Ho Liang Liang: Lee Hsien Loong's sense of distress

2019-10-18 00:26 He Liangliang

The violent unrest in Hong Kong has been going on for months, and the international financial center, once on a par with New York and London, is now experiencing a terrible situation of capital outflows and difficult governance. In this regard, some politicians and media in Western countries not only support and instigate the violence, but also rejoice and fall into the well. Voices from Asian countries are basically the opposite, especially Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has publicly stated a few days ago that the current situation in Hong Kong should be taken as a warning.

At the National Trade Unions Congress in Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong delivered a speech on the situation in Hong Kong. He said that if the recent events in Hong Kong happened in Singapore, "[outside] confidence in Singapore will be destroyed, and Singapore will certainly be finished." Judging from Lee Hsien Loong's statement, the Singapore leader is very worried about the current "separatist forces" surging in the international community. The reasons are roughly twofold:

First, this social division will also occur in Singapore. Because although the situation in Singapore is very different from that in Hong Kong, Lee Hsien Loong believes that if you carefully study what is happening elsewhere, including Hong Kong, if you are not careful, this deep social anxiety will occur in Singapore, and social divisions will also occur.

Second, Singapore is not much immune to "separatist forces". Judging from the current situation, some people in the international community are clamoring for populism and separatism, and the "separatist forces" are waiting for an opportunity to move. Lee Hsien Loong believes that Singapore is global and more international than many places. Moreover, Singapore is smaller and more vulnerable.

Such outspoken warnings to the country reflect the Singapore leader's concern and understanding of the situation in Hong Kong and how Singapore should remain vigilant in the face of such a situation to prevent this separatist force from causing chaos in Singapore.

People often compare Hong Kong with Singapore, and Hong Kong and Singapore do have both commonalities (for example, both were once ruled by britain, a predominantly Chinese society, both have excellent ports, both are open economies, have a good rule of law, etc.), but also have close exchanges, and there is also healthy competition. The first destination of Carrie Lam's visits after becoming Hong Kong's chief executive was Singapore.

Hong Kong has been mired in violence-induced riots since June this year, and the above-mentioned commonalities have aroused great concern in Singapore public opinion about the situation in Hong Kong. Although there have been recent reports that there seems to be a large amount of money flowing from Hong Kong to Singapore, this is not deliberately done by the Singapore authorities, but because of the risk-off nature of liquidity. The Singapore government has no schadenfreude, and from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's above speech, people see the expectation of an early end to the chaos in Hong Kong and the sense of distress in times of peace, which reflects the ability of Singapore's elite to think and act.

In fact, for decades, public opinion in Singapore has been very concerned about the development of Hong Kong, envying Hong Kong's vast economic hinterland of Chinese mainland, and envying Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of China, being able to get more development opportunities from the process of China's rise.

In contrast, Hong Kong society generally lacks the sense of distress in times of peace, so that when a serious social crisis occurs, it lacks a strong and effective response ability. Ms. Ng Shuk Ching pointed out that "many people in Hong Kong's business community dare not criticize acts of violence". After singapore achieved independence, it quickly pursued decolonization. Singaporeans have been educated in patriotism and national self-esteem since childhood, while Hong Kong is seriously deficient in this regard.

By being highly sensitive to "separatist forces" and deep social anxieties, Singapore will be able to prevent problems before they occur. It is precisely this sense of distress that allows a small country like Singapore to survive the stormy waves. This obviously has important implications for Hong Kong society. (The writer is a senior commentator in Hong Kong)

Editor-in-charge: Zhao Jiandong

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