Transcript of Speech by Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Defence) Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman at the Singapore Polytechnic, 20 July 2016

1          Well a very good afternoon to Ms Lim Lee Yee, Director of the School of Communications, Arts and Social Sciences, Mr Ong Wooi-Hsen, Head of the National Education Programme at MOE, lecturers, students, ladies and gentlemen. A very good afternoon.  Really very delighted to be here. I have been to SP a couple of times for such dialogue sessions but I was told that this was by far one of the biggest crowds of 400 over students. If you look at my title, I am at both Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs so I am going to speak to you on a topic that is related to both my ministries – on “How Global Problems Affect Us Locally”. It is interesting that this is the topic that SP has chosen for us to discuss today. It is really very important for us to keep ourselves abreast of global events and issues given our size and our dependence on the world for our economic survival.  Otherwise, we may find ourselves like the proverbial frog in the water that was caught unaware by the gradual heat until it is a little bit too late. I am sure you would have heard of the story. Even though we do not see the problems immediately, and may feel content and comfortable with our own circumstances, we risk eventually finding ourselves trapped in boiling water, just like the proverbial frog.

2          There are many times as an MP that I walk down the ground and I speak to my residents at Meet the People Sessions, a lot of Singaporeans ask me why does the Government pay such close attention to global problems.  Many Singaporeans are not instinctively seized with these international affairs.  Those working and living in Singapore have this false sense of security, and believe that they are insulated, that problems would not affect us. And problems that occur far away will not affect us, even when they are happening there.  But Singapore does not live in a cocoon. We are not a cocoon. Unlike bigger countries, we are at the mercy of external circumstances.  This has forced us to take a broader perspective on such issues, which enables the Government to act quickly before Singapore is affected.  As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong once said in 2013, Singapore is still just an “upgraded sampan”, tossed about by the waves of global uncertainty.  While we have been able to navigate the choppy international waters adeptly in the past, this does not guarantee our future success. So I would like to remember PM’s quote there, that we are just like an “upgraded sampan” always trying to adapt ourselves in the waves of things that happen around us.

3          I am going to talk about three things; our global economy; talk about climate change; as well as terrorism and how this affects us though they happen in many other places around the world. First let me talk about the global economy.

4          Singapore has always been a cosmopolitan city, one that is open to the world.  We have reaped the benefits of early globalisation and prospered rapidly.  Many of you all are very young. You may not have seen how much we have prospered since the 1970s and 1980s. While our neighbouring countries closed their economies, and opted for an industrialisation strategy known as import substitution, we instead pursued export-led development.  From the early years of independence, we created a business-friendly environment, and international investment flowed into Singapore.  We have grown into a regional hub – for talent, capital, and ideas – and this has created many jobs for our population.

5          Technological advancement – If you look at this, you see the GDP growth of Singapore over the years compared to our neighbours, and how much we have advanced in the last 50 years compared to our neighbours who were much better than us when we started and where they are today. Technological advancement means that Singapore is now more integrated with the global economy than ever.  As a result, global turmoil is quicker to affect us than ever before.  There was a time in the late 1980s and through the 1990s – let’s have a show of hands how many of you were born in the 1980s? None. 1990s? In any case, there was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when it was said that if ‘America sneezes, the world catches a cold’.  So what that means really is that it reflected the primacy of the US economy in the world at that time, and this is still relevant today.  We experienced this cold when the US was affected by the sub-prime mortgage crisis between 2007 and 2009.  I’m sure you would have been familiar with that not too long ago. What happened in America led to a serious global economic downturn, which resulted in the collapse of one of the famous investment bank which is Lehman Brothers.  The rest of the world also caught this same cold.

6          Although Singapore was not exposed to sub-prime mortgages, we were indirectly affected as our third largest trading partner faced an economic slowdown.  Our bilateral trade fell from S$86 billion to S$66 billion in just one year – just how quick things evolve for us.  Fortunately, our Government was prepared for the rainy day and we dipped into our reserves to weather the storm.  To stem job loss, we funded what was known as the Jobs Credit Scheme in 2009 with S$4.5 billion from our reserves. Employers were given a cash grant of 12% to pay for Singaporeans’ and Permanent Resident employees’ monthly salaries. Many observers credit the scheme with preserving a significant number of jobs, and the unemployment rate in 2009 at that time rose to only 4.3%, as opposed to unemployment rate of 5.2% during the SARS period in 2003. Due to our planning and quick responses, we found ourselves in a better situation than many other countries.

