SE Asia 'written off': S'pore the exception

SE Asia 'written off': S'pore the exception

SINGAPORE (AP): Investors have "written off" all Southeast Asia, except Singapore, because of political instability in the region, the island's deputy prime minister told a group of university students.

Lee Hsien Loong said late Tuesday that Singaporeans needed to differentiate themselves to keep foreign investment flowing in. Lee, who also heads the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the de facto central bank, is the son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew and is widely expected to be city-state's next prime minister.

"Investors and analysts have become negative about prospects for the whole of Southeast Asia," Lee said. "They have written off the whole region, except Singapore, and are not even following events closely."

Lee said Singapore, with four million people, was too small to be a regional leader and that the wealthy city-state would lose business to Hong Kong because enterprises want to be closer to China.

"One country doing well in Asia is China. Its economy is growing, it is rapidly modernizing itself, and it is about to join the WTO, which will further open up its economy and society," Lee said. "This is positive, but it will benefit Northeast Asia more than Southeast Asia, Hong Kong more than Singapore."

Lee said Thailand's recent elections and the downfall of Philippines President Joseph Estrada had unnerved investors.

He said Indonesia was in the "midst of a wrenching transition" and that Malaysia was "striving to fend off a strong challenge from the opposition Islamic party."

To differentiate themselves, Lee said Singaporeans needed to work together to maintain racial harmony.

"Singapore is an island that is stable, looks ahead, and works cohesively together to tackle problems and challenges," he said. "This will not only benefit Singapore, but will also encourage the investors to maintain interest in Southeast Asia, so that when conditions improve they will be ready to invest again."