A Sense of Self in An Age of Globalisation

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November 11, 2016
MFA Press Release: Speech by Mr George Yeo, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs at the 9th S Rajaratnam Lecture on Friday, 11 November 2016 at 1430hrs at The
Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.
A Sense of Self in an Age of Globalisa on
Introduc on
Having le MFA over five years ago, this feels like a homecoming. A er spending more than a decade in the Foreign Ministry, foreign affairs and
diplomacy have become a part of me. I am honoured to be invited back as one of your own.
Some mes, when I get animated about ma ers concerning Singapore's foreign policy, my wife reminds me that I am no longer in office and can I
please be more detached in expressing my views to friends and colleagues in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Iden ty
Human iden ty is a strange thing. Next month, I will address the Interna onal Teochew Doctors Associa on Conference. I was intrigued to
receive the invita on some months ago. The doctors refer to PhD holders. What has it got to do with being Teochew? If it is Teochew food or
Teochew opera, I could understand but "Teochew doctors" seemed a bit strange. I did not reply immediately. A few weeks later, I was officially
admi ed into the Hong Kong Teochew Associa on. I must confess that I applied to join principally because it has a good Teochew restaurant
which members are en tled to dine in. When I arrived for the induc on, one of the Associa on leaders immediately asked me if I would be
a ending the Teochew Doctors Associa on Conference in Singapore. Oh, this is bigger than I thought. On the wall of the main dining room, I
saw pictures of patrons and donors from prominent Teochew families going back decades including the picture of a young Li Ka-shing. Some
were from my own ancestral village of Anbu. That night, I replied that I would be taking part in the December conference a er being assured
that I won't have to speak in the Teochew dialect.
Each of us has mul ple iden es. They run deep and are important to us. These iden es could be religious, na onal, ethnic, tribal or personal
but they are not to be trifled with. Among close friends, it is alright to make fun of a person's iden ty but, even so, one has to be careful.
Depending on the situa on, some iden es become more important than others. When young Singaporean men enter Na onal Service, they
have their hair cut very short. Parents visi ng their sons in BMT have difficulty recognising them because they all look alike. There is a reason
for this, which is to acculturate them to a highly disciplined organisa on. When we want individuals to have a strong group iden ty, we make
them wear uniform and suppress their other iden es.
This imposed discipline is not natural. Once the discipline is taken away, or in a context where the higher iden ty is unimportant, the deeper
iden es assert themselves. We see this immediately in NS soldiers who ORD. But, a er two years, the SAF leaves its imprint on their iden ty.
When they are mobilised, they quickly fall into line again. This NS programming in Singapore men is obvious when they are overseas especially
in an emergency.
Cycles of History
Human society goes through cycles. In response to challenges, human society can become highly organised, some mes into empires. Elaborate
hierarchies are established. Those who conform are affirmed and rewarded. Those who don't are put down or punished. When Qin Shi Huang
unified China more than 2000 years ago, scholars who advocated divergent ideas were buried alive and books were burnt so that there was a
single orthodoxy. The unifica on of China enabled the economy to become much more produc ve. With a na onal system of roads and canals,
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and the standardisa on of weights and measures, Qin China made possible an elaborate division of labour on a con nental scale. Since then,
every me China was reunified, it quickly became the world's biggest economy.
However, the harsh rule of Qin Shi Huang did not last long a er him. His son was toppled and Han replaced Qin. An empire maintained by
draconian law and the frequent use of force was replaced by a so er system based on Confucianist values. The unbending legalist principle of fa
as replaced by the Confucianist ideal of proper behaviour, li. Thus if a prince behaves in a noble way, the people will accept his rule, naturally. If
a father is a good father, the sons will be good sons, naturally. Of course, this was o en not the case. Carrots and s cks had s ll to be used for
effec ve governance but what was constantly held up as the ideal was proper behaviour.
