Growing digital gulf a very troubling situation: Lee
Growing digital gulf a very troubling situation: Lee
SINGAPORE (AFP): The growing technological divide between the rich and poor Southeast Asian nations creates a worrying situation, Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew said on Monday.
Catching up with wealthier neighbors would be an uphill task because of a lack of resources, Lee told a forum held in conjunction with CommunicAsia 2001, the region's top communication and information technology show.
Unlike the United States which is surrounded by neighbors that are just as technologically-savvy, Singapore is "in a less fortunate position partly because of history and mainly because governments have pursued other objectives instead of education and catching up with the modern world," he said.
"And it is not easy to see how they can catch up and it's worrying for us," said Lee, the former premier who is widely credited for transforming the resource-poor city-state into one of Asia's wealthiest countries.
Citing Myanmar and Laos as examples, he said that countries left behind not only lack infrastructure but also educated people.
"And this brings me to a subject which is very troubling for us, because unlike the United States we are surrounded by countries which are on the other side of the digital divide," he said.
The problem is not going to improve anytime soon because the more technologically advanced countries like Singapore and Malaysia are making progress in their climb up the ladder, he said.
"It's a problem which is going to fester everytime we have a meeting in one of the more developed countries and they can see just how much they are being left behind and that's a very unhappy situation," Lee, now a senior minister, said.
Yet there is a limit as to how much affluent Singapore can help its less advanced neighbors, said Lee, who also mentioned that Indonesia had recently sought the city-state's help.
"Yes, we can help to train them, but how many (people)?" he said.
"What we are talking about might be something Marshall," he said, in reference to the U.S.-led Marshall Plan that helped Europe recover from the World War II.
Lee said the governments involved must also have the will to spearhead the technological revolution in their own backyards.
"Really, we can't solve problems which have to be solved by that country's own government," he said. "They've got to decide what their priorities are."
The forum touched upon fears by some Asian countries that they would lose their national identities as they try to move up the technological ladder.
Lee said it would be futile to fight against the ongoing information technology (IT) revolution based on the U.S. business model.
"There will be some countries in the Third World who believe there is a third way but I think if they spend some time looking into it, they will conclude that in this global marketplace you got to adopt (the) best practices or you will lose," he said.
The Europeans, and increasingly the Japanese, are now following the U.S. model, Lee said.
Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who also spoke in a live video web conference from the United States, agreed with Lee's assessment.
"I think you can separate doing business and cultural considerations," he said.
"As we move with the IT revolution and as globalization takes hold, it does not mean that we are going to eradicate differences based on religion, culture, ethnicity," Baker added.