RI asked to continue lead ASEAN role

By Kornelius Purba

SINGAPORE (JP): Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Brig. Gen. Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged on Saturday that during his tenure in office, former president Soeharto had played a key leadership role in the progress made toward prosperity by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

He also expressed his hope that Indonesia would continue to play a leading role in the future.

The deputy prime minister, known to Singaporeans as B.G. Lee, said Indonesia, as the region's largest country, had given its smaller neighbors room to grow and prosper by having a "relaxed" relationship with them.

He said he hoped Indonesia would be able to resume its full role in ASEAN shortly after its economy stabilizes and begins to recover over the next few years.

"We have always thought that if Indonesia is strong, united, with economic development and with the approach to the region which prevailed over the last 20 to 25 years under president Soeharto ... then it will be possible for the region to prosper," he said in an interview with seven Indonesian journalists here.

ASEAN comprises of Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

He suggested that during the transitional period it might be difficult for Indonesian leaders to give equal attention to the region given the mounting domestic problems they are faced with.

Lee, strongly tipped to lead Singapore after Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong decides to step aside, praised Indonesia's strategy which puts regional resilience as a precondition for national resilience.

Lee responded cautiously to a question about President B.J. Habibie's progress since he replaced Soeharto in May. He pointed out that Habibie was facing a huge task, not only on the economy but also on law enforcement and public order.

Lee, the son of Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, said the strengthening of the rupiah was an indication that confidence in the government was returning.

"President Habibie has a very difficult job as the country is very large ... I am happy to see that the rupiah has been stabilized, it is very difficult to predict which way the exchange rate will go, particularly as the environment and market are volatile," he said.

Many Singaporeans, politicians and ministers among them, were surprised and a little taken aback when Habibie recently described Singapore as a mere red dot compared to Indonesia.

But according to Lee, who is also in charge of the country's de facto central bank, the description served as a useful reminder of the city state's unavoidable problems.

"A little red dot is not an issue, (it's a) geographical fact we are small, without resources (while) the population is small, but we have to make a living," Lee noted.

He reiterated that his government should be very careful in disbursing a US$5 billion trade finance guarantee pledged to Indonesia, saying that public money should be managed in a responsible manner.

He said the regional economic crisis had begun to affect his country and acknowledged that his government would come under strong public pressure if it failed to handle the situation properly.

"This is a problem from outside of the country ... We are working together and sharing sacrifices and burdens together and therefore will be able to get out of the difficulties," Lee noted.

Early on Saturday, an official from the Singapore Trade Development Board (TDB) surprised the delegation of visiting Indonesian journalists when she said that her government had never included data on Indonesian-Singaporean trading activities in its official statistical publications.

TDB director Tan Seok Lee asked journalists to address the question directly to Lee, adding that it was a politically sensitive matter.

Lee said the two governments, more on Indonesia's request, had agreed many years ago that Singapore would not publicize this data because Indonesia used a different method to calculate official trade statistics.

"If we both publish figures there will be differences and there will be misunderstanding," Lee noted.

Lee was reluctant to comment on his future as Goh's successor.

"You said that," he laughed when a journalist described him as the country's future prime minister.