94. Mr. President, first of all, allow me the pleasant duty of felicitating you on your election to the high office of President of this Assembly. Your unanimous election is without doubt due to the esteem in which you are regarded by the representatives at the United Nations, as also by the Member States and, above all, to your capacity for mediation which you have amply demonstrated in the past in the United Nations. It is also a great honour for Afghanistan.
95. I should also like to take this occasion to express our warm greetings to the Foreign Minister of Italy, His Excellency Amintore Fanfani, the outgoing President. We have pleasant recollections of his leadership in the last session, and it was during his term of office that Singapore was admitted to the United Nations.
96. It is also my pleasant duty to congratulate Guyana on its admission to the United Nations. We join wholeheartedly with all Member nations in welcoming the new and promising State of Guyana to the world community of nations. Like Guyana, we are a small country with a multiracial population. We therefore feel a special solidarity with Guyana in terms of our aspirations and hopes as newly emerging nations forging our statehood in this tumultuous world.
97. We cannot help but notice the Asian triumvirate on the podium, namely, the President, the Secretary-General and his Chef de Cabinet — all three from the Asian region. The last time that the composition on the podium was Asian in character was during the seventeenth session, presided over by Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan from Pakistan. It will be recalled that it was that session which saw the eventual election of U Thant as Secretary-General. That session was beclouded by many crucial problems and, in fact, met under the threat of a thermonuclear war caused by the Cuban crisis in October 1962. But the United Nations survived that crisis and has weathered many storms since then.
98. My delegation would like to take the occasion to join the chorus of appreciation of the Secretary-General's leadership and service in the cause of the United Nations. We, in concert with other nations represented in this body, cannot adequately express our disappointment at his recent decision not to accept appointment for another full term as Secretary-General. U Thant has admirably endeavoured to steer the United Nations on a course which would lead to the ultimate objective of the United Nations, namely, world peace. It is very clear that one of the stumbling blocks to this objective has been the failure of the Member States, in particular the major Powers, to reach a detente which would increase the efficiency of the United Nations as an instrument for peacekeeping.
99. With regard to the peace-keeping role, my delegation is indeed disheartened by the failure of the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations in its efforts to resolve the constitutional and financial controversies of peace-keeping operations. As a small nation, Singapore looks to the United Nations to come to the aid of smaller countries if and when they are attacked by larger and bellicose ones. For this reason, the peace-keeping function of the United Nations is essential to our interests and we hope that efforts will not be relaxed on the part of the major Powers to reach an effective solution to this problem.
100. An overriding factor which has influenced the decision of U Thant is no doubt the Viet-Nam war, to which he has time and again referred as one of the most barbarous in history. Singapore deplores the fighting in Viet-Nam and maintains the position that there should be an early end to this senseless killing through a negotiated settlement. An honourable and early settlement of the conflict can be achieved if the 1954 Geneva Agreement is reactivated and strictly adhered to by the parties concerned. It is also necessary to seek the assurance of the big Powers that a neutralized zone be created in South-East Asia as a means of reducing tension between the power blocs now in conflict in the region.
101. Singapore welcomes the position taken by the Governments of Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines that Asian problems should be solved by Asians. With regard to the admirable proposal for an Asian Peace Conference, which has been initiated by the leaders of the Association of Southest Asia, the Government of Singapore would like to reiterate its firm support for any practical steps which would lead to resolving a conflict so clearly fraught with danger to peace and stability in South-East Asia, and indeed the entire world.
102. However, in order to ensure an honourable and early settlement of the conflict, Singapore has expressed the view that any Asian peace conference must have the support of a significant majority, if not all, of the Asian nations. In addition, it is essential that all parties involved in the conflict should adopt a less intransigent frame of mind in regard to their adversary's position than that maintained by them today. This conviction is not dissimilar to one of the three proposals of the Secretary-General, namely, that all parties to the conflict should be invited to the peace conference.
103. On the question of membership of the United Nations, Singapore feels that without representation of the People's Republic of China, the United Nations will continue to lack universality of representation in its membership. It Is an undeniable fact that the People's Republic of China, with its mammoth population of about 700 million, represents more than one fifth of humanity. It is therefore unrealistic that theUnited Nations should continue to bar it from membership. An immediate effect of this policy of exclusion is the impasse reached in the Viet-Nam crisis. Ideological unanimity cannot be achieved here. However, whatever ideological differences may exist between the People's Republic of China and other countries, the cold fact remains that that country has emerged and is advancing as a nuclear Power. As such, it is totally unrealistic to think in terms of such questions as disarmament, and even the prohibition of nuclear proliferation, when China is excluded from membership. It is thus apparent that in order for the United Nations to become an effective instrument for the solution of world problems it is necessary to ensure the universality of membership essential to such a universal body. The People's Republic of China should therefore, and without delay, be admitted to the United Nations.