Chinese history goes through long periods of unity followed by long periods of disunity. When it is united, its produc vity is awesome. But
when it is divided, the chaos is equally awesome. During the periods of disunity and dispersal, local Chinese communi es con nue to be held
together by Confucianist values of li. Today, new Chinese diaspora communi es sprou ng in Europe, Africa and South America show similar
characteris cs. This gives Chinese people a deep iden ty which, contains within it, a belief that the ideal world is one where the en re world is
one big happy family.
The Arabs have a similar longing for unity, strange though this may seem when one thinks of the Middle East today. There is a famous Arab
Bedouin saying: I against my brother; my brother and I against my cousins; my cousins, brothers and I against the world. Islam arose out of Arab
culture and gave it a higher unity in the umma. The hope for Arab unity is never ex nguished; the Islamic ideal of a universal caliphate is not a
hope, it is a millenarian quest.
Some years ago, I accompanied members of the Singapore Arab Associa on to the Yemen. I combined it with an official visit to what was then a
peaceful, united country. The Foreign Minister Dr Al Kirby, a medical doctor, was my host in Sana’a, a wonderful human being. We first spent two
days in the Wadi Hadramaut where many of the Arabs in Southeast Asia hail from originally. Most of the Arab Syeds in Southeast Asia are
descendants of a common ancestor Syed Ahmed bin Isa al-Muhajir, himself a tenth descendent of the Prophet, who travelled from Basra and
se led in the Hadhramaut, a thousand years ago. In our delega on was Dr Ho Eng Seng, a scholar from Penang, who wrote an interes ng book
on the Syeds of the Hadhramautcalled “The Graves of Tarim”. Eng Seng is now the Director of our Middle East Ins tute. An essen al ritual for a
visit by Hadhrami Arabs to the Hadhramaut is the recita on of certain prayers by a Syed at the tomb of Syed Ahmed, the Muhajir. The only Syed
in our delega on was Alwi Aidid, a Hadhrami from Penang, son of a Chinese mother. So it fell upon him to say the prayers. Normally a good-
humoured friend, he was all coiled up that day. It seemed as if the en re burden of his ancestors was on his shoulders. A er the obligatory
prayers were said, he was his old relaxed self again. I bought many copies of Eng Seng's book and gave it to my Arab friends including Ali Alatas,
Alwi Shihab and Hamid Albar.
In Southeast Asia, the pres ge of the Syeds go up and down depending on poli cal circumstances. Malay Sultans were eager to have them as
sons-in-law so that their grandchildren would become descendants of the Prophet. This history of Hadhrami Syeds marrying into Malay royal
families is well-recorded in "The Graves of Tarim". In Indonesia, the Syeds had to play down their ancestry because of republicanism. But they
know who they are and maintain certain rituals and tradi ons in the family. There was an Indonesian poli cian of Arab descendant whom I
suspected to be a Syed. I decided to ask him point blank one day. When he replied that he was, I passed him a copy of Eng Seng's book. His
immediate reac on was to turn to the index page of his family's name.
These deeper iden es of human beings will become more important in the new age of globaliza on.
Fragmenta on and Neural Networks
Technological change is undermining hierarchies everywhere and an important reason for the anger against ins tu ons based on hierarchies.
This is a big subject now commonly subsumed under the phrase "The Fourth Industrial Revolu on". In the past, ins tu ons were maintained by
ritual, by fear, by mys fica on, by hypocrisy, some mes by outright lies. With cameras and microphones now ubiquitous, this is no longer
possible. Those who pretend to be what they are not get quickly exposed and laughed at in the social media.
The support for Brexit expressed popular frustra on with the loss of control to Brussels, to ins tu ons so complicated that they no longer enjoy
the affec on of ordinary people. Thus, the larger issue of Brexit is not the UK but the nature of the European construc on itself. In their hearts,
the Europeans remain a collec on of tribal peoples who are proud of their dis nct iden es. The sense of Roman ci zenship, which was an
overlay, disappeared a long me ago. Although the Western Roman Empire was reincarnated in the Roman Church, Chris anity as a higher
iden ty uni ng Europeans lost its force during the religious wars which culminated in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The an -clericalism of
the French Revolu on in 1789 spread into many parts of Europe.
