Yeo Lay Hwee

Yeo Lay Hwee
Senior Research Fellow
Singapore Institute of
International Affairs
The Straits Times
Asia News Network
Singapore

The way that the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has
spread far and wide through travelers shows, on the one hand, how
interconnected the world has become, and on the other, how
international cooperation and consciousness are lacking in many
areas.

Globalization, the phenomenon which generated so much
controversy until the war in Iraq, is again in the limelight --
this time because of "viral globalization", which is inevitable
in this highly interconnected world unless more can be done to
stop the spread once the source is identified.

The speed and distance that the SARS virus has traveled is
indeed phenomenal. The fact that so many cases in different
places -- Hongkong, Singapore, Vietnam, the U.S. and Canada --
can be traced to one single Chinese tourist in Hongkong is
amazing. Viruses know no boundary and respect no sovereignty.

This brings us to the issue of international cooperation and
human security. Environmental degradation, pollution and
infectious diseases may not seem like direct and identifiable
threats to the state. But their impact on human security, and
ultimately the cost to the social fabric and economic resources
of a state are considerable.

The concept of human security is not new. While the
traditional paradigm concerns national security, achieved
primarily through military capabilities, human security relates
to overall human life and dignity.

Based on the United Nations Development Program's perspective,
human security is the protection from the threat of disease,
environmental hazards, hunger, unemployment and crime as well as
social conflict and political repression.

While human security is often disregarded by those who take a
more traditional, state-centric approach to security, a more
globalist approach asserts that an international society has
emerged that integrates communications, cultures and economics in
new ways and in a manner that transcends state-centric relations.

The threat of infectious diseases to human security in terms
of impact on human life and the quality of life is clear.

But more importantly, the spread of such diseases can
undermine public confidence in the national government, and
affect adversely the socioeconomic foundation of the state.

A more serious and longer-term implication is the potential
that any new virus and disease can have as weapons in biowarfare
and bioterrorism.

Already, we can see that within less than a month of the SARS
outbreak in Singapore, it has had a negative impact on certain
retail businesses, the tourism industry and its related services,
and the transportation industry. The impact and cost of SARS
worldwide has yet to be accounted for fully.

Where terrorism has failed, SARS has almost succeeded. People
are cutting down travel, including business travel. With many
quarantined, the economies of countries, both with and without
SARS outbreaks, are affected in many different ways.

Globalization has made us interdependent. The movement of
people has increased qualitatively and quantitatively. Current
estimates put the number of people crossing international
frontiers aboard commercial flights at more than 500 million
every year.

However, unlike the challenge posed by traditional concerns
such as overt aggression, the threats emanating from such issues
as the spread of diseases, environmental degradation, organized
crimes and terrorism are far more ambiguous as they are
transnational in character, and beyond the power of any single
nation to address on its own.

Progress in controlling and confronting these problems will
have to come not only through national integrity and measures but
also unprecedented cooperation at regional and international
levels.

While it is no use pointing fingers with regard to the
outbreak of SARS, an important lesson can be learnt. If
information on the disease had been disseminated quickly, and
help from regional and international experts sought early, a
collective and collaborative effort might have slowed down the
spread, and a diagnostic kit discovered earlier.

In dealing with issues of human security and problems that
have cross-border implications, openness is crucial. Traditional
spatial notions of security and national stability defined purely
within borders are outdated.

The spread of infectious diseases has serious implications for
the international system. National governments need to develop
ways to deal with such issues in a larger global context
systematically, openly and constructively.