National
Sin
Release
No.:
53/NOV
02-2/07/11/20
SPEECH BY MR. S RAJARATNAM, SENIOR MINISTER
(PRIME MINISTER'S
OFFICE) AT THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY DINNER
OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
AT THE MANDARIN HOTEL ON FRIDAY,
20 NOVEMBER '87 AT 8.00 PM
HAPPY DAYS WILL
I once
When I was a schoolboy
in
witnessed
the grand
funeral
entrepreneur
Apart
from
orchestras,
prestigious
resplendent
mastery
repertoire
l
out
to
BE HERB AGAIN
of
and one of the
the gongs,
drums
my hometown
procession
prominent
and pipes
in
of
Seremban,
a wealthy
citizens
of the town.
of a fleet
of Chinese
what gave the procession
a touch of class
was a
local
Western
band famous more for the
military
uniforms
of the musicians
than for its
But it was esteemed
for its wide
Western
music.
of solemn Western
funeral
music.
Unfortunately,
be somewhat
on that
longer
than
day the
estimated
funeral
route
turned
and so, just before
the procession
reached
the cemetery
the band had exhausted
To have repeated
its perforits
supply
of funeral
music.
mance of great
funeral
hits
would have been a shattering
blow to the band's
reputation
as possessing
an inexhaustible
supply
of funeral
music and so the quick-witted
bandmaster
decided
to fill
the gap with
some non-funeral
music.
The result
was that
the dead gentleman
completed
the
rest
of his journey
to the strains
of:
"Happy days are here
know whether
the deceased
To this
day, I don't
again".
personage
noticed
the difference
but I like
to think
that
the old gentleman
permitted
himself
a wink in appreciation
of so enterprising
a bandmaster.
Therefore
my address
tonight,
of:
is going
to be a sort
message since
most Singapore
worse,
again"
give
the appearance
funeral
or returning
medium businessmen.
of people
from one
for
bread
do
However,
and butter
I
not
problems
70,500
small
and medium
this
time would be like
exposed
shakeable
for
be here
these
days
to a
and
for the free
drinks
and
the least
I can do is
into
your proceedings.
propose
to touch
on the immediate
that
face Singapore's
estimated
First,
to do so at
enterprises.
applying
a dentist's
drill
to
an
tooth.
Second,
problems
or
will
who are either
going
- especially
of small
So I thought
that
in return
dinner
you are providing
me tonight,
to inject
a bit of Christmas
Cheer
l
better
"Happy days
businessmen
is,
my grasp
frankly,
of
one of
specific
your
bread
comprehensive
and butter
and possibly
un-
ignorance.
Third,
I understand
your specific
problems
are being
studied
by the EDB and the Business
Enterprise
Committee
who
are better
guides
to your survival
than I could
ever be.
intelligent
So what I propose
and, hopefully,
safely
through
international
to
the turbulent
economic
crisis.
do instead
is to
useful
observation
seas
of
Now
what is
I am not
make some
to steer
you
known as an
claiming
any
great
expertise
on the subject,
but since
eminent
economic
pundits,
including
Nobel Prize
winners
and other
business
soothsayers
are
just
as confused
as been on
the matter,
I
think
my views on the
any more unsound than
uncertain
moment,
So I would like
and unpromising
I am nevertheless
state
theirs.
to
of
the
world
economy
cannot
be
begin
by asserting
that
however
the world
economy is at the
optimistic
about
its
future.
3
I base
this
conviction
among others
on the
authority
the eminent
physician
by Hippocrates,
and the acknowledged
father
of modern
He said:
"All
things
being
equal,
medicine.
tend
to
get
of
a
of ancient
Western
sick
people
remark
Greece
better".
Well,
I have the same feelings
about
sick economies
All human activity,
including
economic
activity,
is an
too.
endless
cycle
of progress
and disintegration,
of prosperity
of death
and resurrection.
All human history
and penury,
has
been a continual
cycle
of good times
followed
by bad
of-rise
and fall
of nations.