In the US, the elec on of Donald Trump reflected a widespread loss of trust in the ins tu ons which have made the US the most stable country
in the world. Great ins tu ons are never easily changed or dismantled. There must first be a period of crea ve destruc on which means years
of poli cal upheaval and unhappiness. It will not be easy to break up encrusted vested interests.
We are seeing fragmenta on everywhere. The na on-state itself is weakening as talent, capital and knowledge become more mobile. Patrio sm
based on the mul na onal state is weakening. The digital revolu on is drama cally redistribu ng power in human society. Today, good teachers
learn from their students; good parents learn from their children. Poli cal or corporate leaders can no longer act as if they have a monopoly of
knowledge, wisdom and moral authority.
Fragmenta on, however, does not dissolve into chaos. The fragments are s ll held together by deeper iden es which link them up across
poli cal borders, and across economic and cultural domains into complex neural networks. The apps on our smart phones are a manifesta on of
such network forma on. For good or for ill, people are linking up to others with similar iden es or interests. Being physically together no
longer ensures interac on. Through the smart phone, the passengers in a train are each in his own world. We have become comfortable
ignoring people around us. Some mes, one gets the same feeling even around a family dining table.
The growth of networks creates new challenges. The Internet makes it easier to extend networks around the world. Birds of the same feather
seek out each other. The Internet can broaden our minds but it can also narrow them. Those who have a deep interest in par cular subjects are
fed more material on the same subjects and encouraged to network with others who share them. That's how self-radicalisa on happens.
New Challenges
The governance of networks is difficult because they straddle na onal jurisdic ons. The dominant form of governance in the world today is
through na onal governments. No government has full control over the Internet. Interna onal coopera on is difficult and slow. During the Cold
War, it was the US which led the non-Communist world. Today, the world has become increasingly mul polar, calling into ques on US
leadership. Superpower leadership is costly, having to be backed by expensive military power. Both at the na onal and interna onal levels,
governance has become more complicated and less effec ve.
The Soviet Empire was the first major casualty of the Fourth Industrial Revolu on. Once the central governance structure cracked, the countries
of Central and Eastern Europe became independent, and within the Soviet Union itself, each republic became an independent state. Those new
countries which are held together by a deeper sense of iden ty are stable, including the core of Russia itself. Others like Yugoslavia broke up into
smaller pieces. Even a smaller piece like Bosnia-Herzegovina would not hold together without strong outside interven on.
For a me, the US seeing itself as the sole superpower, the New Rome as some neo-conserva ves call it, intervened to re-create the Middle East
on the basis of democracy. September 11 became a reason to remove Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Arab Spring a reason to remove
Muammar Gaddhafi in Libya and Bashar al-Assad in Syria. It has been an absolute disaster. Without strong, brutal leaders holding ght the reins
of power, these countries broke up into warring fac ons. Even as we meet today, horrible ba les are taking place in Aleppo and Mosul, sister
ci es with long histories.
In Libya, the deep iden ty is tribal and the conflict there is therefore mostly tribal in nature. In such a situa on without a dictator, it is Salafi
Islam which is most able to unite tribes against common enemies. Ironically, the beneficiaries of the removal of Gaddafi are groups like Al Qaeda
and ISIS ac ng against the West.
It was the underes ma on by the Americans of the depth of the Sunni-Shiite divide in the Middle East that led to civil war and external
interference in Iraq and Syria. An Arab ruler in the Gulf once told me that the most stable border in the en re region is that between Turkey and
Iran. It is the same border which separated the O omans from the Safavids. The Safavids made Iran a Shiite country five hundred years ago.
Children were taught to curse the first three caliphs - Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman. Ali was the righ ul successor of the Prophet. Safavid Iran
became a Shiite kingdom. The O omans were Sunni. The agreement between them was that no Shiite in the O oman realm would bear arms.
