Foreign policy should not be used to push a political agenda.
This is what Bilahari Kausikan, the former Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, said yesterday at a conference marking Lee Kuan Yew's 90th Birthday.
He acknowledged that foreign policies will be a subject of debate in parliament and within the country, but he warned that if such debates are not carefully controlled and if insufficient consideration is given to Singapore's vulnerabilities, Singapore will face great dangers.
Singapore's foreign policies have been framed in such a way as to be used as a tool for partisan politics. Different political parties may raise concerns over certain foreign policies as a way to push a political agenda.
Mr Kausikan said that “We have to be nimble in order to take advantage of opportunities or get out of harm’s way. If we do not have a basic consensus on fundamentals — which I don’t see because there’s a different generation now — if we cannot resist the temptation to use foreign policy as a partisan political tool, you will lose that nimbleness with great dangers.”
He shared that debate on foreign policies is good as long as certain fundamentals are agreed upon and there is a framework within which debate can take place.
Mr Kausikan also raised some concerns about the future of Singapore's foreign relations after Lee Kuan Yew passes away.
He said that Mr Lee has a large network of personal contacts in China and with Chinese Leaders which he fears Singapore may no longer have access to after Lee Kuan Yew passes away.
He said that it may be difficult for Singapore to continue to have a close relationship with China however he said that we should not be too pessimistic as LKY has not played a major role for the last 20 years already.
In his view, he believes that Singapore can stay relevant as long as it is successful and it keeps being supple, pragmatic, disciplined and unsentimental.
Another speaker at the conference, Ambassador-at-large Chan Keng Chee shared that Lee Kuan Yew saw Singapore as a moderator between US and China. LKY had seen himself as a way to balance to two powers and was seen siding with different sides depending on the situation.
Chan shared a quote from Lee Kuan Yew back in 1966 where he said that Singapore must get "major powers in the world to, if not help us, then at least no harm us."
Lee was quoted as saying that Singapore should “seek the maximum number of friends with the maximum capacity to uphold what our friends and ourselves have decided to uphold”.
It is feared that if foreign policy is used for the politics between Singapore's political parties, it may become unstable and we may make relations with other countries more difficult.