The Minister of Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam has written a Facebook post on Sunday to applaud the writings of Bilahari Kausikan, an Ambassador-at-large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which criticised an article, “Qatar: Big lessons from a small country” by Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School Kishore Mahbubani. In the Minister’s post, he wrote that Bilahari has given a brilliant response to Kishore’s  intellectually questionable article on foreign policy.

In Kishore’s opinion piece, he wrote that Qatar made a big mistake in its diplomatic relations because its belief that it could act as a middle power and interfere in affairs beyond its borders due to it sitting on mounds of money. Citing Qatar’s decisions that shocked him, its actions was a pattern of behaviour where Qatar believed that its mounds of money and its close relations with the United States would protect it from consequences.

Kishore argued that Qatar ignored an eternal rule of geopolitics: small states must behave like small states. He quoted the famous historian, Thucydides on the war between Athens and Sparta for why is it so, “Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

What many might find it objectionable is Kishore’s comment that while LKY never acted as a leader of a small state but he had earned the right to do so because the great powers treated him with great respect as a global statesman. He pointed out that Singapore is now in the post-Lee Kuan Yew era and it will probably never again have another globally respected statesman like Mr Lee.

“As a result, we should change our behaviour significantly.” wrote Kishore, referring to incidents such as the South China Sea dispute.

In relation to Kishore’s article, Mr K Shanmugam states that he never forgot that Singapore is a small country and there were limits to what it can do during his time as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He added, “But equally I also knew, that once you allow yourself to be bullied, then you will continue to be bullied. And I never allowed myself to be bullied, when I represented Singapore.”

Recalling instances where ministers from other countries threatened Singapore in different ways, Mr K Shanmugam wrote that he just looked them in the eye and told them “we stood firm”, with had them changing their attitude after that.

Pointing to Kishore’s quote of Thucydides, the Minister states that quoting “without contextualising, may appeal to those who don’t know foreign policy, and lead to erroneous conclusions”.

Below is Mr K Shanmugam’s post in full

Kishore Mahbubani had written a piece on foreign policy which I found questionable, intellectually.

Bilahari has given a brilliant response – the response that Kishore’s article deserves. I have included the link to his response below.

Kishore’s comments for example: “Small states must always behave like small states” are contrary to some basic principles of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, principles which made us successful. Mr Lee never advocated cravenness, or thinking small.

Did we get to where we are now, by thinking “small”? No.

That is why Singapore was and is respected, despite being one of the smallest countries in the world. And Singaporeans are proud to be Singaporeans.

As Foreign Minister, I never forgot that we were a small country and there were limits to what we can do. But equally I also knew, that once you allow yourself to be bullied, then you will continue to be bullied. And I never allowed myself to be bullied, when I represented Singapore.

There were Ministers from other countries who threatened us, in different ways, took a harsh tone, when we didn’t give them what they wanted.

As all our Foreign Ministers have done, I just looked them in the eye and told them we stood firm. They changed their attitude after that.

Handling international relations is not all toughness. It has its funny moments. One example for me, is a conversation with a former German Foreign Minister. I liked and respected him. Once he was trying to persuade me to agree with a German point of view. And he said: “We small countries should support each other” – bracketing Singapore and Germany as “small countries!” I laughed and responded to say I wished we were small like Germany, with the fourth largest economy in the world and the largest in Europe, and with a population in excess of 80 million. Charm is also part of diplomacy, and he was being friendly and charming.

We have to be clear about our interests, and go about it smartly. But not on bended knees and by kowtowing to others.

By definition almost every country, including our neighbouring countries, are all bigger than us. We treat each other with mutual respect. Once we are shown to be “flexible”, then that is what will be expected of us every time.

Quoting Thucydides without contextualising, may appeal to those who don’t know foreign policy, and lead to erroneous conclusions.

I will suggest that those with an interest in foreign policy read Bilahari. He is an intellectual, with a deep understanding of how foreign policy works.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

焦虑的主人寻猫记 “无论生死只盼回到身边”

最近闹得沸沸扬扬的寻猫报导,无论在社交媒体或是报章上都可以看到,有人或许觉得大惊小怪,但是身为猫咪的主人,焦虑的心情又是几人能体会。明知家中的毛孩子没有做错却要被冤枉带走,寻找多时,只传来了一只失踪一只死亡的消息,让人心力交瘁,而猫咪主人现在只求“Leng Leng回家”。 星期五深夜,这里大多数餐厅和商店几乎关闭的时段,在港湾中心(Harbourfront Centre)外面,新加坡文化遗产节的大荧幕还在放映着,但很多摊位已经准备收摊了。双层巴士正在通往巴士车站的路上,带着疲惫的通勤者回家。在这些喧哗中,一阵装着饼干的塑料容器摇晃声音响起,一名女人沿着这条路走,摇着塑料容器,低头在人行道上绿树成荫的灌木丛中喊道,“Leng Leng!Ah Leng!” 58岁的格蕾丝·陈(译音Grace Tan),过去两周都没放弃寻找Leng Leng,她从位于马林台的住家,一路南下到港湾中心,在行人道徘徊,一遍一遍地检查灌木丛和树丛中,一声一声的呼唤爱猫。 市镇会初时否认抓猫 2019年3月8日,格蕾丝自兼职工作中回到她位于马林台的租屋时,发现她的两只猫Ben Ben和Leng…

Singapore Technology blacklisted by India in corruption probe

Another Singapore company, Media Architects, also singled out. Businessworld.

余振忠:一根手指指责别人 三指指向自己

“新加坡政治分析员暨香港教育大学助理教授胡君杰认为,上周二的国会动议表明,大部分议员和他们所代表的公民,都表达对阿裕尼-后港市镇会当前安排的不满。” 英语媒体《今日报》在本月7日发表一篇专题报导,采访学者分析上周二副总理王瑞杰,在国会对工人党议员提出“诚信动议”的影响。 不过前非选区议员余振忠不认同胡君杰的观点,后者的说法似乎意指,赞同动议的行动党议员,就反映了大部分国人的观点。 对此余振忠反问,议员受委托管理选区,难道就一定能代表居民的意见?他直言,本地的选举仍首先考量政党(品牌、宣言、过往政绩乃至他们他们如何运用恐惧和媒体),之后才是候选人对选区的承诺。 “无论如何,阿裕尼和后港的居民在来届大选才有最终的话事权。” 余振忠在上周五在脸书发表长文,点评对国会诚信动议的看法。他直言当副总理和其他行动党部长、议员在国会上演的“大龙凤”,不要忘了:当你一只食指指责别人,有三根手指头正好指向自己。 他列举了行动党政府的一些财务事务: 总审计署对人协财务提”否定意见“ 其一,向总理公署报告的人民协会,每年处理约10亿元的预算,当他们被总审计署提出”否定意见“(adverse opinion)时,理应能立即改善。 但在2015年,在91个民众俱乐部管理委员会(CCMC)中,有35个被发现未经相关单位的批准下,签下了53份总值1778万元的租赁合同。 林瑞生:出于好意…

Major financial institutions stand united behind The Duke of Cambridge’s mission to disrupt the illegal trade in wildlife products

In an unprecedented move, global financial organisations have joined together to sign…