15200 results in ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
11 - Global Values: The United Nations and the Rule of Law in the 21st Century
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 186-199
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Kofi A. Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, delivered the 18th Singapore Lecture on 14 February 2000. He was introduced by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law Professor S. Jayakumar. The lecture is an eloquent defence of the importance of international law and the need for all countries to uphold the rule of law. These issues have assumed greater salience in present times when international rules and norms are being challenged by powerful states.
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.
12 - Peace on the Korean Peninsula and East Asia
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- By Kim Dae-jung
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 200-209
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President Kim Dae-jung of the Republic of Korea gave the 19th Singapore Lecture on 27 November 2000. He was introduced by Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. President Kim was awarded the 2000 Noble Peace Prize for his efforts to improve the lives of the Korean people at great personal cost, and to reach out to North Korea through his “Sunshine Policy” which resulted in the historic first summit meeting between leaders of the two Koreas in Pyongyang. The lecture focuses on inter-Korean relations and their importance to East Asia.
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.
15 - Global Challenges in the 21st Century: A View from Chile
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 228-236
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President Ricardo Lagos of Chile gave the 24th Singapore Lecture on 30 April 2004 during his state visit to Singapore. He has been the only Latin American leader to do so. He was introduced to the audience by Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While sharing Singapore's outlook on good governance and free trade, President Lagos expresses concern about the downside of globalization on the weaker sectors of society and the environment, something that was to attract more international attention in the second decade of the new century. He advocates for new international institutions and rules to ensure that globalization is fair to everybody.
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.
Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
- Implications for Southeast Asia
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 09 October 2021
- Print publication:
- 07 October 2020
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Over the last 40 years, the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute has been honoured to partner with the Singapore government in hosting 44 Singapore Lectures. The Singapore Lecture series is a unique public platform for world leaders and experts visiting Singapore that reflects the city-state's role as a global hub of ideas and diplomacy. The 21 lectures chosen for this 40th anniversary volume chart the fundamental changes in the global economy and the inter-state system that Southeast Asia and Singapore have successfully navigated over these four momentous decades.
2 - American Foreign Policy: A Global View
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 19-36
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On 30 October 1981, Dr Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State, gave the 2nd Singapore Lecture after being welcomed by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister S. Rajaratnam. Dr Kissinger was the second American and first former government official to give a Singapore Lecture following Professor Milton Friedman in 1980. His lecture analyses the unique position of the US globally in the post-World War II era and the challenges this poses for US foreign policy. This is followed by his observations on communism and the Soviet Union and US relations with the developing world, including a critique of the non-aligned movement's criticisms of the US. The lecture serves an excellent primer for the domestic and global dimensions of US post-war foreign and security policy.
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.
19 - India’s Singapore Story
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 273-279
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India delivered the 37th Singapore Lecture on 23 November 2015. He was introduced by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Prime Minister Modi was the third Indian Prime Minister to give a Singapore Lecture. Elected as leader of India only a year and a half earlier, he was riding a wave of optimism about his bold domestic and foreign policy initiatives. The lecture covers a range of subjects from India-Singapore relations to India's domestic transformation and to India in East and Southeast Asia.
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.
16 - Indonesia: The Challenge of Change
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 237-243
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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Republic of Indonesia gave the 25th Singapore Lecture on 16 February 2005, less than four months into his presidency and less than two months after the devastating Boxing Day tsunami that hit Sumatra. He was introduced by Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong. Yudhoyono was an active foreign policy president and a strong supporter of ASEAN. His lecture focuses on Indonesia's domestic challenges and Indonesia-Singapore relations.
My good friend Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong; Excellencies; Ladies and Gentlemen.
Dear friends:
Thank you, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, for your kind words and for graciously agreeing to chair our session today. We remember you as an able statesman and a good friend of Indonesia, who did exemplary work carrying the baton from Singapore's remarkable leader, Lee Kuan Yew.
I wish to begin by thanking ISEAS for inviting me to give the Singapore Lecture here today. Since having been elected President, I have given several keynote speeches at different forums, but this is the first time since I received my doctorate degree that anyone has asked me to give a “lecture”. As flattering as this is, I do not feel that I am in a position to lecture to an audience made up of Singapore's best brains. In fact, Singapore, being the world's most successful city-state, has a lot to tell the world about the lessons of governance.
I stand here today to speak about “the challenge of change for Indonesia”.
