Welcome Prime Minister Goh

Welcome Prime Minister Goh

What makes Singapore run? This is one of the relevant
questions that Indonesians could ask themselves as they welcome
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong today. Singapore has long been this
region's modern economic hub. And even with most of Southeast
Asia flattened by economic and political crises, Singapore has
been practically the only country left in this region to have
remained almost totally unscathed by the turmoil.

Of course, a number of circumstances can be mentioned in this
respect that are in Singapore's favor. First, it is obviously a
good deal easier to manage the welfare of some 3 million people,
such as Singapore has, than Indonesia's 200 million population.

Similarly, it must clearly be easier to govern a city-state of
about 240 square miles rather than a sprawling archipelago of
more than 17,000 islands with a size more than 3,000 times that
of Singapore. Furthermore, Singapore's strategic location on one
of the world's busiest trade routes gives it an advantage that
other, bigger countries might envy.

Though Singapore, like Indonesia, is multi-racial as well as
multi-cultural, the division of its population into three major
population groups -- Chinese, Malay and Indian -- makes it much
easier to manage than Indonesia, with its hundreds of ethnic
communities and its religious and cultural diversity.

Nevertheless, size, strategic location and relative
homogeneity alone do not necessarily guarantee success. Without
the good political and economic management that only a clean and
credible government can deliver, the capability of any country,
big or small, to attain the kind of position that Singapore
currently enjoys in the world remains unlikely.

At the same time, Indonesians in this era of democratic reform
might well question the wisdom of their close neighbor's
maintaining its current reputedly authoritarian, or at least
restrictive, system of government. Indonesia, after all, has
twice experimented with such as system -- first under Sukarno's
Guided Democracy, then under Soeharto's Pancasila Democracy --
and failed.

The question that tempts to be asked is: Wouldn't it be for
the good of Singapore to start making a gradual shift towards
greater democracy? Or would Indonesia be better off adopting a
government that in certain aspects resembles that practiced in
Singapore? The answer to this question may not be as simple as it
may look. Various factors that are intrinsic to both countries
would have to be carefully considered before a conclusion can be
reached.

As many observers here seem to see it, however, the key to
Singapore's success appears to be that the system is accepted as
legitimate by its people. The reason is obvious. Ever since its
founding as an independent state in 1965 under Prime Minister Lee
Kuan Yew, Singapore has had a succession of clean governments who
have managed to deliver the goods for the people, making the
island-state one of the most prosperous countries in the world.
Despite the continued dominance of the ruling People's Action
Party (PAP) and its leaders' iron-fisted rule of the country,
general elections have been fair and free of rigging -- all of
which help to make opposition charges of autocracy sound a bit
irrelevant.

All in all, there is much that Indonesians can learn from the
Singapore experience. Under present circumstances, though, it is
a welcome sign that leaders in both countries, Singapore and
Indonesia, seem to realize that the most important aspect of
relations that must be promoted is economic cooperation, hence
the inclusion of some 60 businessmen from the U.S., Europe and
Singapore in Prime Minister Goh's entourage.

In welcoming him and his delegation, we wish the Singaporean
Prime Minister and his Indonesian counterparts all the success in
their efforts to promote good relations in the coming days.