In this way, the Shiites in the O oman realm could not easily become a fi h column for Iran. This kept the peace. When the American coali on
invaded Iraq, a major objec ve was the transfer of power to the Shiite majority. An old understanding had been unwounded with cataclysmic
repercussions across the en re Fer le Crescent. Iran benefited while alarm bells rang in the Saudi Kingdom. The predominantly Sunni ci es of
Aleppo and Mosul are right now being recaptured by soldiers who are predominantly Shiite or Shiite-led, one with the help of Russia, the other
with the help of the US.
It may be that Humpty Dumpty would have fallen anyway, eventually. But, if we had known how fragile the shell is, we might have found a
be er, gentler way to bring Humpty Dumpty down from the wall. But all this is in hindsight. It is easy to be wise a er the event.
Here in Southeast Asia, we have to be mindful of not riding roughshod over deep iden es. We ignore these iden es at our peril. Indonesia's
rela vely smooth transi on to a modern democracy could not have been foreseen during the Asian financial crisis when the vast country was in
danger of breaking up. If there had been civil war, Singapore would not be le in peace. A er East Timor became independent, successive
Indonesian Presidents had the wisdom to accommodate the Acehnese. I remember talking to President Abdurrahman Wahid when he visited
Singapore. As the Minister-in-A endance, I was in the car with him. His touching wish was for an agreement which enables the Acehnese to feel
that the land they live on is their own. A er the Boxing Day tsunami, President Yudhoyono held the Indonesian Army back so that Vice President
Jusuf Kalla could nego ate a peace agreement with GAM. Pak Jusuf, who monitored proceedings from Jakarta through two mobile phones,
asked Minister Hamid Awaludin to invite GAM leaders in Helsinki for an informal mee ng to break the ice first and build up trust before the start
of nego a ons. There can be no stable peace without the respect and accommoda on of differences.
The challenge of the ethnic groups in Myanmar is an ongoing struggle. Many Western and Islamic countries are pressuring Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi to solve the Rohingya problem in Rakhine State. There is an urgent need to ameliorate the suffering of the Rohingyas but this is a difficult
poli cal issue. Daw Suu cannot se le the Rohingya issue without first achieving a peace agreement with the other minority ethnic groups who
collec vely make up one third of the popula on. When her father Aung San signed the Panglong Agreement with the seven most important
minority groups in 1947 on the eve of independence, which included the Rakhines, Bengalis were recognised as an ethnic minority but not
Rohingyas. The ethnic issue is further complicated by the fact that many ethnic groups straddle the borders with Bangladesh, India, China and
Thailand.
Myanmar's peaceful transi on from a military government to a democra cally elected government is a miracle which could not have been
achieved without the pa ent support and understanding of ASEAN and other countries. What is needed now is economic development without
which there can be no solu on to the ethnic problem. During Daw Suu's recent visit to China, China agreed to play a helpful role. Earlier
a empts to have a peace agreement without involving China could not succeed. For every Kachin living in Myanmar, there are two living in
China. For every Wa living in Myanmar, there is another living in China.
ASEAN's Respect for Diversity
ASEAN is culturally the most diverse region in the world because of its complex geography. As a result of the Australian plate crashing into Asian
tectonic plates, the en re region between the Himalayas and Australia is corrugated into high mountain ridges, deep valleys, indented coasts and
the world’s biggest archipelago, with strangely shaped islands like Mindanao, Sulawesi and Halmahera. Over the centuries, tribes have migrated
southwards from the Chinese mainland, down the peninsulas and into the islands. Some were forced up the mountains. As empires waxed and
waned on opposite sides, they brought to our shores aspects of their civilisa on and bits of their DNA.
There can only be peace in Southeast Asia if we recognize and respect this diversity and build ins tu ons based upon acceptance of diversity.
While we should influence each other posi vely, we should never impose our views or our wills on one another.
The Malays describe the region as the lands below the winds (tanah di bawa angin). The winds blow one way six months of the year and the
other way the other six months. The region is in between China and India not only geographically but also culturally. The ins nct in coastal
Southeast Asia is therefore to be open and neutral, welcoming all who come peacefully to our shores. Every me the China trade flowed
strongly, it brought opportunity and prosperity to the kingdoms and principali es in the region. The China trade which flowed in the 19th
century, which was the one which created modern Singapore, was however different. Trade was opened up by gunboats and had to conform to
western rules. During that period, Southeast Asia was carved up into colonial domains except for Thailand which astutely adjusted to whichever
was the prevailing power.
