The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

THE EDITORS

Series Chairman:

Series Editor:

Editorial Committee:

Mr Chairman, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Prime Minister, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am grateful to my friend and senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew for his kind remarks. This is a truly historic moment for all of us, not merely in a temporal, but also in a historical sense. Although my own association with Southeast Asia and Singapore goes back to a decade and a half, the ties that bind India and Southeast and East Asia are so old that they are still being fully traced by historians, who increasingly have to get the assistance of archaeologists.

Singapore has graciously hosted Alamkara, an exposition titled “Five Thousand Years of India”. It was conceived as a presentation not merely of the ancient Indian civilization but a reaffirmation of the ties that bound our ancestors together. You may be interested to know that even the name of your city is very common in India and I know at least two villages close to my own with the same name. And I myself carry part of your city in my own name. I am sure you cannot think of another guest so closely identified with you.

I was therefore not a little perplexed when I faced the task of drafting an address to this distinguished gathering on the “new relationship” India is forging with the Asia-Pacific. I suppose the connotation has something to do with the fact that in Asia, the industrial and technological revolution was heralded only late in this century, but the advances in development have been so rapid in recent decades or even years that it would be fair to say that it is not the reality that is changing, but change which is becoming a reality.

Your Excellency, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Your Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Tony Tan, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am greatly honoured to give this speech here in Singapore, the final stop on my schedule of visits to the countries of ASEAN.

Singapore is a remarkable nation with remarkable people. Bursting through the constraints of size and resources, Singapore through sheer energy and willpower has created a tremendous place for itself in the world. Through its economic and diplomatic vitality, it contributes to the international community far in excess of what size alone would warrant. And so to the government and people of Singapore, let me express my admiration and respect for your achievements.

I am told that Singapore is called the “Lion City”. Maybe it has something to do with my hairstyle, but in Japan I am known as the “Lion Prime Minister”. Perhaps that is why I am so delighted to be here in the Lion City.

Today I would like to speak about co-operation between Japan and ASEAN and my concept of how this co-operation can contribute to all of East Asia.

Let me begin by defining what co-operation truly is. Co-operation is working in common purpose with others in order to accomplish more. In the simplest terms, this is what I would like to see Japan and ASEAN accomplish—more prosperity, more peace, more understanding, more trust. This co-operation requires an exchange of ideas, opinions and people.

Introduction

Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman Wong Ah Long, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very grateful to have been invited to deliver this Singapore Lecture. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to everyone at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies for affording me this opportunity.

I consider myself to have been presented with a very timely opportunity today, in two or three senses.

Five days ago on Sunday, Japan held an election to select half of the members of our House of Councillors. Today is my first opportunity since the election to deliver a structured talk on the Japanese economy and various other issues.

Most importantly of all, the will to change has returned to Japan, and so has strength. The “revolving door” politics with its high turnover for which Japan is now known has disappeared and is now a thing of the past.

The second sense in which today's address is timely is that three days ago, Japan made its debut in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement process, joining the negotiations underway in Malaysia, your neighbour.

I am intent on Japan expanding the potential of the economy of the Asia-Pacific region further, together with the United States and the other member countries in the negotiations.

The third reason is that this year marks exactly the fortieth year of ASEAN-Japan relations. To commemorate this, Japan has invited the ASEAN heads of state and government to Japan in December, when we will hold a special summit.

Today is therefore a truly ideal opportunity to consider the future of ASEAN-Japan relations.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am very grateful to the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and to its Director, Professor Sandhu, for the kind invitation to deliver the Singapore Lecture 1986. I thank the Senior Minister, Mr Rajaratnam, for introducing me with such witty and gracious words. Mr Minister, I am not Godot because I am here; I am an economist—but I do not know whether I am an optimist or a pessimist. I am an economist who has to face facts, and the facts are strong and problematic. I have had to face facts in the European Community, I have had to face facts as Prime Minister of my country. And based on my experiences, I feel that the main quality of an economist should be humility. He tries to solve problems but he is not sure to succeed. What is important is neither optimism nor pessimism, but lucidity. And I will try tonight to be lucid about the problems which I have chosen to discuss.

Firstly, let me say that I am honoured and pleased to address such a distinguished audience, in a country which, despite its small size, plays a very important role in this region under the leadership of its Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. It is an example of hard work, innovation, and adaptability. It has reaped the fruits of its continuous effort. May I express today, to Singapore, one of the dragons of Southeast Asia, all my wishes for the same success in the future.

Let me begin by congratulating the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies on its golden anniversary and by thanking the Director of the Institute for inviting me to deliver the Singapore Lecture.

