Our foreign policy is a balance between realism and idealism. I spoke about this as well as our fundamental interests and international relations at the S Rajaratnam Lecture yesterday. The Lecture series is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Diplomatic Academy.
Compared to where we started off 50 years ago, Singapore’s position in the world has improved immeasurably. We are respected and successful. We enjoy good standing in the international community and we have friends from around the world.
For this, we have generations of MFA officers and Ministers to thank, starting with our first Foreign Minister, the late Mr S Rajaratnam, after whom the Lecture series is named. In fact, MFA has done such a good job that people hardly know they exist, until they lose a passport somewhere. :)
In the end, both our external influence and our domestic success comes down to us as individuals. In the words of Mr Rajaratnam, “Being Singaporean is a matter not of ancestry, but of choice and conviction.” If we have that conviction, we can achieve success for Singapore as one united people, we can have an effective foreign policy, and we can keep our little red dot shining bright in the world.
Thank you to Ambassador Ong Keng Yong for moderating the Q&A session. You can view my lecture here: y2u.be/a1Rq7Vv1bUk
– LHL
(PMO Video by Alex Qiu)
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