This is how humanity
times,
progressed
from the Stone Age to the Space Age.
Progression
and retrogression
call
human
are
This
economic
is
crisis.
to
to survive
portends
hang
business
how we should
the
than those
inevitable
So my advice
on - even if
But
of
passively
of crisis
new skills,
let me
coping
to
it
give
with
economic
sides
of
the
single
coin
we
see
the
on-going
which
behave
end of the
global
have never
a crisis
as
come are more
as though
world.
you is not
be by your
to abandon
all
finger
nails.
you a word
a crisis.
of caution
It is not
You must
the
hope
but
about
this
enough to
use the period
wait
for the good times.
apart
from surviving
also to equip yourself
with.
new perceptions
and new psychological
attitudes
to make the best of the
prosperity
will
offer.
past
two
All crises
in human history
and those
nations
which
confront
for the good times
that
must
been permanent
though
preparing
likely
crisis
the
progress.
order
century
that
will
and a half
opportunities
The terrain
supplant
will
the
new cycle of
and climate
of the new
the one we have known the
be radically
different.
4
the
So you must
end of the world
worlds
born.
see the current
but as a titanic
- a world
that
The confusion
economic
struggle
crisis
not
between
is dying
and a new struggling
and disarray
which
today
alarm
as
two
to be
us is
really
the consequence
of the resistance
offered
by the
partisans
of a
dying
global
economic
order
to the assertions
of an emerging
global
economic
order
which has its
roots
in
the post-war
scientific
and technological
explosion.
In the
new global
economy
ism is being
forced
imperatives
National
operating
a defiant
to adjust
of what is
economies
can
with
and not
National
pipe-dream,
Great
natural
giant
taken
weakened
economic
the internationalist
national-
termed
the post-industrial
society.
survive
and prosper
only by coconfronting
the new economy.
self-sufficiency
whatever
validity
vast
resources,
territory
and even superior
make possible
a self-sufficient
United
trade
but
to
is,
in
it may have
populations,
technological
national
this
day
had in
great
resources
and age,
the past.
expanse
of
cannot
economy.
though
the international
trade
of the
For example,
States
is only 14 per cent of its
total
GNP, global
is nevertheless
the oxygen
necessary
to keep this
That is why the Americans
too have
economy alive.
up as their
battle-cry:
"Export
or
perish"
though
un-
Treasury
wisely
some less enlightened
officials
of the U.S.
It is a measure
have thrown
in-their
lot with
a dying
past.
of the extent to which national
economies
are being
sub-
ordinated
battle-cry
for over
to a global
economy that
the export
or perish
has been picked
up even by a Communist
bloc
70 years had pursued
the chimera
of socialist
which
self-sufficiency.
Singapore
Fortunately,
right
never
seriously
from the start
an independent
went in for economic
nationalism.
pulling
oneself
up by one's
boot-
National
self-sufficiency:
straps
had no appeal
for a country
which
a large
population
and confined
resources,
area.
lacked
natural
to a small
land
a
5
So, like
Hong Kong and Japan,
Singapore,
by plugging
directly
into
the global
economic
grid,
was able to enjoy
a
per capita
income
far higher
than that
enjoyed
by countries
many times
larger,
endowed with
natural
international
more
approach
was the
So if,
as I believe,
more international
be even
entrepreneurs
can more
rules
of a predominantly
oriented
global
That
nature
'where
a life
giant
populous
resources.
in
and more
than
generously
This was proof
road to prosperity.
the new economic
its
assertions
readily
respond
technologically
to
that
an
order
will
then Singapore
the dynamics
and scientifically-
and
economy.
is
why
I think
you
would
be misreading
the
of the new economy were
you to picture
it as one
small
and medium enterprises
are going
to be locked
and death
struggle
with
predatory
world-straddling
enterprises.
prosperity,
established,
once
For
the
would
one
thing,
the
in
new global
new economic
order
has
be so big as to make the
been firmly
prosperity
of
the recent
post-war
The global
economy
for enterprises
of
decades
seem a scramble
over peanuts.
will
be so vast
that
there
will
be room
all
shapes and sizes
provided
they underThose nations
that
stand
the dynamics
of the new economy.
do not will
go under and I'm afraid
a number of nations
are
resigned
to
such
a fate.