All of you in Singapore know the meaning of “change” very well. I know of no other country in the world which has changed as rapidly and as frequently as Singapore. In the last few decades, you have transformed this island into a modern city-state, a world-class trading, manufacturing, financial centre, thus making Singapore relevant—relevant to the region, relevant to the world economy.
There are many ways to measure “greatness” in a nation, but history tells us that the measure of a country's greatness lies in its ability to adapt—adapt to changing times, adapt to new challenges, adapt to emerging trends, adapt to new terrains.
1 - The Invisible Hand in Economics and Politics
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 1-18
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Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate in economics and Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, delivered the inaugural Singapore Lecture on 14 October 1980. He was introduced to the audience by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee. A proponent of free market capitalism with minimal governmental involvement, Professor Friedman's influential ideas helped to move economic consensus to the right, leading to the free market revolutions in Britain and America in the 1980s. They also had strong influence in other parts of the world. Professor Friedman's lecture, followed by a Q&A session, was a stimulating exposition of his ideas.
I am going to talk tonight about some very broad issues, but issues that I believe have a direct bearing on the prospects of much of the world over the coming decade. My comments will be divided into three parts. I want to talk, first, about the changing trends that have dominated developments in the world over the past several centuries, and that I think foreshadow the developments that we shall see in the coming decades. I want then to examine a bit more carefully the nature of the forces that produced those trends; finally, I want to conclude by looking at what developments are likely in coming decades in response to those forces.
In 1899, a famous British constitutional lawyer, A.V. Dicey, gave a series of lectures at Harvard University, which were later collected and published in a book under the title: Lectures on the Relation between Law and Public Opinion in the Nineteenth Century. That book contains a profound analysis of the forces that determine the government policies and of the role of public opinion in shaping those policies. Dicey's main thesis was that legislation affecting public policy follows public opinion but only after a long lag. If public opinion moves, then some ten or twenty years later, that movement in public opinion is reflected in policy. This idea was expressed later in a famous paragraph by John Maynard Keynes when he talked of “madmen in authority … distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back”.
5 - Regionalism, Globalism and Spheres of Influence: ASEAN and the Challenge of Change into the 21st Century
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 09 October 2021
- Print publication:
- 07 October 2020, pp 76-96
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On 14 December 1988, Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Bin Mohamad gave the 9th Singapore Lecture after being welcomed by Singapore's first foreign minister S. Rajaratnam. Prime Minister Mahathir was the first Asian leader to give a Singapore Lecture and the second sitting political leader to give a Singapore Lecture following Prime Minister Bob Hawke of Australia in 1987. Prime Minister Mahathir's lecture stands out for its broad and ambitious vision. The lecture weaves together the emergence of a pragmatic post-Cold War global era, the rise of China and the need for closer ASEAN integration and cooperation in this emerging global order. The lecture serves as a useful source of reflection for current analysis of these very same issues.
Mr Rajaratnam, Honourable Prime Minister, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Before I speak I would like to say thank you to Mr Rajaratnam for his kind words. I am afraid he has raised too many expectations from my talk. I am going to be very conservative tonight and I am not going to be nasty to anyone. So, it would be a different person from the person who was born on 20 December 1925 who will be speaking before you tonight. So I apologize for the disappointment I am about to cause.
I would like to thank the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies for inviting me to deliver this Singapore Lecture, the ninth in your series. It is indeed a great honour for someone who is not an economist and who is not a retired statesman to be invited to speak at one of the most celebrated events of the Institute.
The subject of this Singapore Lecture is related to the future. My fear is that economists and politicians, retired or otherwise, are about as good at foretelling the future as those who rely on the stars and the tea leaves. Practising economists have the aid of the most sophisticated models and the most sophisticated and complex theories. The members of this profession have the advantage of being able to rely on the staple of their trade: the two hands—on the one hand, this, on the other hand, that.
3 - The Soviet Union: Challenges and Responses as Seen from the European Point of View
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 37-56
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On 10 November 1983, the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Schmidt gave the 4th Singapore Lecture after being welcomed by Minister for Culture S. Dhanabalan. Mr Schmidt was the first German and second European former political leader to give a Singapore lecture. Former President of France Valéry Giscard d’Estaing gave the 3rd Singapore Lecture in 1982. Mr Schmidt's lecture is a very erudite speech setting out the challenge of the Soviet Union to Western Europe and the wider world. Six years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, it serves as an eloquent reminder of the nature of the global Cold War system.
