Honoring Singapore’s Visionary Leader
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s legendary first prime minister — now a minister mentor — was chosen by the US-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Council for the group’s first Lifetime Achievement Award during a high-powered black-tie celebration marking the council’s 25th anniversary at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Oct. 27.
 Many of the biggest names in foreign policy, government, academia and business — plus more than half of the 10 ASEAN ambassadors — attended. The Americans included former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George P. Shultz; United Technologies Chairman George David; Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs; and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell. Former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush added their congratulations via video.
 “We are touched by the high regard American leaders have for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew,” said a delighted Chan Heng Chee, Singapore’s veteran ambassador in Washington. “We value our bilateral relationship with the United States and hope to build further upon it. Already, we have a Free Trade Agreement and a Strategic Framework Agreement. We work together on nonproliferation, climate change and trade. We look forward to welcoming President Barack Obama to Singapore for the upcoming APEC meeting,” she said, referring to the 20th annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in mid-November (also see “Singapore’s Veteran Envoy Preps For Upcoming APEC Summit” in the November 2009 issue of The Washington Diplomat).
“ASEAN events are always vivid and exciting,” said Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki. “But tonight was truly special. Lee Kuan Yew, George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Kit Bond, Jim Webb … it was like reading the very top textbook on diplomacy and politics.”
Minister Mentor Lee, who served as prime minister from 1965 to 1990, is considered a global visionary for turning Singapore from an underdeveloped colonial outpost into and Asian economic giant. At the Washington dinner, he predicted a new world economic order emerging in the near future.
“Small countries have little influence on international trends,” he began. “Singapore has always taken the world as it is. We analyze the world clinically, take advantage of opportunities that come our way or get out of harm’s way.
“I have lived through several historic eras — as a British colony, then a Japanese military conquest and occupation that shattered Western colonial empires … the Cold War between the U.S.-Western Europe and the Soviet bloc, and finally in 1992, the dissolution of the Soviet empire,” he explained.
“Now this world is in the midst of another momentous transformation. When President Barack Obama announced … that G-20 would replace G-8, he implicitly acknowledged the end of the post-World War II world order. An American President has taken a realistic view of the changed world, although for the next two to three decades, America will remain the sole superpower. America and her European allies shaped the world order after World War II.
He added that the United Nations system will also still be important, “but for some time, it has been clear that the present system can no longer ensure international stability,” Lee said. “No one can predict how the G-20 will evolve. It does not herald a multi-polar world with parity between the different poles. Europe, a large economy, is no longer a global strategic actor. India and Brazil have influence in their own regions. Russia is a major nuclear power with vast quantities of oil and gas and control of gas pipes across Eastern and Western Europe, and China will have global heft and influence in two decades.
In particular, he focused much of his comments on China. “A changed world order is upon us,” Lee said. “The global financial crisis has hastened this change. As a member of [the World Trade Organization] from 2001, China will maximize its economic potential and become a powerhouse within two to three decades. It faces enormous domestic problems. No one knows their seriousness better than China’s own leaders. But in a pragmatic way, they have coped with their problems.”
Yet Minister Mentor Lee also noted the weaknesses and flaws in the Chinese system, including “widespread corruption and increasing numbers of mass protests in rural areas where Communist Party officials collude with property developers to evict farmers from their land without adequate compensation.”
“Beijing’s response has been flexible, using the carrot or stick, or both,” he continued. “It has survived traumas that would have cracked a rigid system. While there are imponderables in its development, the course it has set out on will result in high growth rates for the next two decades. High growth will bring major social and political changes. China’s present political structures will come under acute stress. Governing a people with over 70 percent living in urban areas with access to worldwide information through Blackberries, cell phones and the Internet will require a restructuring of their political structures and governance of this huge nation.”
But relations with the United States, Lee predicted, should remain stable. “Successive American Presidents have moved relations with China closer toward the center of U.S. policies. There was vacillation, sometimes China was called a ‘strategic partner,’ at other times a ‘potential adversary.’ But U.S. policy kept a steady course to increase multilateral trade, investments and mutual prosperity. Furthermore, closer ties with other East Asian powers are enhancing security.
