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Go beyond Mandarin to connect with China
To engage in China's growth, you need to be 'bicultural' and understand the culture and world view too, SM Lee says

Those who want to engage China must also be 'bicultural' - people who are not only fluent in English and Chinese, but who also understand the culture and world view of the Chinese today.

Said Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew: 'Bilingualism gets us through the front door, but it is only through biculturalism that we can reach deep inside China and work with them.'

Decades of bilingual education have produced generations of students who appear bilingual, but whose Mandarin is adequate only for 'social, not business purposes', he said, acknowledging that there were limits to the bilingual policy, as not everyone could master two languages.

Nevertheless, Singapore had to persist in nurturing a bilingual society. In fact, the next rung of the challenge is to nurture from among the capable, 'a few hundred students' from each year's cohort, who can master a higher level of Mandarin and have a deeper appreciation of China's history and culture.

Biculturalism is needed to reach deep inside China and work with the Chinese, says Mr Lee. Photo by How Hwee Young

This 'bicultural' group can then engage in China's growth, whether in the private or public sectors, he said.

Highlighting the sheer scale of China's growth engine, he noted that the country's entry into the World Trade Organisation is estimated to bring a US$800 billion (S$1.38 trillion) rise in foreign direct investment between 2001 and 2010.

It is already becoming a huge market for raw materials, and manufactured components. Soon, a growing middle class will fuel demand for services from tourism to private banking.

The good news is that Singapore is well-poised to play an even bigger role in this growth, he told more than 1,000 students, academics and alumni at the start of an international conference of Chinese studies scholars at Nanyang Technological University.

The need to produce a group of 'bicultural' people able to engage a resurgent China and India has been much on Mr Lee's mind this year.

He noted that the Chinese here have historical ties with China dating to the 19th century. Many immigrants retained links with China, among them intellectuals and social reformers who made an impact both in Malaya and in China.

An example is Dr Lim Boon Keng, a Straits Chinese Queen's Scholar who was born in 1869 and studied in Scotland. He learnt Chinese as an adult and promoted its use in schools. He was active in Singapore and in China as a social reformer.

'He was an outstanding example of a bilingual and bicultural Singaporean Chinese of that era who contributed to both China and Singapore's development.'

That is the model of bicultural people Mr Lee wants to see among Singaporeans: people at home in both Western and Asian culture, who not only speak the language, but also understand its society, and are able to make an impact, whether in business, or in the public sector.

In fact, thanks to the British Raj days, Singapore enjoyed historical ties to South Asia as well, he noted. Similarly, Singapore's links to the Islamic world date to the 15th century when the Arabs brought Islam to the region.

Singapore should make use of these ties to develop a bicultural group who can engage India, and the Islamic world as well, he said in a keynote speech in English.

'We can play a growing role as a meeting place and home for students and entrepreneurs from China, India and South-east Asia, all of whom can feel comfortable in Singapore.

'A city state like Singapore with a strong rule of law plus Western economic and managerial practices, and an effective, corruption-free administration can then add value to China, India and our Asean neighbours in their interaction with the United States and European Union, to the benefit of all,' he said.

During the hour-long question-and-answer session which followed, Mr Lee spoke in Mandarin on Singapore's language policy. -By Chua Mui Hoong SINGAPORE STRAITS TIMES 24 June 2004

China 'is Singapore's main challenger'
SM Lee says Beijing can do anything the Republic does, and could overtake the island economically in 20 to 30 years

BEIJING - Singapore's main economic challenge in the long term is China, not its immediate neighbours, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew has suggested.

While competition came from countries in the immediate region as they followed Singapore's way, the Republic had a lead time of about 20 years over them, he said on a television programme, Dialogue, that was aired here on Sunday night.

Singapore's solution to the competition from the region was to educate its people to a higher level so that they could do higher value-added jobs.

But, SM Lee said: 'I'm worried about China, because what we can do, you can do, it's a matter of time.'

He recalled telling the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978 that while Singaporeans were descendants of landless peasants from Guangdong and Fujian, China had the literati, mandarins, scholars and thinkers. 'Whatever we can do, you can do better,' he had said then.

He added on Sunday night that in 20 to 30 years, China would be overtaking Singapore. 'I think we accept that in 50, 60, 70 years, we are learning from you.'

'We have a role in Singapore, we have a role in South-east Asia which will be useful economically to you and of benefit to us,' he pointed out.

Singapore was a natural starting point for Chinese companies that wanted to go abroad and reach out to South-east Asia, he said.

