Singapore seeks more cohesion<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. (ret) Lee Hsien Loong is almost certain to become
\nSingapore's next prime minister, replacing Goh Chok Tong after
\nthe next general election which is likely to take place late this
\nyear or early in 2001. In this article, BG Lee, as he is
\npopularly called, talks about his vision and the challenges
\nfacing his country. Following is an excerpt of the interview with
\na group of Indonesian journalists in Singapore on Saturday:<\/p>\n
How do you sustain racial harmony in Singapore?<\/p>\n
We have to build on what we have achieved. We have not done
\nbadly. When we started it off, we have three separate, very
\ndistinct communities and not very much interchange. We had some
\nrace riots in the 1960s. From that base, we have been able to
\nbuild up and achieve some integration of the different
\ncommunities, not an assimilation into one, but an integration in
\nthe sense that we are mixed together; we go to the same schools,
\nwe serve national service together, we live in housing estates
\nwhich are integrated and we have friends among the different
\nethnic groups.<\/p>\n
Would the racial and ethnical tensions in Indonesia and
\nelsewhere in the world affect that harmony?<\/p>\n
Our race relations are inevitably influenced by events
\noutside. It's not just race relations but also religious
\nrelations. In Singapore, race coincides with religion with the
\nMalay Muslim community. We have to be cognizant. Each of the
\ndifferent communities has got some reference points outside. The
\nChinese with China, the Malays with Indonesia, the pribumis
\nparticularly in Riau and Malaysia; and the Indians with events in
\nSouth Asia.<\/p>\n
Inevitably there are some relationships which you cannot
\ncompletely detach. It is discernible. With the Chinese community
\nin the old days, the Chinese-educated in particular would have
\nidentified strongly with what happened in China. There was one
\nfamous occasion when there was a pingpong team which came down
\n(to Singapore), with the Singaporeans cheering the Chinese side
\ninstead of our own players. That was about 20-odd years ago.<\/p>\n
Today, this has changed because there's a new generation and
\npeople have visited and know what China is like, and we're
\ndifferent. But these ties of race and religion cannot totally
\ndisappear for any of the racial group. You have to accept that
\nand at the same time we have to build up within Singapore to
\nwiden the areas of overlaps and common ground between the
\ncommunities. That's what we're trying to do.<\/p>\n
What do you consider as the biggest challenge facing
\nSingaporean society?<\/p>\n
The challenge is to strengthen our cohesion beyond the first
\ngeneration in the face of a globalized environment. When talent
\ncan go anywhere, if many of our bright people travel overseas,
\nand work overseas and become entrepreneurs, and you don't have
\nenough staying in Singapore to form the core of our society and
\nour political system, then the quality of Singapore will go down.
\nWe have three or four million Singaporeans, but you depend on a
\nfew hundred people to maintain the system and to bring out the
\nbest in all of our population. In this global environment, to
\nkeep our best and to commit them, to feel that sense of
\nresponsibility, I think that's a big challenge.<\/p>\n
A society is cohesive enough when you feel you're a part of
\none society, whether you're very very successful and you made it
\nbig starting a company, or you are just an ordinary worker, doing
\na job. You feel you're one society in a certain personal link
\nbetween one with the other. If the successful only feel for
\nthemselves, and the workers say that he doesn't care for me, then
\nyou don't have the base for one society, then you will divide and
\nsplit and you'll have problems. But if we can get people to feel
\ntogether as a Singaporean community, then you can react
\ncohesively.<\/p>\n
If we are unable to manage, society will divide. Also in
\nSingapore, if we're not careful, it may divide along racial
\nlines, which will compound the problem.<\/p>\n
Do you consider cross marriage as a means to strengthen
\ncohesion?<\/p>\n
It's not for the government to encourage these things. These
\nare very personal decisions.<\/p>\n
There is some cross marriage but there are three ethnic groups
\nand each wants to retain its identity. The government's policy
\nhas been integration, which brings them close together, and not
\nassimilation which means mixing them all up into one. I think if
\nwe went for assimilation, we would have a lot of trouble and
\nresistance and it would be quite a disaster. We're not trying to
\nmake everybody one. It's not possible. We just accept that these
\nare differences. We're not totally the same but we're all
\nSingaporeans.<\/p>\n
Are you preparing your next generation of leaders?<\/p>\n
We have to find people. We have some young people in the
\nCabinet. But we have to continue to bring people in, because
\nregeneration is never a one-off. Every year that passes, we have
\na bit more gray hair. And after five years, there's a lot more
\ngray hair. In every election you must have a substantial number
\nof new faces from the next group which are coming along.<\/p>\n
It is one of the major preoccupations that we have in between
\nthe elections in preparations for the next one to find these
\npeople, to test them out and be able to field and present them to
\nSingaporeans: Here are some potential reinforcements to the team.<\/p>\n
Who are they? They will have to be people in the late 30s or
\nearly 40s, if we can find some even younger that's better but
\nit's not easy to find people even younger than that. Because they
\ndon't feel that they're ready in their careers, and looking at
\nthem we also cannot tell yet because they have not been tested
\nin a broad enough range of jobs or senior enough positions for us
\nto know enough about the person. (emb)<\/p>",
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