VZCZCXRO5043
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHGP #0776/01 2300919
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 180919Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7073
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SINGAPORE 000776 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON SN
SUBJECT: PM TOUTS GOVERNMENT'S COMPETENCE, WARNS OF 
RELIGIOUS DISCORD IN ANNUAL SPEECH 
 
REF: A. SINGAPORE 671 
     ¶B. SINGAPORE 80 
     ¶C. SINGAPORE 563 
     ¶D. SINGAPORE 460 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered 
his annual National Day Rally speech, Singapore's equivalent 
of the U.S. State of the Union address, on the evening of 
August 16.  He asserted that government policies have 
cushioned Singapore against job losses but predicted a 
"subdued" recovery from the economic crisis.  On health care, 
the PM addressed fears about Singapore's ability to cope with 
an aging population.  He then highlighted Singapore's racial 
and religious fault lines and laid down ground rules defining 
a limited place for religion in public life.  Finally, the PM 
celebrated the ruling party's physical transformation of 
Singapore over the last 50 years and previewed the opening of 
new casino resorts next year.  Public reaction to the speech 
split along familiar lines.  Many people posted approving 
comments on the government's feedback website, but critical 
bloggers tore into the speech, while opposition parties 
largely ignored it.  End Summary. 
 
Prime Minister Delivers Annual "State of Singapore" Speech 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered his annual 
National Day Rally speech, Singapore's equivalent of the U.S. 
State of the Union address, to an invited audience on the 
evening of August 16.  He gave three versions, in Mandarin, 
Malay, and English.  The speech reached a wider public by 
telecast and webcast, and through extensive reporting in the 
next day's government-linked print media.  Delivered in the 
casual, colloquial style that is traditional for this speech, 
the PM focused on four major themes:  the economy, health 
care, racial and religious harmony, and drawing inspiration 
for Singapore's future from its achievements over the past 
five decades.  He did not discuss foreign policy, terrorism, 
or the recently controversial topic of Singapore's 
immigration policy, and he mentioned environmental and 
education issues only in passing. 
 
The Economy:  "We Can Be Confident of Our Future" 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶3.  (U) Leading with the economy, the PM drove home the 
message that the situation has stabilized and growth is 
resuming.  Briefly acknowledging that Singapore's economy 
shrank by 6.5 percent in the first half of 2009 (Ref A), the 
PM forecast third-quarter growth and an uncertain long-term 
outlook in the context of a "subdued" global recovery. 
Singapore will be able to grow even during a slow recovery, 
he said, thanks to the competitiveness of local companies, 
successful development of new sectors like electronic gaming 
and animation, the Economic Development Board's continuing 
success in attracting investment by multinational companies, 
and government spending to upgrade and retrain the labor 
force. 
 
¶4.  (U) The PM claimed success for the Government's 
job-protection policies, which were announced in January as a 
"Resilience Package" to be paid for partly by tapping into 
the country's vaunted reserves (Ref B).  Singapore's labor 
situation has stabilized, and "there is no need for a new 
prescription now," he said.  The Government will review its 
policies by the end of the year and decide whether any new 
economic initiatives are needed for 2010.  At the same time, 
the PM cautioned that there may be further job losses while 
the recovery takes hold.  He presented even this threat as a 
growth opportunity, using the example of computer peripherals 
manufacturer Seagate's recently announced disk drive assembly 
plant closure:  Singapore will replace the lost jobs, the PM 
claimed, with higher-value jobs. 
 
Health Care:  Preparing for an Aging Population 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5.  (U) Turning to health care, the PM focused on the 
Government's preparations to deliver adequate care to an 
aging population at a sustainable cost.  He lauded 
Singapore's existing health care system, which he said makes 
high-quality care affordable to all Singaporeans, including 
those with low incomes.  Some of his praise for Singapore 
came at the expense of health care systems in the United 
States and United Kingdom, which he said deliver worse 
outcomes at far higher cost.  To prepare for Singapore's 
projected demographic changes, the PM announced plans for a 
network in which acute care hospitals will deliver high-value 
care and then shift patients seamlessly into more 
 
SINGAPORE 00000776  002 OF 003 
 
 
cost-effective follow-up institutions such as community 
hospitals, therapy centers, and nursing homes. 
 
Influenza A(H1N1):  "The Whole of Singapore Responded" 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Touching briefly on the H1N1 influenza outbreak, the 
PM implicitly answered critics who have claimed that the 
Government overreacted.  He justified the early use of 
temperature scanning and home quarantines by emphasizing the 
uncertainty that prevailed as to the flu's lethality and 
susceptibility to treatment.  When it became clear that H1N1 
was less dangerous than the SARS virus of 2003, the 
Government shifted its focus to delaying community spread, he 
said.  The PM thanked the medical professionals and others 
who contributed to that effort, which he pronounced 
successful. 
 