7          What I was illustrating there was that we were affected by global economic downturn, but we had the ability to ride that downturn very quickly, unlike many other countries. So we have since recovered from those difficult days. Our economy has grown and the unemployment rate has fallen. Other countries have not been as fortunate as us.  The sub-prime crisis triggered the Euro Zone financial crisis that subsequently gripped Greece, Portugal and Spain. These countries still have not fully recovered from the ripple effect of the sub-prime fiasco. In Spain, for example, the unemployment rate stood at 22.4% last year - that’s almost one in every four persons who’s not employable, while youth unemployment is greater than 50%, one in two young people have not found jobs. In Singapore, the contrast was that our unemployment rate is less than 2%, and in economic terms, we know that is almost full employment. And our youth unemployment, a statistic that many of you would be interested in, is less than 10% last year. But 10% doesn’t mean one in ten of you are not employed because we have to take a look at this number. 10% includes those young people who are aged between 15 to 24, and many of them are still studying and undergoing national service. So if you take away those who are studying and those who are doing national service, the unemployment rate amongst 15 to 24 in Singapore is actually very, very low, compared to other countries like Spain, where it’s 50%. To prevent another such shock in our economy, we have diversified our trading partners and opened up our economy to more areas in the world, and reducing our reliance on just one or two key countries. Furthermore, the government has built a certain degree of resilience in our economy through training programmes like the SkillsFuture initiative, and by encouraging the growth of new industries in Singapore.

8          Next, I’m going to talk a little bit about what’s related to the economy also, but more in relation to maritime trade and the issue of sea lines of communication. Singapore’s economic life-line is maritime trade. You all know that. We are situated in the heart of Southeast Asia. The free movement of goods is critical in  preserving our port hub status.  Singapore is also among the world’s largest ship registries, with over 4,500 vessels on our register.  Over 130,000 ships call at our port each year!  You can just imagine the importance of maritime trade to Singapore.  Hence, we not only have a vital interest in keeping the sea lines of communication open, whether it’s near or far, but also in ensuring that our Singapore-flagged ships are not attacked by pirates on the high seas. Since 2009, if you are not aware, Singapore has been active in contributing to the Combined Taskforce or CTF 151, a multi-national naval taskforce that patrols the Gulf of Aden.  The Gulf of Aden is in the Middle East, just off Bahrain. We have deployed the Republic of Singapore Navy there, despite being thousands of kilometres away from Singapore, to deter pirates and to ensure that ships can continue to ply the seas safely and call at our ports. Our navy has done us proud in assuming command of the task force for four different occasions. So piracy that happens in the Middle East, in the Gulf of Aden affects us, and because of that, we actually send our naval patrols over there to keep that channel safe so that ships can come all the way in.

9          Our keen interest in keeping the sea lines open is why we have also taken such a deep interest in the developments in the South China Sea. Many would have heard about the South China Sea especially the recent ruling by the Tribunal. Singapore is not a claimant state, and we do not take sides on the competing territorial claims. But we support the peaceful resolution of disputes among claimants, in accordance with universally-recognised principles of international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight which will facilitate global maritime trade. So you can imagine what happens elsewhere is important to us locally.

10        Next, let me talk about environment degradation. Environmental degradation is another global problem that has an impact on Singapore.  Regardless of the causes, or culprits, its effects do not recognise national borders.  I’m sure some of you would have noticed the extreme weather patterns over the last few years. 

11        As a small, low-lying city-state, Singapore has not been spared from the effects of climate change, including a higher frequency of intense rainfall, higher sea levels and warmer temperatures.  In addition, the seasonal clearing of plantation land in Indonesia has also resulted in haze.  This has a real impact on how we live our daily lives.  In June 2013, the Pollution Standards Index or PSI hit 401, the highest 3-hour PSI reading on record in Singapore then.  In nearby Malaysia, the record was 746.  In that year, it was estimated that the haze caused between 0.1 to 0.4% drop in Gross Domestic Product, and about $50 million in losses for retailers and the tourism industry.  The Government also spent more on healthcare through the Haze Subsidy Scheme in order to help Singaporeans with their haze-related medical needs.

