MFA Press Release: Transcript of Remarks by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan at the Dinner to Commemorate 50 Years of Diplomatic Relations between Myanmar and Singapore, 18 May 2016

Mingalabar.

And good evening to Her Excellency Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

State Counsellor

Union Minister in the President's Office

Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar

Excellencies, 

Distinguished guests, colleagues, 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very happy to be here today on this occasion. I have been to Myanmar several times in the past, but this is my first visit in my capacity as the Foreign Minister of Singapore. In fact, my most recent visit was in 2014 when I was the Environment Minister. And on each of these trips here, I have been heartened by the very warm friendship and the hospitality that has been extended by our Myanmar friends. 

Myanmar is an old friend of Singapore. It was one of the earliest countries to recognise Singapore's independence. We formally established diplomatic relations on 12th April 1966 and this was a mere 10 months after Singapore's independence in 1965. But actually, if you think about it, Singapore's links with Myanmar go a long way back. Due to our shared British colonial heritage, Singapore and Myanmar have many things in common - that includes our governing institutions, our architecture, our use of the English language and many elements of our culture. One example of this shared heritage is the number of roads in Singapore named after places in Myanmar.

I am sure for many of you, if you have visited Singapore, you will come across places like Burmah Road, Rangoon Road, Mandalay Road, Irrawaddy Road, Shan Road and Moulmein Road.  And in fact, all these roads lead to a 140-year-old Burmese Buddhist Temple, the Maha Sasana Ramsi, which has the largest white marble Buddha statue outside of Myanmar.  It is believed that this is the only temple built in the traditional Myanmar style outside the country and has become a religious landmark for both Singaporean and Myanmar devotees. 

The stories behind these roads and the Buddha statue go all the way back to the 1800s.  The idea apparently first came from a Burmese merchant named U Kyaw Gaung. He was the trustee of the temple and had pulled off the mammoth task of transporting the beautiful Buddha statue all the way from Mandalay to Singapore. This was back in the 1800s. The temple became strongly supported by the Myanmar community in Singapore.  And in fact today, there are about 200,000 people from Myanmar who live, work, and study in Singapore.

In transporting this statue, U Kyaw Gaung received help from another Burmese immigrant, an entrepreneur and philanthropist named Aw Boon Par.  You may have heard of Tiger Balm.  I think we are going to give that as a door gift later.  It is an ointment that provides relief for aches and pains. It is used widely in Singapore. But there’s a story behind Tiger Balm that links us to Myanmar. 

Aw Boon Par’s brother, Aw Boon Haw, was responsible for bringing Tiger Balm from Burma to Singapore in the 1920s. And the success of the Tiger Balm ointment, which many people associate with Singapore, actually belongs to Burma because in fact that is where it originated from. These stories - the roads, the temple, the Buddha statue, Tiger Balm - illustrate the dense web of connections and the strong people-to-people ties between Singapore and Myanmar. 

Today, as we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of our diplomatic relations, we are here to reaffirm those ties.  I am happy to see that our friendship has withstood the tides of change, and has remained robust and continues to grow. To celebrate this significant achievement of 50 years of diplomatic relations, we have organised several commemorative events. For instance, there was a Singapore Film Festival in Yangon, which I think ended just last week. There will also be performances by musicians from the National University of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra and Myanmar’s Attachment of Clouds (AOC) Orchestra in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon in August. We will get a preview of the concerts tonight from the AOC Orchestra which has kindly consented to perform at tonight’s reception.  I am happy to note that Mr Saw James, their conductor, was the first Myanmar scholar at the NUS Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra and he had also performed for state functions at the Istana, which is the official residence of Singapore’s President.

 In Singapore, a “Treasures of Myanmar” exhibition will be organised to showcase Myanmar’s rich culture at the Asian Civilisations Museum and we are planning to do this with the support of the Myanmar Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture. We hope that these cultural activities will further enhance the already thriving people-to-people relations. Many Singaporeans already visit Myanmar for many reasons - leisure, business or community service.

One way to promote closer ties between our two countries would be to further improve connectivity. We already have 49 weekly flights between Singapore and Myanmar, including, I believe, Yangon and Mandalay. We hope to further expand our air services because we believe this will further ramp up tourism flows and promote economic engagement and investment between our two countries. 

As it is, our economic relations are strong and they are growing. Singapore, despite our tiny size, is currently the second largest investor in Myanmar. We are also Myanmar's third largest trading partner with bilateral trade amounting to approximately S$3.5billion last year (US$2.55 billion). As I said earlier, we are the second largest cumulative investor in Myanmar. As of March this year, our investment stock is approximately US$13 billion. But looking beyond the figures, these numbers and these activities are really a vote of confidence. A vote of confidence in Myanmar and your future. And a commitment on our part to work closely with you to achieve the trajectory of progress and stability that the Myanmar people so richly deserve. We will continue to look for opportunities to deepen our cooperation and engagement. I had very fruitful discussions this morning with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and am privileged to also meet other Ministers today. I would say that this is just one step in a long journey that we are going to make collectively together. 

Another pillar of our relations is in technical cooperation. In the 1960s, when Singapore unexpectedly became a newly independent country, we had no natural resources, we only had people, and Singapore benefitted significantly from the willingness of foreign partners to share their expertise with us. We understood from our own experience that technical assistance is necessary in order to create the right conditions for growth and for human resource development. So now that we have achieved a small measure of success, we are also happy to be able to share our own experiences with Myanmar and we have been doing so, in fact, over the past 15 years. It is important for you to look at us not as a model - Singapore is too small, probably too different -  but look at what we have done right and what we have not done so well, so you can improve and adapt these lessons to your local conditions, and do it even better than we have in Singapore. We will continue to look for opportunities for technical cooperation through the Singapore Cooperation Programme. 

Our latest joint collaboration, and we discussed it this morning with Daw Suu, is the Singapore-Myanmar Vocational Training Institute (SMVTI). Here I want to also acknowledge that you had started a vocational institute in your own constituency before we did, and I promise you I will go and visit your institute as well. The importance of these vocational training institutes goes far beyond just putting up buildings. It reflects the government’s commitment to creating opportunities for young people by imparting practical and relevant skills to young Myanmar people so that they will be ready for jobs in the future. I am glad to report that the first batch of students from the SMVTI has just graduated and the institute aims to produce about 800 mid-level skilled workers a year, in fields ranging from hospitality and tourism, electronic and electrical skills, facilities management and engineering services. I believe that these are the skills that will be necessary for Myanmar’s growing economy and that will be relevant to foreign investors.  I’m also glad to announce that my Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will visit Myanmar in June this year, and he will officially launch the SMVTI. 

Before I conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for being here. Daw Suu, as I said just now, you have reached mythical status, both within this country as well as far from the shores of Myanmar. We are deeply honoured by your presence and your willingness to spend time with us, and by your frankness, your honesty and your sincerity. If I may speak at a personal level, I think that Myanmar is deeply blessed to have a leader like you.

So, I want to conclude by saying that even as we celebrate the past, let us look forward to the future.  Look forward to the future with confidence, and make the commitment to work with the leadership of Myanmar and with the people of Myanmar. In Singapore, we say in our pledge, "so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation" – we wish Myanmar, happiness, prosperity and progress as well. We will do whatever we can in our small way, so rest assured that you have got reliable and good friends in Singapore who will stay this course with you.

 I wish you all the very best of success. I must end also by inviting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to come back to Singapore. As Foreign Minister, you do have to travel sometimes. So please make Singapore one of your stops.

Thank you all for being here tonight. Please enjoy the rest of the evening. Thank you very much.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

18 MAY 2016