Singapore is held up by President George W. Bush as the finest model for the Asian region! This goes to show that our esteemed leaders have been doing the right thing all along and have brought immense wealth and prosperity to our Great Motherland! Let us all unite in the Great and Noble Cause of Nation Building!!
Nov 17, 2006
Singapore held up as a model for the region
By Chua Mui Hoong
US PRESIDENT George W. Bush yesterday said he saw Singapore as a model for the region, as a country which overcame poverty through opening up to free trade.
On his second visit to Singapore in three years, President Bush said: 'We've got a lot in common, particularly our desire to continue to promote free and fair trade, because your country has shown that open markets are capable of lifting up an entire people.'
Speaking after an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana in the afternoon, he added: 'And I congratulate you on your leadership; congratulate the people of Singapore for really being a model for the neighbourhood.'
Summing up the discussion, PM Lee said they covered a range of issues, including security and terrorism.
'On many of these areas, we not only exchanged notes, but found a significant degree of matching in our views,' said PM Lee, adding that this was because the two countries' interests were aligned.
'Singapore is very happy that America has a stake in the region, and is growing the stake in the region. And we would like to help this to happen and to ensure that this continues for a long time to come.'
Singapore as an exemplar of Asia was a theme that President Bush returned to in the evening, during a 30-minute-long address at the National University of Singapore's University Cultural Centre to an audience that included diplomats, academics, students and religious leaders.
He began by tracing the 'deep and enduring' ties between America and Singapore that started in the 1830s, when the first American counsel came to promote American trade in this region.
The counsel's wife was the daughter of one of America's most famous patriots, Paul Revere.
She donated a bell cast by the Revere Foundry to the old St Andrew's Church. It is now in the National Museum and is 'a symbol of the long affection' between the people of the two nations, said President Bush.
'The story of Singapore is a story of people who overcame challenges and transformed a small port city into one of the most prosperous nations on Earth,' he said, noting that pessimists had doubted Singapore's ability to survive as a tiny nation with no natural resources.
'By your effort and enterprise, you have proven the pessimists wrong. And today Singapore has one of the most vibrant economies in the entire world,' said the President, who added that he felt very comfortable in Singapore and in meetings with its leaders.
Singapore's transformation is 'a story of Asia', he noted.
Like Singapore, the region was 'mired in poverty' after World War II, went through war and occupation, and survived colonialism and destabilising movements.
Like Singapore, many Asian countries overcame the difficulties. 'And the Asia we see today is the fastest growing and most dynamic region in the world.'
America had a stake in Asia's success and would continue with its open trade policies that would help Asia grow, he stressed.
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