I particularly appreciate the opportunity to speak here today on the challenges and objectives of our democratic transition as Singapore is the Chair of ASEAN this year. Our ASEAN friends have been generous with necessary help and support as we negotiate the passage of an intricate transition. They have demonstrated the value of regional solidarity based on shared experiences and aspirations. The premise that what helps one part helps the whole underpins the consensual, cooperative approach that has played a vital part in making ASEAN one of the most successful regional organizations in the world, despite development gaps between its member states.

A transition, to put it simply, is the process of going across from one point to another. The distance that must be covered, and the nature of the terrain that must be travelled define the scope and complexity of the challenges that have to be faced and overcome. Myanmar is crossing over from a long-established, authoritarian system to one that we label “democracy”. Our people's perception, or rather, perceptions of democracy, varied, incoherent and inconsistent as they may be, impact on the transition that our country is undergoing today.

During the last three quarters of a century, Myanmar has undergone three major transitions: from colonial rule to independence in 1948, from parliamentary democracy to military dictatorship in 1962, and still in progress today since 1988, still incomplete, is the transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Your Excellency Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,

Thank you, Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The Singapore Lecture is a highly acclaimed international forum. State leaders, eminent politicians, specialists and scholars from many countries have made weighty and inspiring remarks on regional and international issues at this forum. Today, I feel greatly honoured and delighted to have the opportunity of meeting you, people from different circles in Singapore, briefing you on developments in China and discussing with you the development prospects for China and Asia. Many of you here are old friends and long-term partners of the Chinese people. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to you and all other Singapore friends who have contributed to enhanced friendship between our two peoples.

Mankind is at the threshold of the 21st century. In the evolution of world civilization, the 20th century is one of hardships and sufferings as well as one of unprecedented material and spiritual wealth. The rise of Asia and the enormous changes in China represent one of the greatest miracles of this century.

From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, the Chinese people fought courageously and finally won national independence and liberation and founded New China. Not long ago, the Chinese people held a grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Over the past fifty years, China has witnessed earth-shaking changes. For the past twenty years in particular since China started its reform and opened up to the outside world, it has scored even more remarkable achievements in its socialist modernization drive.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong,

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean,

NUS President Mr Tan Chorh Chuan,

Professor Wang Gungwu,

Faculty Members and Students,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning! I am delighted to come to the National University of Singapore and talk to you as a guest speaker of Singapore Lecture. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore, and it gives me great pleasure to pay a state visit to the garden state of Singapore at the invitation of President Tan Keng Yam.

With a history of 110 years, the National University of Singapore is renowned both in Asia and internationally. Many Singaporean leaders such as Mr Lee Kuan Yew, President Tan Keng Yam, Mr S.R. Nathan and Mr Goh Chok Tong, graduated from NUS. Indeed, NUS has produced a galaxy of talents and outstanding public leaders for Singapore. NUS champions the vision that there should be no walls around minds, no walls to ideas, no walls to talent and no walls between discovery. Such a no-walls culture embodies the creative, enterprising, open and inclusive spirit of Singapore, an important factor contributing to the success of NUS and Singapore.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the independence of Singapore. In the last 50 years, the hard-working and visionary people of Singapore have endured hardships and succeeded in building Singapore into one of the most advanced countries in Asia and a leading international economic, financial, shipping, and refining and petrochemicals center. Its achievements in national development are widely recognized.

Master of Ceremonies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Long years ago, trade and other relations existed between Asia and Southern Africa—relations that we are only now starting to fully appreciate. In our own country, recent excavations have attested to the existence of kingdoms with advanced mining, smelting and other skills, along part of the highway from the coast to Southern Africa's great settlements in the hinterland. Some of the pottery and other artefacts discovered here had their origins in the dynasties of Asia, as evidence to the trade and exchange of skills that existed at the turn of the last millennium.

Our people are proud to uncover a history all along concealed. They are proud to establish that, contrary to conventional wisdom, they were a full and active part of Africa's relations with the world, long before European settlers set their foot on the continent. Then came the interregnum of colonial plunder which not only brought untold suffering to the African peoples, but also destroyed the international relations across the wide frontiers of seas and oceans.

During this interregnum, Africa found itself tied to Europe's colonial apronstrings: its trade, diplomatic relations, education and culture were systematically remade in the image of the colonial victors. But it was an interregnum, too, when colonizers who, as unwitting tools of history, brought new technological and communication skills that have redefined the world. Now as we stand at the threshold of a new millennium, we are fortunate witnesses to the rebirth of natural relations between Africa and Asia, relations which colonialism sought to mediate in its own interest.

Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is both a pleasure and an honour to be with you today to deliver this Singapore Lecture.

The list of speakers invited to give this series of lectures includes many prestigious names and world leaders. I am happy to join their company and I thank the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies for inviting me.

This is my second visit to Asia this year, but my first to Southeast Asia as President of the European Commission. I welcome this opportunity to discuss issues of mutual concern with the distinguished company present today and in meetings with members of the Singapore Government.

Co-operation between Europe and Asia is going from strength to strength: we have ASEM, the co-operation framework with ASEAN, and a wide range of bilateral and informal contacts.

We have close economic ties and share many concerns. Our relationship now embraces far more than just “trade and aid”.

So why have I chosen diversity as my theme today?

Diversity defines the relations between two entities that are not identical. Diversity in nations and cultures, in interests and objectives, creates the need for an effort towards convergence so that we can work together. It characterizes the regional structures we are building in Europe and Asia, and indeed our interregional partnership.

Integration processes are taking place at the two ends of the Eurasian continent. Indeed, there is a clear trend towards regional co-operation throughout the world.

In fact, regional co-operation, subject to certain principles and conditions, is one of the most effective answers to the challenge of globalization. I will come back to this issue later.

Ladies and gentlemen, we in Europe have been pioneers in regional integration for close on fifty years. Here in Asia it is a more recent process.

In the European Union it has given us tangible returns: peace, stability, and growing prosperity. The greatest reward of all is that we have stopped settling disagreements by armed conflict. But this has taken many years of hard work.

We are now gearing up for the entry in 2004 of 76 million people to our existing Union of 380 million people. The enlarged Union will then account for more than a quarter of world GDP and one fifth of world trade.

On 14 October 1980, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) hosted the inaugural Singapore Lecture given by Professor Milton Friedman to a packed audience at the Singapore Conference Hall. The First Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Dr Goh Keng Swee chaired the lecture. The Monetary Authority of Singapore provided an endowment to ISEAS for the Singapore Lecture Series that year that was augmented three years later by a donation from Mobil Oil Singapore. Since then, the lectures have been co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ISEAS. The lectures usually are chaired by the Prime Minister or a Senior Cabinet member to reflect their purpose and status.

At that time, it was unlikely that ISEAS or the Singapore government realized how important a platform this lecture series would become for senior foreign experts and leaders to share their views on regional and global developments with a particular focus on their country or institution and Singapore. The lectures, spanning over almost four decades, have addressed the most important economic and strategic changes Singapore and Southeast Asia have had to respond to. These include the East-West confrontation of the Cold War, the end of the Cold War, the re-emergence of China as Asia's leading power, India's resurgence, ASEAN centrality, global financial turmoil, globalization and its drawbacks and the threat of global terrorism.

By the end of August 2018, ISEAS, by then renamed ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, has had the honour of hosting forty-four Singapore Lectures. A complete list is available at the end of this volume. Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke was the first serving political leader to deliver a Singapore Lecture, the 8th lecture delivered in November 1987. A year later Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia became the first leader from Asia to give a Singapore Lecture.

The roster of eminent persons who have accepted the invitation to give a Singapore Lecture is truly global in scope. Speakers have come from all parts of Asia, from Africa, South America, Oceania, Europe, North America and NATO and the United Nations. Befitting Singapore's location, seventeen Singapore Lectures have been delivered by serving political leaders from Asia, including the 44th Singapore Lecture by Li Keqiang, the premier of the People's Republic of China.

Thank you, Professor Jayakumar, for that most generous introduction. You have raised expectations which I shall have difficulty living up to. Indeed, your dual credentials as scholar and policy-maker make you a hard act for any lecturer to follow.

But one thing about those credentials does give me great encouragement for the topic I have chosen to speak about in front of this very distinguished audience. And that is the fact that you are both Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law.

Offhand, I cannot think of any member state of the United Nations in which those two positions are combined. And I imagine that in some member states the combination might even be thought eccentric. People still tend to see law as an almost exclusively domestic matter, while foreign policy is seen as the realm of pragmatism and even Realpolitik—a domain where there is no law but the law of the jungle.

I am very glad to see that in Singapore you think differently. Not that you have a starry-eyed confidence in the eternally benign and law-abiding instincts of your neighbours. I know that you also set great store by being able to defend yourselves if need be, and that is certainly not something I would reproach you for. Every state enjoys the right of self-defence, under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. And, so long as its intentions are purely and unmistakably defensive—as yours are—the fact that a state is able and willing to defend itself reduces the risk that others will attack it.