Mr Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you, in the first place for your kind invitation, and secondly, Mr Minister, for your kind words of introduction.
I have been told that in former years my friends, Valery Giscard d’Estaing and Henry Kissinger, have given talks at this occasion. And this reminds me of a little story which I related to Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. It is a true story. Earlier on this autumn, some old friends met in the house of former President Gerald Ford in Colorado, USA: Valéry Giscard, Henry Kissinger, Jerry Ford himself, Jim Callaghan from Britain, Malcolm Fraser from Australia, and myself—all of us “elder statesmen”, so to speak.
And one evening, at the end of a private conversation, Jerry Ford summed it all up by saying, “Well, obviously, we ought to agree that the world was much better run in our time of office.” Mr Lee Kuan Yew said over lunch, “And this may even have been true.”
I think Jerry Ford would have said the same thing if one more gentleman had been present, who also was out of office in the mean time. I am talking of the former British Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, whom I admire very much. He, I think, was the world's outstanding Foreign Secretary in the late seventies and early eighties. Earlier on this year, he gave a marvellous speech, the Alistair Buchan Memorial Lecture, in London, where he not only criticized profoundly the present political, economic, military upheaval within the Western Alliance, but beyond that demanded what he called “a positive political strategy” in dealing with the Soviet Union.
6 - US Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region: Meeting the Challenges of the Post-Cold War Era
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 97-106
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On 4 January 1992, President of the United States of America George H.W. Bush gave the 12th Singapore Lecture after being welcomed by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. President Bush was the first and still the only US President to give a Singapore Lecture. His lecture focuses on the profound global strategic changes ushered in by the end of the Cold War, and for US engagement in East Asia and with ASEAN. In the current period of doubt over the US interests and influence in East Asia, this lecture serves as a useful, recent counterpoint
Thank you, Mr Minister. Prime Minister Goh and Senior Minister Lee, I am delighted to be here and thank you for that very kind introduction. Let me take this opportunity to say a few words about these two gentlemen.
Minister Lee, a quarter century ago, you led this small island of cultural and ethnic diversity, of limited physical resources, to independence. Then, through your vision and your force of intellect and will, you forged Singapore's nationhood. You stood courageously in a life and death struggle against the communists, and you prevailed. You led your nation and your region in the quest for peace and prosperity. It is my convinced opinion that future generations will honour the name of Lee Kuan Yew. And as you know well from your visits to my home in Kennebunkport, I am pleased to know you as a friend.
Prime Minister Goh, I salute you for your wisdom and your vigour in carrying Singapore forward on its path to the future. I pledge America's steadfast friendship as you lead Singapore in facing the challenges of the coming generation. I am also pleased that you, like many of your countrymen, came to the United States of America for part of your education. These, too, are ties that bind us together.
It is an honour to deliver this lecture, following such leaders as Brian Mulroney, Helmut Schmidt, Rudd Lubbers, Bob Hawke, Mahathir bin Mohamad, and Valery Giscard D’Estaing and such distinguished thinkers as Henry Kissinger and Milton Friedman. And, let me acknowledge: Professor K.S. Sandhu, Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies; A.V. Liventals, Chairman, Mobil Oil Singapore; Lee Hee Seng, Deputy Chairman, ISEAS Board of Trustees; and Dr Richard Hu, Chairman, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Finance Minister.
20 - The Netherlands, Singapore, Our Regions, Our World: Connecting Our Common Future
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- By Mark Rutte
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 09 October 2021
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- 07 October 2020, pp 280-291
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Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands delivered the 39th Singapore Lecture on 24 November 2016. He was introduced by Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He was the third Netherlands Prime Minister to give a Singapore Lecture. His lecture is a robust defence of openness and free trade, especially for small countries like the Netherlands and Singapore, at a time when the forces of nationalism and populism were gaining ground in Europe and the United States of America.
Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Professor Wang Gungwu, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, students.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you here today. I’d also like to thank my host, Prime Minister Lee, for inviting me to visit your country.
2015 was a notable year for Singapore. You celebrated fifty years of independence with a parade of 11,000 people, fireworks and 600,000 roses made from recycled plastic bags. For me, those roses are typical of Singapore. Both creative and responsible. Even on a public holiday, you uphold the principles of the circular economy.
On 23 March of the same year your country was plunged into mourning by the death of Lee Kuan Yew. He is greatly missed. In the words of his son and your prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, “To many Singaporeans, and indeed others too, Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore.”
