The rhetoric on the broadsheet where I live in Singapore (
which is hardly credible IMHO which is in the process of being nationalized in
some shape or form) should liken to walking the tight rope in a circus and not
take sides and risk getting caught in the cross hair of a proxy war
(economically or militarily).
The first two PMs with their astute foreign policies (especially
PM Lee Kuan Yew) and ministers have done well in the midst of Vietnam and
Korean War. I cannot say the same for the current PM Lee Hsien Loong. He spent
our precious diplomatic bullets by making jokes that the air and water quality
in Beijing a few years back were grouse. These off the script comments didn’t
go un-noticed in Beijing and perhaps the payback came in the Hong Kong custom
impounding our armored vehicles enroute from Taiwan to Singapore whilst the
ship took a layover in Hong Kong. That escalated quickly from ambassadorial to ministerial
level. China has sent a message to Singapore that they were not amused about
the joke.
Public Service Commission (PSC) should strongly consider putting
more scholars in the likes of Tsinghua University and University of Peking to
inject more stronger social network between the future bureaucrats of tomorrow
rather than just Oxbridge and ivy leagues in USA.
To date, I only have one
friend who did post grad in Tsinghua on his family scholarship. The road ahead
is foggy, and we need shrewd PM and foreign ministers. I rarely praise PAP but
sidelining Tharman and George Yeo for the role was a really bad decision.
With the rhetoric between China and USA on a somewhat sour note on both military and economics, we should posture ourselves as friends to all
and enemies to none.
Peter Lye aka lkypeter
lkypeter@gmail.com Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye (c) Peter Lye 2023
.png)