Religion the "Most Visceral and Dangerous Fault Line" 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7.  (U) The PM identified "social cohesion" as a critical 
factor in Singapore's long-term success.  Against a backdrop 
of rising religiosity throughout the world, he said, the 
"most visceral and dangerous fault line" in Singapore society 
is race and religion.  (Comment: In Singapore, where nearly 
all Malays are Muslim, over half of ethnic Indians are Hindu, 
and most ethnic Chinese are Buddhist, Taoist, or Christian, 
"race" and "religion" are not entirely distinct 
classifications.  End comment.)  He noted three principal 
dangers arising from this source:  aggressive proselytizing, 
religious intolerance, and self-segregation.  As an example 
of dangerous proselytizing, the PM pointed to the recent 
convictions of two Protestant Christian Singaporeans for 
sedition for distributing pamphlets offensive to some Muslims 
and Catholics (Ref C). 
 
The Public Square Must Remain Secular 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) Admonitions about religious harmony are commonly 
heard from Singapore's leaders, but in his National Day Rally 
speech the PM broke new ground by prescribing four "basic 
rules" to govern the place of religion in Singapore's public 
life.  First, racial and religious groups must exercise 
tolerance, and "rules which apply only to one group cannot be 
made into laws that apply to everyone."  Second, religion 
must be separate from politics.  Singapore, said the PM, 
cannot be like the United States, where religious groups 
exercise strong influence on the major political parties. 
Likewise, members of Singapore's Parliament must not use 
their churches or religious groups to mobilize electoral 
support.  Third, the Government must be secular, and public 
policy must be based on "secular, rational considerations of 
public interest."  Finally, Singaporeans' "common space" - 
notably schools and workplaces - must accommodate members of 
all religions. 
 
¶9.  (U) When religion strays beyond these boundaries, the PM 
said, it threatens the fabric of Singapore society, as shown 
by the recent leadership struggle between Christian and 
secular factions in the women's NGO AWARE (Ref D).  As the PM 
characterized it, "this was an attempt by a religiously 
motivated group, who shared a strong religious fervor, to 
enter civil space, take over an NGO it disapproved of, and 
impose their agenda."  Although the Government did not 
intervene in the contest, the PM said he spoke to religious 
leaders afterward - and to Christian leaders twice - to 
enlist their aid in preventing similar controversies. 
 
¶10.  (U) Despite the announced restrictions on religion's 
public role, the PM denied that the Government is hostile to 
religion.  On the contrary, he declared, "Religion is a 
positive force in human societies."  For emphasis, he 
gestured to the leaders of Singapore's major religious 
groups, whom he had invited to attend the speech.  They sat 
in the front row, highly visible in full regalia every time 
the television cameras turned toward the audience. 
 
Celebrating the PAP's 50-Year Transformation of Singapore 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶11.  (U) Ending on a celebratory note, the PM reviewed 
Singapore's physical transformation over the 50 years since 
self-government began in 1959.  Using "then and now" 
photographs, the PM touted the city-state's progress in areas 
including housing, sanitation, the armed forces, education, 
and public transport.  Unlike the other parts of the speech, 
in this portion the PM repeatedly mentioned the ruling 
 
SINGAPORE 00000776  003 OF 003 
 
 
People's Action Party (PAP) by name - noting, for example, 
that "the PAP was determined to move the people out of the 
slums into proper housing."  The speech concluded with an 
elaborate computer-generated "fly-by" showing the projected 
completion of Singapore's new Marina Bay casino resorts and 
surrounding developments. 
 
Public Reaction: Many Approving Comments, Some Raspberries 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Public reaction to the National Day Rally speech 
divided along predictable lines.  Many people posted 
approving or congratulatory comments on the Government's web 
portal, REACH, or on the Straits Times website.  Bloggers who 
normally criticize the Government wasted no time attacking 
the PM.  Some noted that the PM did not use his speech to 
announce any political reforms, as he has in past years. 
Others complained that he dwelled on issues that, they said, 
most Singaporeans do not see as urgent (such as religious 
harmony) while avoiding others that do worry them (such as 
the need to compete against "foreign talent" for jobs, or 
Singapore's high level of income inequality).  Frequent 
blogger "Mr. Wang" dismissed the PM's remarks about religious 
harmony as sounding like "the nation-building chapters of my 
Primary 3 Chinese language textbook, many, many years ago." 
The "Temasek Review" blog mocked the notion that debates like 
the one over AWARE pose any threat to Singapore's stability. 
Meanwhile, opposition political parties mainly ignored the 
PM's speech, trying instead to publicize their respective 
platforms with their own National Day speeches and blog posts. 
 
Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm 
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