PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS OCTOBER 20, 1976
PARJIAMENTARY LUNCHEON FOR LEE KUAN YEW
In welcoming you to Australia we all recognise that we are
welcoming a most remarkable man. Through you, Singapore has
built for itself a position in the region and beyond which
larger states might well envy.
We in Australia are now undertaking the difficult task of
restoring a large and complex economy to prosperity. Your
success in controlling inflation stands as a remarkable example
of what can be done. Inflation in Singapore averaged 24%~ in
1973 and 1974, but was reduced to under-in 1975.
Through the period of your Prime Ministership Singapore has
achieved high rates of growth in production and incomes, so
that now per capita income in Singapore is second only to Japan
in Asia. The economic strength of Singapore is one of the
strengths of the region. This-is an achievement which might
seem astonishing, for Singapore does not possess great natural
resources. Its principal resource is the will, the energy,
the capacity to work of-its-peonl-;
In the years before you became Prime Minister Singapore had
suffered from communist violence and was still facing immense
social problems. Its prospects seemed grim. The great
achievements of your Government have dissipated the concern
that many felt at the time. Your Government has succeeded
in creating the conditions in which the people of Singapore
have been able to build one of the most prosperous communities
in Asia.
Singapore has recognised that true security for the people
of a nation in the individual as well as the national
sense derives from encouraging the enterprise, vision and
work which makes prosperity possible.
People have a sense of security in their own lives when they
can be confident of finding a job, when they know that they
can save and that these savings will not be eroded by inflation
and when they can plan for their future with reasona~ le
certainty and confidence.
It is when people have a secure independence to build theirN
own lives that they develop the skills and confidence to \ 4
master a fast changing world.
These same conditions are also essential foundations of national
security and national independence.
Ultimately, the strength of any nation is the stature, the
clear-sightedness, the vision of its people andth
capacity to work to realise that vision.
Political leaders have a responsibility to make clear the
plain facts about the world that both prosperity and in
the end national survival depend on a willingness to work,
to give of one's best, to accept responsibility.
Political leaders who promise the world for the price of
a vote who pretend that worthwhile goals can be achieved
without personal effort do their people no service.
Singaporelias been fortunate to have found a national leader who
is above all, ' a realist a man who has not hesitated to face
difficult facts, and to do what he thought was right for his
country.
Under-your Government, Singapore has grown strong. It is today,
one of the most technologically advanced countries in Asia.
It is a great trading centre -open and competitive.
Australia values its relations with Singapore.
Our ties with Singapore exist at many levels.
We value defence cooperation and will do what we can to assist
Singapore in building an effective and self-reliant defence
capabili-ty.
Several of Australia's major companies have established joint
venture operations in Singapore as a measure of their
confidence in its stability and future growth.,
There are regular interchanges at all levels of our societies
and in a wide variety of fields. Thousands of Singaporeans
have studies in our universities and other tertiary institutions.
Last week in Jakarta, I reaffirme d in an address to the
Indonesian Parliament, Australia's attitude towards ASEAN,
which I said was one of the most important developments in
the region in the past decade. ASEAN is an organisation which
has grown out of the South East Asian region itself.
In a relatively short time, ASEAN has demonstrated its
vitality. It is showing a resolute political will to.
forge further economic, social and cultural links among
its members. At this years' Bali Conference, the framework
was established which will provide firm support for ASEAN's
Aspirations.
ASEAN is making a real contribution to the peaceful progress of
the South East Asian region as a whole.
The changes that have taken place elsewhere in South East
Asia have inevitably brought a period of uncertainty and
anxiety. It is imperative that all countries work to avoid the
emergence of new tensions and divisions in South East Asia.
For this reason, we welcomed the constructive and forthcoming
way in which the members-of ASEAN showed readinessa to
establish friendly relations with the new Governments of
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia last year.
We would like to see the three countries of Indo-China drawn
into a peaceful and cooperative-role in our part of the world,
and the region free from domination by any great power.
We all recognise that subversion feeds on injustice and human
misery, and that conditions of permament peace can be
established only when societies can offer decent opportunities
to all.
We in Australia will do what we can to contribute to the
economic growth and national self-reliance of our whole region.
As long as affairs of the region in the hands, of leaders
having, the calibre and sense of purpose displayed by Prime
Minister Lee Kuan Yew, we have every confidence in the future
of South East Asia.
We welcome you to Australia as an old friend, and wish you
a successful and enjoyable visit.