The new China trade of the 21st century will revert back to earlier China trades which allowed for greater diversity. President Xi Jinping's One
Belt, One Road, is based on a voluntary principle. There is no requirement to change one's internal opera ng system in order to become part of
it. Like the Internet, one can par cipate in the network by accep ng certain protocols, similar to TCP/IP. This is now unfolding on an epic scale,
transforming the face of Eurasia. Powers which see China as a rival are reac ng uneasily to this development. The US and Japan are refusing to
join AIIB. India is not enthusias c, worried that the Kashgar-Gwadar corridor will affect it adversely. These countries fear that China will pull too
many of the strings.
China will fail if it tries to dominate its neighbours by force or in mida on. Deng Xiaoping once said that if China ever tries to be a new
hegemon, other countries should unite with the Chinese people to defeat it. What China is doing instead is to make use of its economic strength
to win friends and influence people. Those who are friendly to China are rewarded while those who are not so friendly find themselves
economically disadvantaged. However, the Chinese know that they cannot expect an exclusive posi on for themselves in Southeast Asia which
was precisely the point made by Premier Zhu Rongji in Phnom Penh in 2002 when he signed the Framework Agreement for the ASEAN-China FTA
with ASEAN leaders. No one in ASEAN wants China as an enemy. The more China is a friend, the more the US, Japan, India and Europe will also
be welcomed as friends because that gives us diversifica on. The more, the merrier.
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea must however be well managed. The US is understandably concerned. However, trying to play off the
US against China, or vice versa, is a dangerous game for ASEAN countries. All of us in ASEAN are small powers in comparison to these two. We
end up being minor pieces on their global chessboard to be sacrificed when expedient. The high tension earlier this year seems to have
ameliorated as all four countries with compe ng claims and China are talking in a construc ve way. Because of long contact with Southeast over
many centuries, China has a fine sense of ASEAN's diversity and calibrates its foreign policy to this reality.
ASEAN itself is slowly but steadily inculca ng in its people a sense of ASEAN ci zenry. The ASEAN flag now flies alongside na onal flags of
member states in all overseas missions. Next year, ASEAN celebrates its 50th Anniversary. I hope we will be able to field an ASEAN soccer team
for the World Cup one day, cheered on by all the people of ASEAN.
Singapore
Singapore's iden ty is rooted in our geography and history. At the southernmost p of the Eurasia landmass, we are where ships turn as the
winds change direc on. Singapore is a child of the mari me silk route. In the coming decades, this China trade will flow with greater strength
than ever before. Behind China, there is a rising India. As Prof Wang Gungwu put it beau fully, we are where the mandalas of China and India
intersect. The growth of One Belt, One Road is therefore a historic opportunity for Singapore which, provided we seize it with both hands, will
take us far.
Singapore's des ny is in Southeast Asia. We are at the heart of ASEAN and the most ASEAN-ised of all the ASEAN countries. Every member
country in ASEAN has a strong presence in Singapore. The rich diversity of ASEAN has its reflec on in the Singapore crystal. We are densely
connected economically and culturally with all the other nine countries. It is for this reason that Singapore has always been a strong advocate of
ASEAN unity and integra on. ASEAN's role as a neutral pla orm friendly to all major powers is irreplaceable. Provided we do not take sides, all
the major powers will wish us well and support our deeper unity and integra on. ASEAN must always be reluctant to ASEAN-ise bilateral
problems which individual ASEAN countries may have with major powers. Unless there are overriding reasons for ASEAN as a whole to be
involved in such bilateral disputes, it should refrain from doing so. On the South China Sea, for example, ASEAN does have a strong interest in
freedom of naviga on but ASEAN should take no posi on on territorial disputes between the four claimant states and China. ASEAN should also
studiously avoid taking sides in the unavoidable rivalry between the US and China.
