disputes among great and rising powers. Across the region, military budgets are surging, while warships, coast guards and fighter jets scramble to assert control over contested terrain or the oceanic commons…

Two weeks after the annual Budget debate in Singapore’s Parliament, then Second Defence Minister Ong Ye Kung left for Russia in early April 2018 to attend the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security. Among his key meetings in the Russian capital was one with his counterpart from China — the Chinese Minister of National Defence, General Wei Fenghe. Given the uneasy relationship between Singapore and Beijing after the Terrex incident in late 2016, Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (Mindef) thought it was useful to issue a media release angled on the meeting with Wei, accompanied by a photo of Ong and Wei shaking hands. The Mindef release stated: Both ministers reaffirmed the warm and friendly relations between Singapore and China, and welcomed opportunities to deepen bilateral defence cooperation…

Each year, as August approaches, the roar of Republic of Singapore Air Force fighter jets fills the air on saturdays as rehearsals for the National Day Parade fly-past kick into high gear. The parade has taken place every year, for the last 53 years, on 9 August — the day Singapore became an independent nation…

Since the birth of our nation in 1965, Singapore and its leaders have thought very seriously about how to design and articulate the kind of political society we desire or should have. It is one thing for the Constitution of Singapore to provide for democratic institutions; it is quite another entirely to fill in the content of the sort of political culture this fledgeling democracy was to have…