Been doing a lot of reading to understand the many points of views with regards to the world after Trump’s win. We in Asia may be screwed as America become more protectionist and withdraw from this part of the world. Hence we have seen China and Japan trying to expand their circle of influence towards other Asian countries (eg. India, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar) in recent months. The joke in S’pore is that our next elected President may not be allowed to visit America as he is most likely to be Muslim.
Trump seems to be drawing up his immediate to-do list which includes some of the promises made during the campaign – kill Dodd-Frank and tighten immigration, while he rewards his inner circle with important roles in the new administrative team. It leaves to be seen if the rhetoric he spouted during the campaign was just a masterful marketing ploy to win or if he is dead serious on the divisive hate agenda. Like a politician, he will probably realistically only eventually do a fraction of the multiple promises he made in the campaign. Let’s hope that he is dead serious on uniting the country, rather than cultivating more of the same destructive forces, after having torn up all norms during the Presidential elections.
George Yeo is one of our well-respected ex-ministers who have retire from political office a few years ago after having lost his constituency in the elections. He gave a very good speech yesterday to frame his thoughts on the world and how it impacts S’pore. I have copied the link below :
He talks about human identity, cycles of history and new challenges, how it will affect ASEAN and in turn, S’pore in this new world order after the Trump tsunami this week. Well worth a read on his thought-provoking insights.
“In having to grapple with these tensions, which are never fully resolved, we develop a Singapore culture, a higher Singapore identity, which is accommodating and inclusive, while being always sensitive to issues touching on race, language and religion. Each and every Singaporean has multiple identities. Being Singaporean means understanding and accepting this reality, even celebrating it. The Singaporean has to be big-hearted and broadminded in order to embrace others not like himself. This is the Singapore idea which is worth living and fighting for. Indeed it is an idea the world desperately needs. Singapore is only Singapore if it has this universal appeal.”
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