There is a strong alignment between Singapore's foreign policy and ASEAN's foreign policy. Despite having le the Government for some years,
in my present capacity in the private sector, I am constantly reminded by ASEAN friends of the important role Singapore plays in fostering ASEAN
unity.
Singapore's Chineseness is an inseparable part of our existence in Southeast Asia. It was our Chineseness that impelled so many Singaporeans to
support China's war against Japan, that led the Japanese militarists to kill many young men a er the Bri sh were defeated, that made the Bri sh
keep Singapore out of the Malayan Federa on, that enabled Lee Kuan Yew to persuade the Tunku to take Singapore into Malaysia, and that
caused Singapore to separate not long a erwards in 1965. That same Chineseness con nues to link us in a myriad ways to the unfolding drama
of China's great transforma on in the 21st century and to the situa on of the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia. Singapore's Chineseness is a
huge advantage in this period of history but it also complicates our foreign policy. One senior Chinese diplomat once noted to me that "there is
considerable mutual affec on between the people of China and the people of Singapore". The other side of this emo onal coin is the occasional
overreac on to disagreements between us. I remember Indonesian Foreign Minister Pak Ali Alatas once expressing to me his deep concern
about Singapore's deteriora ng rela ons with China many years ago over an incident which I've long forgo en. His concern came as a pleasant
surprise to me.
Singapore's links with Malaysia and Indonesia, with India and with the Muslim world are similarly fraught with emo onal complica ons. The
POA issue with Malaysia took over twenty years to resolve largely because the emo onal trauma of separa on for both sides took me to heal.
A er 51 years, we are s ll very much one people separated in two countries. In a group, it is difficult to dis nguish Singaporeans from
Malaysians. Among Indonesian leaders, there is some mes a sense that Chinese Singapore is somehow exploi ng Indonesia, benefi ng
dispropor onately from the rela onship. At Pak Mochtar Riady's book launch in Singapore recently, which I was honoured to speak at, an
accompanying video displayed both the Indonesian and the PRC flags. Being Chinese and being Indonesian are equally important iden es to
him. The ethnic Chinese connec on with Singapore is woven into the fabric of economic life in Southeast Asia and complicates our rela onship
with Indonesia. Notwithstanding all this, Singapore and Indonesia remain the closest of partners. With One Belt, One Road, our two countries
will grow even closer together in the coming decades.
Singapore's links to India are also profound and will be a growing advantage not only to us, but to the en re region. By 2050, India will either be
the second or the third biggest economy in the world. Some of my Indian friends consider Singapore to be virtually a part of India. Singapore is
of course an Indian name, Sanskrit in origin.
Singapore's links to the Muslim world are inseparable from our other links to Southeast Asia, China and India. The recent picture of President
Tony Tan mee ng Singapore religious students in Egypt's Al-Azhar University shows how in mately connected we are to the Middle East and the
Muslim world. Every coin has two sides. While we celebrate the connec ons, we are also ineluctably affected by the turmoil in the Middle East
including the challenge of Jihadi terrorism.
What all this means is that the Singapore iden ty is complex and dynamic. This complexity is part of our everyday life. We will never stop
worrying about it. We will never stop arguing over policies affected by our mul ple iden es in educa on and housing, language and culture,
na onal security and foreign policy. The latest debate is the Elected Presidency.
In having to grapple with these tensions, which are never fully resolved, we develop a Singapore culture, a higher Singapore iden ty, which is
accommoda ng and inclusive, while being always sensi ve to issues touching on race, language and religion. Each and every Singaporean has
mul ple iden es. Being Singaporean means understanding and accep ng this reality, even celebra ng it. The Singaporean has to be big-
hearted and broadminded in order to embrace others not like himself. This is the Singapore idea which is worth living and figh ng for. Indeed it
is an idea the world desperately needs. Singapore is only Singapore if it has this universal appeal.
Thank you.
. . . . .
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
11 NOVEMBER 2016

A Sense of Self in An Age of Globalisation

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A Sense of Self in an Age of Globalisa on

Fragmenta on and Neural Networks

ASEAN's Respect for Diversity

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

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