In addition, a state with strong defence forces is better able to contribute to collective security operations when the need arises.

Thank you, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, for that very warm introduction.

Your Excellency, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Chairman Chia Cheong Fook, and Director Chia Siow Yue of ISEAS, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I am infinitely honoured to be given this opportunity to speak at the prestigious Singapore Lecture organized by the world-renowned Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Under the outstanding leaderships of Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, Singapore has attained the highest levels in international competitiveness, as well as social stability and welfare. I am quite aware that behind this national feat has been the input of such an outstanding think-tank as the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Ladies and gentlemen, history tells us that peace on the Korean Peninsula has far-reaching implications for the fate of East Asia as a whole. At the end of the 19th century, imperial Japan was victorious in war against China and Russia in the early 20th century, and thus colonized the Korean Peninsula. Building upon this strength, Japan went on to invade mainland China, and further—Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

More recently, the Korean War of the early 1950s, which is still a vivid memory for many of us here, affected most countries of East Asia, directly or indirectly. Because of the unique geopolitical location, peace on the Peninsula is closely linked to that of East Asia.

It has been fifty years since the Korean War broke out. During the half century since, South and North Korea have lived as hostile enemies in extreme distrust of each other.

Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore; Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman of Institute of Southeast Asian Studies; Mr K. Kesavapany, Director of the Institute; Authorities, members of the diplomatic corps; members of the academic community; members of the business community; and students present here this afternoon.

Dear Friends

I am so sorry that I think that the friends in Singapore will keep referring to Miss Cecilia Bolocco than today's speaker. I am so sorry for that.

Let me tell you that it was not without hesitation that I accepted the task of sharing with you some views on Global Challenges in this 24th Singapore Lecture.

I say “some hesitation” because the list of my predecessors here is indeed impressive, and I am extremely honoured that you think I can follow in the steps of my predecessors.

I accepted this invitation primarily because of our interest in Singapore. We certainly share an ocean, but also much more than an ocean. I would say that we share a common value: a common approach to economic reform. Both countries, Chile and Singapore, look forward to integration into the world society and this integration is convenient for our own people. We also understand that in order to integrate in the society we need to share some common values to build the kind of society we are going to be.

To be competitive today, you need to have some kind of internal cohesion. You need to share some common values in the way that you have been able to, to succeed in that particular area here in the last forty years in Singapore.

Mr Deputy Prime Minister, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I accepted the invitation to speak here with great eagerness. Although Singapore is a relatively small country in terms of population, I must say that in terms of its influence—when I was in office—under the distinguished leadership that you have, Singapore has always played a very significant role.

I want to take this opportunity to tell you how important for my own intellectual development and understanding of this area has been the constant friendship, and the occasional scolding, we have received from your Prime Minister. The first time I met your Prime Minister, he was telling my academic colleagues at Harvard that they didn't know what they were talking about. Later, he appeared from time to time in Washington, when I was in office, to recall us to our duty. So I am here as an admirer of what has been accomplished here, and as a friend of your leaders.

I believe that the Deputy Prime Minister has posed exactly the right question for our period and exactly the question that the United States must answer if free societies are to survive. The key question of our period is whether the United States can muster sufficient understanding and sufficient resolution to maintain and to prevail in the contest that is now taking place.

For the emotional balance of those members of the American Embassy who may be here, I would like to stress that I speak in my private capacity, and that you must receive the official formulations from our Ambassador and his outstanding staff.

Excellency, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong,

Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam,

Honourable Ministers,

Professor Tan Tai Yong,

Distinguished guests,

Thank you for the honour and privilege of delivering the Singapore Lecture.

I am conscious that I walk in the footsteps of leaders who have shaped modern India and our relationship with this region—President Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Shri P.V. Narsimha Rao, and former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mr Prime Minister, I am deeply honoured that you have joined us here.

We have been on the road together in the past few weeks—for the G20 and the ASEAN and East Asia Summits.

This tells you how deeply linked the destinies of our two nations are.

To the people of Singapore, on 50 years of Independence, I extend the greetings and the good wishes of 1.25 billion friends and admirers.

In the life of humans and nations, milestones of time are natural.

But, few countries can celebrate the first 50 years of existence with a sense of pride and satisfaction that Singapore deserves to.

And, I can do no better than to begin with homage to one of the tallest leaders of our time and the architect of modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew.

To capture his mission in his own words, he gave his life to see a successful Singapore.

And, it was with his well-known steely determination that he saw Singapore through to its golden jubilee year.

His impact was global. And, in him, India had a well-wisher, who spoke with the honesty of true friendship.