Singapore also had an advantage over China - its system, which China would take 10 to 30 years to put right.

This included an independent judiciary, transparency in its companies and respect for intellectual property rights.

He added that foreign companies that went to Singapore expected this transparency.

Thus the big pharmaceutical companies chose to go to Singapore because they knew that intellectual property rights would be respected. Pharmaceuticals were one of Singapore's big industries, and would remain so for a long time, he said.

And while Singapore was losing people to China as companies moved there to capitalise on its markets, it was a two-way traffic.

'We are getting many people from China, from India and other parts of Asia. People of great ability,' he noted.

He observed that 'never in the history of mankind has there been such a free movement of people across national borders'.

But he conceded that as Singapore entered a new phase in the world economy of a globalised world, he could not foresee how it would work out in the end.

Other things he discussed during the programme on CCTV2, the economics channel of China's state television, included the need for the Chinese to keep their traditional values, Singapore's clean government, which was an economic asset, and why Singapore had to cane American Michael Fay in 1994.

'It's a job I sought for myself and therefore I should be prepared to do it. If I could not find a passion for doing this job, it could not have been done. The job never stops, you solve one problem, another problem of higher order crops up... It is an unending quest to improve life for yourself and your fellow human beings. If I did not find pleasure doing that, I'd have packed up a long time ago.'

'When you do something, if you worry about what people will think of you, what history will record your worth, then you are not concentrating on the job. A job has to be done, do it. Let people decide later, history will make its own judgment. That's my view. So I have been abused, excoriated, denounced, but I do what I have to do, and at the end, let people decide.'

'Life is an adventure because when you start, you don't know when it'll end, because you don't know what you are going to meet, and you want to go a certain place, you find road blocks, landslides, earthquakes. You change directions. You must have a certain bounce, certain resilience, and you must have a certain optimism in life that you can overcome these problems. Otherwise, you'll give up.'

'I'm too old to work these new gadgets. For instance, I don't even have a mobile phone, my dexterity is gone, so why do I want a mobile phone, so I use my aide's mobile phone if necessary. But I understand the technology, I understand why Nokia has lost to Samsung.'

'However much you can distil, crystallise, extract the essence of your experience, unless the other person has had some experience, he will never be able to really grasp your point, that's why history keeps on repeating itself.'

'I think if you don't change as the world changes, you will be a misfit. You have certain basic principles which you should not abandon...we have an evolving society. Not that I have changed in my views, but the situation has changed and you've got to find new solutions to that. But try to retain the core values.'

'I'm proudest of being able to get a team to carry on our work. It was the most difficult job. My original team was a product of history, big events...My worry and that of my colleagues was how do we have a team that is as determined, as dedicated, as clean and uncorrupt to do this job.'

'What is saddest? I think leaving behind in Malaysia people who put their faith in us. Without their support, they would not have wanted us out of Malaysia. With their support, we were a danger to Malaysia. It was a very difficult decision to make. So I live with a heavy sense of having disappointed many people, hopes I have raised.'

'Eat less than you want to, work more than you need to, sleep well.' - By Goh Sui Noi SINGAPORE STRAITS TIMES 21 June 2004

BEIJING - As China grows stronger, its future leaders must understand that in the new interconnected world, they must live by certain rules, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in a TV interview here.

The Chinese are inheriting a world which is very different from the one in the days of the horseback.

'You must have a certain rule of law, certain agreements arrived at between the big nations and with the support of the General Assembly of the United Nations so that everybody feels it's a fair world,' he suggested.

Giving the example of the United States' difficulties in Iraq after going in there without the agreement of the UN, he said big countries such as China and India have to understand that without acceptance by the bulk of the world, they would have to pay a price.

Noting that the world would be a place where the rich and powerful could not ignore the poor and dispossessed without consequences, including Aids and Sars, he said he hoped China would have enough capable people with ideals which go beyond a resurgent China, and who have an appreciation of the interdependence of people.

Illustrating his point, he said that as China urbanised, it would become increasingly dependent on the rest of the world for grain.

In this totally interconnected world, powerful nations at the top with the resources had to help maintain a certain world order which would enable trade, investment, exchange of information and advances in technology to progress. Otherwise, there would be chaos.

'The Chinese people, as they become more prosperous, stronger, have to look at the outside world and say how do we form part of this prosperous world and keep it prosperous and peaceful,' he said. -- by Goh Sui Noi SINGAPORE STRAITS TIMES 21 June 2004