Lee Kuan Yew's life ran parallel with Singapore's transformation from a colony to one of the best-performing countries in the world. He was the architect of the republic. In his memoirs he noted, “We had to create a new kind of economy. Try new methods and schemes never tried before anywhere else in the world, because there was no other country like Singapore.”
His vision and dedication helped turn Singapore into an economic superpower. With its low unemployment rate, high GDP, low levels of corruption, and wellmaintained public spaces, Singapore has rightly been described as “the little city that could” and “the envy of the world”.
So what is your secret? What makes us so jealous when we look at Singapore? I expect you know better than I do. But if I were to hazard a guess, I would say it's all down to education. Singaporeans make Singapore what it is, and this country invests in its people. You value your human capital. Thanks to ISEAS and other research and education institutions, Singapore is a world-class knowledge hub. Its universities are among the best in Asia and even the world. But it all starts with primary schools and teachers. And they too are among the world's best.
8 - Australia, Asia and the New Regionalism
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- By Paul Keating
- Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
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- Book:
- Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 09 October 2021
- Print publication:
- 07 October 2020, pp 124-144
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On 17 January 1996, Prime Minister of Australia Paul Keating gave the 14th Singapore Lecture after being welcomed by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan who referred to Mr Keating as “Australia's most Asia-oriented Prime Minister”. Prime Minister Keating was the second of four Australian leaders to give a Singapore Lecture following Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1987. His lecture is a clear exposition of why Australia has turned its focus to Asia. It also reflects the optimism at the time about regionalism, with Keating regarding APEC as the “new model for regional cooperation” particularly suited for the post-Cold War era.
It is a great honour to have been asked to give this lecture and I thank Professor Chan Heng Chee and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies for the invitation. Australia has had a long and productive association with the Institute over many years.
I also want to thank the Government of Singapore for its support for the lecture and, especially, Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan for his courtesy to me in chairing it today.
This is my third visit to Singapore as Prime Minister and it is always a pleasure to come here. There is an energy about Singapore which flows from people who are conscious of the inevitability of change and who are trying to shape that change for the better.
I admire that Singapore, perhaps more than any other place in the world, teaches the vital lesson that we cannot prepare for the future until we know what we want it to be.
This has been the distinctive principle guiding Singapore's modern history: the same principle that some time ago began to guide Australia through the present era. When you face things and begin to do what must be done, you liberate ideas about what can be done. This great era of change has meant that as we approach the centenary of Australia's nationhood a new, stronger and clearer vision of our future has begun to emerge. And it now goes without saying that much of the future we see—we see in the Asia-Pacific.
Index
- Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Serina Rahman
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- Book:
- Johor
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 24 November 2020
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- 01 September 2020, pp 525-539
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4 - Johor’s Oil and Gas Sector: The Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex and Its Implications
- Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Serina Rahman
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- Johor
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 24 November 2020
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- 01 September 2020, pp 107-133
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INTRODUCTION
Malaysia`s Economic Transformation Program aims to propel the country to highincome status by 2020. Behind Indonesia, the country is the second largest oil and gas producer in Asia and aspires to become a regional hub in oil and gas (PWC 2017; MIDA 2017). Johor stands at the forefront of this endeavour, as the state aims to become a regional oil and gas storage and trading hub. This will be done by attracting major international investments and increasing petrochemical output.
These goals are also integrated into Iskandar Malaysia's development plan. The Iskandar Malaysia (IM) region was launched in 2006 and is one of five economic corridors promoted by the federal government. The Comprehensive Development Plan II (2014–25) for the region plans “to develop an environmentally friendly petrochemical and oil and gas cluster” and stresses the importance of its proximity to Singapore's petrochemical complex on Jurong Island.
The flagship project that will turn this vision into reality is the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC), a Petronas-led project with envisaged investments of US$27 billion. The PIPC was inspired by the Amsterdam-Rotterdam- Antwerp (ARA) model of maritime activity, port network and oil supply chain connectivity. The ARA is vital to Northern European oil and gas bunkering and transport. Partners of the PIPC such as the Dialog Group projected that “in 20 years Pengerang could surpass Rotterdam” (Huong 2012).
Against this background, the aims of this chapter are to explore the evolution of Johor's petrochemical industry vis-à-vis Singapore and to examine the developmental impacts of the PIPC. This chapter intends to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the functional and sectoral specializations of Johor's oil and gas industry?