Having
regard
to the incredible
size of the coming
global
economy,
relationship
between
small,
medium and large
enterprises
should
be and will
be symbiotic
rather
than
confrontational.
In
any
case,
in
a dynamic
and rapidly
expanding
economy
the
media
will
be elastic
division
between
small,
large
and porous.
This is because
emerging
ation
of
society,
there
will
be a proliferand services
as never-before
witnessed
in
all
of
technological
new products
economic
history.
and
in the
6
For
from 60 to
constitute
it
example,
70 per
today's
has
been
estimated
cent of the products
world
economy were
that
anything
and services
unknown before
that
the
war.
Even more significant
is that
the worldly
possessions
of the average
man world-wide
have increased
manifold.
Apart
from his land and dwelling,
and a few rags and
the average
man's possessions
include
items
untrinkets,
slippers
and shoes,
before
the war - rubber
transistor
radios,
bicycles,
powder,
lipstick,
stoves
and may be even Hondas.
thinkable
watches,
kerosene
Even
in
the
many has
most
gone
backward
life
for
beyond
will
According
to well-informed
there
be an unprecedented
and poorest
mere
of
cheap
villages
subsistence.
future
explosion
watchers,
not
in the world's
only
total
GNP, but some 70-80 per cent of the economy of the
2lst
century
will
be dominated
by products
and services
which have not yet been invented.
The market-place
is full
of
rumours
products
like
you
of whizz kids
and boffins
dreaming
up incredible
medium and small
entrepreneurs
and ideas
which big,
can convert
into
tradeable
products
and services.
Given
chances
small
of
this
small
and medium
proliferation
but
to big
An economist
of
innovative
are
named
goods
and
enterprises
services,
moving
the
from
good.
Burton
Economics"
claims
that
new economic
emerge from big enterprises.
This
Klein
in
his
developments
is because,
book
"Dynamic
very
rarely
so he argues,
once a large
enterprise
dominates
the market
by making
the
perfect
product,
it tends to become rigid
and specialised.
That is
To change a perfect
product
is to invite
disaster.
why candle
and gas-light
enterprises
did
develop
electricity
and why horse-carriage
failed
to
explore
the
commerical
possibilities
not bother
to
manufacturers
of
the
7
internal-combustion
the instant
camera
engine.
and the
So too,
computer
Kodak failed
to pioneer
revolution
was launched
but
by
not by IBM, the leading
computer
manufacturer
today,
the relatively
obscure
camera-firm
of Fairchild
with
the
assistance
of a few adventurous
whizz
kids
and imaginative
boffins.
It was a group of self-employed
boffins
who turned
the most useless
substance
on earth
- sand - into
the
feats
profitable
silicon
chip which
can perform
some mental
well
beyond
the capacity
of human beings.
claims
Burton
Klein,
In fact,
major
50 technological
breakthroughs
not come from the large
enterprises.
The moral
of all
also
intelligently
Similarly,
for just
big,
but
big.
that
today
roam
the
practically
of
the
all
20th
the
century
did
this
is that
if a small
firm thinks
and realistically,
it can become
the converse
reasons
the Dinosaurs
market-place
could
become
extinct.
If you take
my morale
boosting
speech-a
little
more
seriously
than you may be inclined
to then you will
live
to
enjoy
good times
again.
I am not thereby
suggesting
that
Singapore
will
be among the top 10 economic
giants
of the
2lst
century
but I can guarantee
you that
Singapore
will
not
be among the bottom
60 nations
of the world
who have
possibly
been already
names not even-thumb
me.
first
And final-y
anniversary
nominated
screw will
for extinction
and whose
succeed
in extracting
out
may I wish your
and may it flourish.
association
a happy
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