12        Rising sea levels and temperatures will also affect how we live and work.  For instance, about 30% of our tiny island is less than five metres above the mean sea level.  If sea levels rise dramatically, Singapore could find itself even smaller.

13        Dealing with environmental degradation is a tough challenge for a small state like us.  We have done what we can to reduce the impact of climate change on our island, and we will continue to do so.  For example, all new reclaimed land now has to be at least four metres above the mean sea level, up from three metres previously.  We have built new infrastructure to deal with increased rainfall and rising seas, and are also doing our part to reduce Carbon Emissions Intensity by 36% from 2005 levels by 2030.  We also continue to work to enhance bilateral, regional and international cooperation to tackle the forest fires that bring the seasonal haze. This includes deploying our Singapore Armed Forces and Singapore Civil Defence Force to battle the fires.  At home, we take legal action against errant companies responsible for the haze through the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.

14        Let me move on to the third topic, which is terrorism – the last theme which I would like to discuss today. It affects all of us.  The attacks in Paris, Istanbul, Brussels, Medina and Jakarta have demonstrated that this is a clear and present threat. Just last week, one Singaporean suffered some serious injuries in the attack in Nice. A student from the Singapore University of Technology and Design was also injured in the same incident. 

15        As a responsible member of the international community, we have contributed military assets towards the anti-ISIS coalition. While ISIS, or Daesh as how it is known in Arabic, is based in the Middle East, its poisonous ideology knows no borders.  This trend is a real concern, not just for Singapore but also for our region as a whole. IS is deliberately penetrating this region, and has even formed a dedicated Bahasa Melayu or Malay-speaking unit known as the Katibah Nusantara. A recent study showed that 26 militant groups in Indonesia, nine in the Philippines and five in Malaysia have pledged allegiance to or declared support for IS.  The threat from IS’ expansion in Southeast Asia is now exemplified and amplified by the growing number of jihadists returning from the Middle East. The problem is compounded by the fact that radical ideas can now be easily spread and accessed via the Internet and social media platforms.

16        In the past few years several individuals were radicalised through the internet in Singapore. We have been fortunate that our security agencies have been vigilant.  In 2015, we took action under the Internal Security Act or ISA against five individuals who were self-radicalised.  We have also taken action against those involved in non-IS related militant activities overseas, and used the Internal Security Act against two separate groups of radicalised Bangladeshi nationals living in Singapore. While these individuals had focused their plans on returning to Bangladesh and overthrowing the government there by force, they still posed a threat to Singapore. One of their members confessed that he would carry out an attack anywhere, including in Singapore, if he was instructed to do so by IS.

17        PM Lee reminded us over the weekend that terrorists intend to attack Singapore. We have seen some of the videos by IS targeting our region. It is fortunate that they have not succeeded thus far.  Despite all the protective security measures that we take, a successful attack could undermine our social and religious harmony that our forefathers have painstakingly built over the last 50 years.  As a society, we must have the resilience to band together as a nation, instead of allowing the attack to divide us.  We cannot allow a successful attack to make us suspicious of fellow Singaporeans of different race or religion.  In 2005 and 2007, London was hit by a series of bomb attacks.  But it was admirable that our British friends stoically went about their business unfazed by these attacks. They kept calm and carried on. Will we be able to respond in a similar manner if an attack occurred here?

18        Combatting terrorism is not merely the government’s duty or responsibility; or of the community and religious leaders alone. As individuals, each of us must stay vigilant.  There may come a time where we will be compelled to act. If we notice our family members or friends showing significant behavioural or other changes that may suggest that they are being radicalised, we can best help them and our community by alerting the relevant authorities.  At the same time, we cannot allow Islamophobia to creep in, into Singapore.  Each one of us plays a critical role in maintaining social cohesion.  We should be mindful of what we say and share on social media, and speak out against those who attempt to sow discord.  I am glad to note that in recent months we have already shown our capacity to act against those trying to spread hate through the internet.

19        Let me just conclude by saying that, as I have illustrated, global problems have real effects on us locally, even individually at times.  Sometimes, unfortunately, the effect on Singapore is disproportionate, given our size.  This requires us to pay more attention to the developments around the world, to be alert to the headwinds in order to navigate the storms successfully.  I hope that this primer sets the stage for fruitful discussion with you, and I look forward to any questions or observations that you may have on some of these issues that I have highlighted. Thank you.

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