2. What is the rationale behind the PIPC?
3. How does Johor compete or complement Singapore in attracting foreign direct investment?
4. What are the developmental impacts of the PIPC?
5. Can the PIPC succeed?
Methodologically, we applied a mixed methods approach. The FDI Markets database is used to illustrate investment flows to Johor on a quantitative basis. Qualitative insights have been gathered through literature and newspaper reviews. In addition, we conducted nineteen expert interviews with managers of multinational enterprises, consultants and development agencies between autumn 2016 and spring 2018 to gain a better understanding of the rationale behind the foreign investment. The interviewed enterprises cover all segments of the oil and gas production network, including upstream, midstream and downstream activities.
11 - Parti Amanah Negara in Johor: Birth, Challenges and Prospects
- Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Serina Rahman
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- Book:
- Johor
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 24 November 2020
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- 01 September 2020, pp 302-334
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Islam has always been an important factor in Malaysia's politics. Even political parties whose members are mainly non-Muslim cannot run away from debating the role of Islam in public policy. Since its establishment in 1951, the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) has dominated the discourse on political Islam, and many others have had to respond and compete with it. It would not be wrong to say that the deepening Islamization in Malaysia over the years is the result of political competition between PAS and the ruling coalition. However, a new development took place in 2015 when a group of senior PAS leaders left the party to form Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah). PAS suddenly found a competitor who is also staking a claim on the right to define and shape the discourse on political Islam in the country.
This chapter looks into the break-up and its implications on the politics in the southern state of Johor, since this was the state where much of the groundwork to form Amanah took place. Following this introduction, a brief history behind the break-up is provided. Attention is then given to Johor, with a discussion on the role of activists in the state that led to the formation of Amanah, the party's current organization, and their likely electoral potential. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how the emergence of Amanah may affect PAS in Johor.
FROM PAS TO AMANAH
To understand how Amanah came to be, a brief review of the evolution of Islamist thoughts in Malaysia is useful, as it has heavily influenced PAS’ own evolution. The history behind PAS’ establishment in 1951 is a contested one. Arguably, it was closely tied to the strategy of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) which was founded five years earlier, especially to the latter's desire to widen its support base. UMNO at that time was worried that it was losing support from conservative Malay Muslims and wanted therefore to reposition itself as a champion of Islam. Thus, UMNO sponsored two Ulama Congresses (Perjumpaan Alim Ulama Tanah Melayu), on 20–22 February 1950 and 23 August 1951. The purpose was to bring together conservative Muslim scholars to discuss, among others, steps that they could take to bring the country towards independence.
2 - Agriculture in Johor: What’s Left?
- Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Serina Rahman
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- Book:
- Johor
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- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 24 November 2020
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- 01 September 2020, pp 44-72
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
For those living in Singapore or Peninsular Malaysia, accustomed to having fresh chicken eggs every other morning, chances are that your breakfast comes from one of 17 million broody hens raised in the Malaysian state of Johor (DVS 2017; AVA 2017).
If this comes as a surprise, you are probably not alone. Most recent commentaries concerning Johor's economic growth give the impression that agriculture is now a historical relic. The Iskandar Malaysia development project—accompanied by glittery real estate, oil and gas refining, complex manufacturing, mass tourism, and sophisticated healthcare offerings—now hogs the limelight.
Indeed, even for field-leading scholarship on greater Malaysia's economic development, agriculture has been conspicuous by its relative absence, sidelined by an overwhelming focus on manufacturing and services.
This chapter represents an initial attempt to redress this imbalance. I ask two basic questions: what is left of agriculture in Johor? And why? My argument is similarly direct: although agriculture's share of Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP) and employment has fallen significantly, much remains, particularly in Johor. Amidst rapid urbanization and industrialization, agriculture's economic contribution in Johor has actually held steady and witnessed resurgence over the past decade. Johor's present-day agricultural strengths lie in oil palms, livestock farming, and certain forms of ornamental products. These agricultural activities are underlined both by high output and productivity relative to the rest of Malaysia. The clusters of trade networks and expertise underpinning these developments were already being developed in Johor prior to independence, and were given additional support from the 1960s onwards through policies linking industry with agriculture.
