Singapore vs Rest of ASEAN

Singapore vs Rest of ASEAN

Thinking Rationally

Shefali Rekhi, Asia News Network/The Straits Times, Singapore

Pragmatic Singapore believes the pace of ASEAN integration is
just right and in this they differ from the other residents of
the region who say it is too slow.

Over eighty percent of those polled from Singapore, for The
Straits Times-ANN Asiapoll, said they believe the pace of
integration is appropriate but slightly more than half from the
rest of ASEAN -- 52 percent -- believe it can be hastened.

Responses from Singapore differ on other questions in the poll
on ASEAN identity as well.

The affinity with the rest of the region does not come across
as very strong, with 41 percent of those polled saying they
identify with others in the region, and the rest responding in
the negative.

The corresponding figures, for the other five countries of the
region, were 69 percent for those who said yes and 31 percent who
replied otherwise.

Two in ten Singapore respondents said they would consider
investing in ASEAN, while more than half from the other countries
were willing.

An overwhelming majority -- 92 percent -- they would opt for a
non-ASEAN country for getting themselves treated if they had a
major illness and 14 percent said they would encourage their
children to study in an ASEAN country.

Five in 10 of those polled in the city-state said they would
prefer to work in a non-ASEAN country, but from the rest of the
region, seven in 10 said the same.

"The difference in results is not very surprising,'' said Dr
Leo Suryadinata, a senior research fellow at the Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies.

"The Republic is a very urban city-state, most-developed and
ahead of everybody in the region. So you can expect the views of
people here to be different."

The knowledge and awareness of happenings in the region
clearly could have played a role -- as high as 86 percent of the
respondents said they have followed news about ASEAN in the past
six months.

And an overwhelming majority -- 95 percent -- said they got in
from mainstream media, the newspapers and television.

This is different in the other countries.

In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand close to half of those
polled said they depended on the internet for ASEAN news and in
Vietnam, a quarter of those surveyed said the web was their
source, suggesting that ASEAN news was not equally covered in the
mainstream media.

It also suggests that those who do not have easy internet
access may not be closely following developments in the region
and in turn explains the difference in opinion as well.

But despite this respondents from Singapore do see a future in
ASEAN and support moves to have flags and other symbols to
promote ASEAN identity.

It is the pace that they worry about.

On the question of a common currency for the region, for
instance, 30 percent of the respondents from Singapore said they
would support such a move, while seventy said they would not.

The tally for the region on this account was: 48 percent said
yes; 31.5 percent said no while the rest did not share their
views or were not sure.

"The results from the rest of the region on this question
surprise me," said Dr Denis Hew, Fellow and Coordinator of the
Regional Economic Studies Programme at the Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies.

"It is hard to guess why as many as 45 percent support such a
move. Perhaps it could be because those countries suffered quite
a bit during the Asian financial crisis.

"But there is much to be done before any such move can be
initiated. Trade integration is among the first steps. ASEAN has
made a beginning but it will take some time."

For the ST-ANN Asiapoll, Singapore Press Holdings' marketing,
planning and development (research) department polled 419
Singaporeans and Permanent Residents across the city.

The sample was randomly selected, for the face-to-face
interviews in the last week of October and about a fifth of those
surveyed were professionals, managers, executives and
businessmen.