“Unlike U.S.-Soviet relations during the Cold War,” he added, “there is no bitter, irreconcilable ideological conflict between the U.S. and a China that has enthusiastically embraced the market. Both countries want stability in their relations and an international system that increases trade and investments…. Competition between them is inevitable, but conflict is not. For China to grow its economy, it needs stability at home and peace abroad.”
Yet at the same time, Beijing wants to stake out what it considers its rightful place abroad. ““For the last 200 years, the international system has been dominated by the West. Unlike other emergent countries, China wants to be China and accepted as such, not as an honorary member of the West,” Lee said.
“China’s rise is one facet of East Asia’s modernisation growth story,” he added. “China and India can and will catch up with the West in science and technology. They will restore Asia to its leading position before European colonialism enveloped them. The world order will be rebalanced. Growth has created growing strategic complexity between China, Japan, South Korea, India, ASEAN and Australia. Each will try to position itself to achieve maximum security, stability and influence.”
So where does that leave the Association of Southeast Asian Nations? “The consensus in ASEAN is that the U.S. remains irreplaceable in East Asia. But it can no longer be alone and manage the new complexities to maintain stability. Hence, the search for some new architecture, such as the concept of a community in East Asia,” Lee said. “To remain at the centre of East Asia’s economic and political evolution, ASEAN must integrate more closely and with urgency. Otherwise, it will be marginalised. A good start has been made with the speedy conclusion of the ASEAN Charter.
“A consistent American policy of keeping ASEAN engaged will add to stability,” he added. “In building any new East Asian architecture, the U.S. must be an important part of it…. Whatever the challenges, U.S. core interest requires that it remain the superior power in the Pacific.”
Celebrating 25 years, the US-ASEAN Business Council is now the premier advocacy organization for American business in Southeast Asia. The nearly 100 companies that comprise the council posted combined revenue in 2008 of nearly $5 trillion, and council members include seven of America’s Fortune 10 companies as well as 20 of the 30 Dow Jones Component Companies. Top representatives from the 28 sponsoring companies paid up to $50,000 for a table at the Oct. 27 dinner.
In the last quarter century, U.S.-ASEAN trade has increased nearly seven-fold to approximately $180 billion annually. ASEAN itself has doubled in membership from five to 10 countries, reaching nearly 600 million people and raising its collective GDP from $2.2 billion to nearly $1.4 trillion.
Top photo from left, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister from 1965 to 1990, was toasted by President of the US-ASEAN Business Council Alexander C. Feldman, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), and his wife Hong Le Webb at the US-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Council’s 25th anniversary dinner, which also featured prominent guests such as (bottom photo from right) former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George P. Shultz.
Top Photo: US-ASEAN Business Council
Bottom Photo: The Straits Times
No More Irish Politics
Born-politician John Bruton — the popular ambassador of the European Union Commission and Ireland’s former prime minister — and his equally popular wife Finola left Washington on Oct. 31, despite Halloween and their love for any excuse to have a party. This dynamic duo will long be missed around town and at the EU Commission’s shrimp-colored residence in Kalorama.
 In a touching farewell held there on Oct. 22, Finola let the cat out of the bag on what might await the power couple. “I don’t believe that he’ll go back into Irish politics, but he would be interested in something on a bigger stage,” she said, leaving the door wide open for future political involvement in multinational organizations such as the European Union, NATO or the United Nations.
Looking back over his five years in Washington, the departing ambassador said, “We took the EU to the Hill … and met with about 300 congressional members to win votes for EU concerns. That wasn’t done to that extent before. I’m proud of that.
“Perhaps what I liked most about my time here in America representing the European Union was talking to American high school students and explaining what the EU was all about,” Bruton told the Diplomatic Pouch. “They are your leaders for the next 40 years, so convincing the younger generation that the EU is important is crucial.”
His wife Finola, mother to their four grown children, served as Bruton’s former campaign pollster and was the one to break the news to him that the Irish polls were not running in his favor.” Today, all John and I have to worry about is finding room in our home in Dublin when we return,” Finola said, nothing that “three of our four children are living there now!”
From left, Ambassador of Portugal Joao de Vallera joined other dignitaries at the European Union Residence in bidding farewell to Finola and John Bruton, the ambassador of the European Union Commission and Ireland’s former prime minister.
