Singapore ready to lend a hand to RI

Singapore ready to lend a hand to RI

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Following are excerpts of a Reuters
interview with Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong conducted
on Monday.

You were going to lead a mission to Indonesia on Thursday.
Ahead of that visit, how would you characterize relations between
your two countries?

I would say relations between Indonesia and Singapore are
good, they are friendly. There is an expectation from Indonesia
that Singapore can play a role in helping the economy to recover,
so I'm going there to assess for myself what we can do. I'm going
there with some ideas and see whether they are practical ideas
for the Indonesians.

Looking at the trade mission itself, President (Abdurrahman)
Wahid visited Singapore in November as well as other ASEAN
nations, and said that he'd like to see a greater partnership.
You actually launched the idea of a trade mission. What concrete
measures do you see this trip producing?

First, I think the security situation in Indonesia causes
potential investors to be rather cautious. I've read reports from
risk analysts as well as political commentators that investors
will hold back unless the security situation improves.

And of course people are watching the political stability of
Indonesia. But nevertheless, I'm there to express confidence in
the present government. I think it's the best government you can
get given the circumstance. It's a very difficult job for
President Abdurrahman, but I think there are prospects of helping
them.

So I'm thinking first of focusing on the projects that we have
in (the islands of) Batam, Bintan...that are close to Singapore,
and we have ongoing industrial parks and tourist resorts.

So I'm going to expand on the investments we have over there.
Now secondly, we have about six million tourists visiting
Singapore every year. I'm looking for ways to funnel as many of
these tourists to Indonesia as possible. That would involve joint
advertising, by joint I mean we would advertise Indonesia and
Singapore at our expense, in other words to try and funnel as
many of these tourists as possible to go to Indonesia.

And thirdly, unless Indonesia can release the IBRA (Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency) assets -- that is those assets under
management by IBRA, it is difficult to get the economy going. So
I'm trying to see if we can play a catalytic role, along with
others, to put the assets to work.

Today's Straits Times editorial noted some of the potential
hurdles. It basically urged caution to what Singapore can do
right now. If you were able to achieve one thing in particular in
terms of confidence, what would that be?

Well, if we can get some of the foreign investors to go along
with us, then that would signal a return of confidence in
Indonesia. The rest is up to Indonesia -- the security situation
is beyond any one of us, it's for Indonesians to handle. So if we
can get some projects going, for Batam, Bintan, that's easier,
nevertheless it's important if we can get some projects going
there. But in other parts of Indonesia which we are focused on, I
think that's a bit more difficult, but nevertheless I think we
should try.

Looking at the provinces, particularly Ambon or Aceh, do
developments there to some degree endanger economic recovery and
ultimately put Indonesia itself at risk?

Oh very much, because investors look at Indonesia from what
they read in the newspapers. If there are conflicts,
disturbances, demonstrations on Ambon and Aceh, investors are
going to take a watch-and-see attitude. The separatist pressures
are worrying enough, but in Jakarta itself we are seeing
demonstrations. So I think the Indonesians have got to understand
that the more they demonstrate against the government, the more
they put pressure on the government, the more difficult it is for
the government to attract investments into Indonesia.

And of course the risk of Indonesia splintering is aways
there. I myself hold the view that it won't happen in the short
term, but the risks are there for Indonesia.

How would you assess how the government has responded to
developments in Ambon and Aceh?

Well, I think it's a very complex problem. They've tried as
best as they could and the President has said that it's a matter
for the locals to handle. I mean they could provide the security
apparatus, but essentially the local leaders themselves must get
together and resolve the problem. It's just rather complex and
complicated.

Sir, talking about other expectations for Singapore, one is
that the population itself will expand perhaps from around four
million right now to around five million perhaps by the end of
the decade. Assuming that that also includes a greater foreign
inflow into this country, how or what policies from the
government or the PAP would look to...bring in those new
potential voters?

We have the capacity to accommodate five, maybe in extreme,
six million people in Singapore -- I mean the infrastructure we
can take care of. We can build higher, we can make sure we have
enough open space for Singaporeans to have a good life in
Singapore. I think the texture of Singapore will change when we
have more foreigners in Singapore.

And already we are telling Singaporeans that in future to
succeed as an economy, as a nation, we have to be more
cosmopolitan. You can't be the same old Singapore with just
Chinese, Indians and Malays, trying to shore up and sustain a
rather modern sophisticated economy. And the economy is big given
the size of the population, so we have to change the nature of
our society, we have to be much more international, we have to be
much more urbane, much more cosmopolitan.