Johor's unusual situation can be best understood by comparing its presentday context with its past. The following section briefly outlines Southeast Asia's and Malaysia's agricultural transformations since the 1960s. A subsequent section places Johor squarely under the lens, comparing the size and productivity of its farm sector with the rest of Malaysia’s. A third section examines the key historical drivers behind Johor's long-standing agricultural prominence. A fourth segment reviews the overarching roles that Malaysia's federal and state governments have played in shaping Johor's resource-heavy economy
18 - The Struggle for Balance: Johor’s Environmental Issues, Overlaps and Future
- Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Serina Rahman
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- Book:
- Johor
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 24 November 2020
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- 01 September 2020, pp 473-500
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INTRODUCTION
Johor has a multitude of natural treasures within its boundaries. The only state in Peninsular Malaysia that has a coastline on three sides of about 400 km, it faces the South China Sea in the east, the Melaka Strait in the west and the Tebrau Strait in the south. Johor's marine habitats run the gamut of intertidal mud flats to whitesand beaches and coral-fringed islands. Seagrass meadows and mangrove forests that host large megafauna such as dugongs and turtles can be found all along its shoreline. Within these marine borders, Johor's terrestrial habitats comprise peatlands, forests, hills and mountains, of which 12.4 per cent are protected as national parks or wildlife and forest reserves (UPEN Johor 2017, p. 3). These landscapes are host to myriad endangered and endemic species, including the Malayan tiger, Asian elephant and Malayan tapir.
Gunung Ledang (also known as Mount Ophir) is Johor's highest point at 1,276 metres and is the source for thirteen rivers and a key water catchment area for both Johor and neighbouring Melaka. Johor's ten main river basins are the mainstay of the state's water security as 97 per cent of its raw water supplies come from surface water sources. The Johor River alone provides 60 per cent of the state's water supply.
These natural habitats and features are not the only components to be considered in a discussion of Johor's environment. In studying Johor's environmental policies, other issues that need to be explored include: matters of energy sources and use; carbon creation and sequestration; environmental and carrying capacities; traffic congestion and urbanization impacts; land-use; pollution; resource optimization; waste management; and air quality (IRDA 2014). Technologies or infrastructural innovations that mitigate development impacts or enhance sustainability should also be considered (UPEN Johor 2017, p. 52).
This chapter discusses the main environmental issues faced by Johor and the action taken to mitigate some of the problems. It also examines the policies that govern environmental management and action in Johor, as well as complications that arise from overlapping legislation and jurisdictions at the federal level, and its effects, if any, on Singapore and the Riau Archipelago. The chapter also briefly discusses environmental decision-making under the past and current state government and ends with a look forward in terms of Johor's efforts for the environment and sustainability.
8 - UMNO and Barisan Nasional in Johor: A Time-Bound Fixed Deposit?
- Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Serina Rahman
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- Book:
- Johor
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
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- 24 November 2020
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- 01 September 2020, pp 214-237
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
With 3.7 million residents, Johor is the third most populated state in Malaysia. Its ample interior houses vast oil palm plantations, and its urban areas are host to sophisticated manufacturing operations as well as a growing services sector. However, beyond its contribution to the nation's economy, the state's place within Malaysia's political context is key.
After Sarawak, Johor is the state with the most members of parliament, ahead of even Selangor, the country's most populated state. The state has a deep historical relationship with two of the largest component parties of the former ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN)—the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).
Johor's diverse ethnic composition has lent itself to the coalition style of politics adopted by BN and, up until Malaysia's 14th General Elections (GE-14), the state consistently delivered overwhelming parliamentary and state assembly majorities to the former ruling coalition. Indeed, relative to its performance elsewhere in the country, support levels for the former ruling coalition were consistently ten per cent higher in the state, earning Johor the sobriquet of a “fixed deposit” for BN.
However, as in the rest of the country, Barisan Nasional's performance began to decline in Johor after 2008 and, particularly, 2013. In the run-up to GE-14, the former ruling coalition was looking weak in the state, particularly in urban, semi-urban, and mixed rural seats.
The state's size, prestige, and ethnic heterogeneity made it of interest to other parties. The DAP had been active in urban and Chinese-majority areas in the state since the 1960s. Following schisms in the Islamic party PAS and UMNO in 2015, Johor's sizeable Malay population was important for fledgling parties such as Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah).
Consequently, the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan (PH) declared the state a key battleground for the 2018 elections and made sure to deploy a number of heavy hitters to contest in key constituencies. Nonetheless, the conventional wisdom going into GE-14 was that although BN was looking vulnerable, the long track record and advantages of incumbency meant that they would still retain the state.
Contents
- Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Serina Rahman
-
- Book:
- Johor
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 24 November 2020
- Print publication:
- 01 September 2020, pp v-vii
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