Got chemistry, can relate

Personal chemistry is going to feature in relations that Singapore conducts with its two main neighbors, Indonesia and Malaysia. When all is said and done about treaties, memoranda of understanding and complementing one another's economic strengths, it is the easy, personable relationship the leaders enjoy that would smooth out discord and disagreements which are bound to crop up in competitive bilateral relations. The personal friendship that Mr Lee Kuan Yew developed with President Soeharto in his long years as prime minister was what brought harmony to dealings between two unlikely neighbors.

Conversely, an inability to "click" will be a serious impediment to ties in a region that is anything but homogeneous in governing ideology, ethnic makeup and levels of progress, besides contrasting world views. The power trajectory of the three countries' new leaders did not intersect fully. Mr Lee Hsien Loong and Abdullah Badawi of Malaysia had known each other reasonably well before they ascended the premiership. Still, they need to cultivate each other. But neither of them can be said to be "thick" yet with Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who traveled in a different orbit until quite recently.

This is added reason why Prime Minister Lee should invest in his personal relationship with Susilo. It had been noticed in Jakarta -- with much appreciation -- that Mr Lee had attended the President's inauguration last month. His official hello call in Jakarta this week drew from his host warm words of friendship. Indonesian leaders of Javanese cultural reflex set much store by personal warmth and politesse. Naturally, frequent contact will not mean much if the chemistry is not right. The three new leaders are fairly equable in temperament. None seems given to dominating the other. There is a good chance they can hit it off, to the region's overall gain.

It is Singapore's lot, however, to have its leaders stereotyped as business-like, impatient to see results. This is no handicap, provided mutuality of interest is observed. On Mr Lee's visit, the Indonesians raised matters such as an extradition treaty and sand exports. Singapore has practical concerns about economic cooperation and the region's response to the terror threat. There are sensitivities on both sides. If there is chemistry in the mix, no issue can seem forbidding. -- The Straits Times, Singapore