Photo: Gail Scott
British Honor American Police Chief
British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald bestowed Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton with the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), on behalf of her majesty the queen, at a ceremony at the British Residence.
 “For 15 years, Bill Bratton has been the foremost leader of the transformation of policing in the United States,” said Ambassador Sheinwald, adding that as chief of police in Boston, New York and now Los Angeles, Bratton has led an idea exchange between British and American police on how to tackle terrorism and radicalization, crime reduction, forensic use of DNA, and information systems. Chief Bratton began working with his British counterparts shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, and has been especially involved in the policing reform process in Northern Ireland.
“To be honored by Queen Elizabeth II with an award first created by King George V nearly a century ago is quite a humbling experience,” Chief Bratton said. “When I first pinned on a badge nearly 40 years ago, my hopes and dreams were to contribute to local law enforcement. Now as a recipient of this high honor … I see that woven into each success are the dedication and commitment of my partners here and abroad.”
The CBE was founded in 1917. The order honors civilians and service personnel for public service or other distinctions and is widely used by the queen to honor non-British subjects who have given outstanding service to the United Kingdom and abroad.
British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, right, honors Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton with Her Majesty The Queen’s honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) at a ceremony in the British Ambassador’s Residence.
Photo: British Embassy
Celebrating 60th Anniversary of SOS Children’s Village
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of SOS Children’s Villages — the largest charity in the world dedicated to children in need — Austrian Ambassador Christian Prosl and the Embassy of Austria hosted a reception on Nov. 2 with Queen Noor of Jordan, the honorary president of SOS-Jordan.
 “This organization inspires me,” said Queen Noor. “They really give each child what they promise. I saw that over and over again in Jordan.”
Austrians take great pride in the creation and success of this internationally recognized organization. Founded in 1949 in a small village by Austrian Hermann Gmeiner after World War II, SOS’s original mission was to offer urgent care to needy Austrian children whose families and homes had been destroyed during the war. From that time 60 years ago, this Austrian prototype of what could be achieved with simple means and generous giving has expanded to assisting millions of orphaned and abandoned children in similar situations worldwide.
Today, more than 800,000 orphans are being raised in 500 SOS Villages in 132 countries.
 This charity’s reach spans the globe, including the United States. For example, the Coconut Creek facility in Broward County, Florida, houses some 70 foster children and provides services including caring for large sibling groups, special tutoring, psychological therapy and life skills training to transition into adulthood. On the South Side of Chicago in Lockport and Auburn-Gresham, the SOS communities provide a place to call home for 152 children representing 35 sibling groups.
SOS has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize more than a dozen times and has been honored with numerous other international awards over the past six decades. Most recently in Vienna, this important global charity received the 2009 Save the World Award from Mikhail Gorbachev.
Between 2009 and 2016, SOS hopes to enable 1 million children to grow up in a caring family. Each SOS village, whether here or on the other side of the world, promises that every SOS child will belong to a family and grow up with love, respect and security.
In Washington, Queen Noor presented the SOS Anniversary Award to Johnson & Johnson for its support of SOS Children's Villages in Africa since 1994. Sharon D’Agostino, vice president of worldwide corporate contributions and community relations for Johnson & Johnson, accepted the award and shared her experiences visiting SOS Children’s Villages.
“Last year, while I was visiting one of the villages,” she recalled, “I welled up because I was so touched by my experience. As I was leaving, the director came and tapped me on the shoulder and told me, ‘I want you and Johnson & Johnson to know that, while I am a village director today, I was raised in this village.’”
For more information, visit www.sos-usa.org.
Front page: Queen Noor of Jordan and Ambassador of Austria, Dr. Christian Prosl honored SOS Children’s Villages on the occasion of their 60th anniversary at the Austrian Embassy in Washington.
Top photo, Queen Noor of Jordan, right, honorary president of SOS-Jordan, honors Sharon D’Agostino, vice president of worldwide corporate contributions and community relations for Johnson & Johnson, in recognition of the company’s support of SOS Children’s Villages in Africa since 1994.
Bottom photo, Yaw Sam, who grew up in the SOS Children’s Village in Ghana and is now an IT professional with an MBA from University of Maryland, spoke at the 60th anniversary celebration for SOS Children’s Villages, the largest charity in the world dedicated to children in need.
Photos: SOS Children’s Villages - USA
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