104. With regard to the economic sphere, I wish to refer to the concept of the United Nations Development Decade which was launched in 1961. Singapore, together with all developing nations, had placed the highest hopes in the aim of the Development Decade to achieve a rate of growth of 5 per cent per year in developing countries by 1970, and an annual transfer of development capital to the developing countries, equivalent to 1 per cent of the gross national product of the developed countries. The disappointment at the slow fulfilment in the implementation of this effort has been voiced in the Economic and Social Council at Its recent forty-first session. More energetic and
concerted international action, as well as more determined domestic effort, is required to enable us to come anywhere close to the objectives of the Development Decade. It will be necessary for developing nations to co-operate in a concerted effort to raise their present level of economy to reach these goals in the remainder of the Decade. We have passed the halfway point in the Decade and time is running out. The United Nations should find ways and means of impressing upon the developed nations the desirability, and indeed the necessity, of creating an appropriate climate to assist the developing countries to progress in this direction. It is Singapore's hope that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will play a significant part leading to more tangible results. Singapore is a nation with development potential and we seek the fulfilment of that potential.
105. We believe that much can be achieved through regional co-operation in the economic field. Towards this end, we welcome the economic regional organizations which have been evolved as a result of the initiatives taken by our regional economic organ in Asia, the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. We welcome the addition of the latest regional institution, the Asian Development Bank, of which we shall be a founding member. This Institution represents a major Asian effort designed to foster regional economic growth and co-operation. We hope that it will contribute significantly to the acceleration of the process of economic development of Asian countries.
106. Another regional institution in which we have been participating actively is the Asian Institute of Economic Development and Planning. With these and other regional efforts at economic co-operation, combined with more intense exertions by Governments and peoples of the region, some progress towards the objectives of improved standards of living may be achieved.
107. The Singapore delegation whole-heartedly agrees with U Thant in his assessment that the importance of the ideological conflict engaging the major Powers is less important than the fight against endemic poverty in large areas of the world and the widening gap between the rich and poor nations. The developed nations have become richer and the under-developed countries poorer. This is the irony of this decade, christened some six years ago in this Assembly as the United Nations Development Decade.
108. My delegation would like to reaffirm what we brought to the attention of this Assembly at the last session, namely, that we seek a welfare state, not a warfare state. We treasure our independence and sovereignty and will maintain our nationhood by devoting our resources to meeting the welfare of our people and in combating the forces of poverty and ignorance.
109. My statement would not be complete if I did not refer to the aspirations of our African colleagues in their fight for freedom and independence of African peoples throughout Africa. The decision of the International Court of Justice in rejecting the complaint of Ethiopia and Liberia against the imposition of apartheid on South West Africa, on a bare technicality of doubtful validity, has rightly caused consternation
and anguish. My delegation does not believe that this decision of the Court has enhanced its reputation as an institution served by wise and just men, for the Judgement of the Court on this issue is neither wise nor just, nor is it even in accordance with the dictates of common sense. We should like to assert our wholehearted support of any just proposals put forward by the African nations in their righteous fight against colonialism and racial injustice. This support is based on our passionate belief in the dignity of man and our abhorrence of the abominable racist policies and practices of white regimes of southern Africa.
110. We are also deeply concerned by the forcible suppression of the people of Southern Rhodesia — the people of Zimbabwe — resulting from the illegal seizure of power by the racist regime of Ian Smith. This regime has as its aim the denial of the elementary human rights of over 4 million Africans. The illegal racist Government of Ian Smith is an outrage against the conscience of all right-thinking people and should be brought down by whatever means are necessary to achieve this objective, including, if necessary, the ultimate resort to armed force.
111. We need not add that our unequivocal support of the aims and aspirations of the suppressed peoples of territories in Africa is also extended, in equal measure, to those of the territories outside Africa.
112. We welcome the process of decolonization and hope that the United Nations will accelerate its activities in this area, in accordance with resolution 1514 (XV), adopted at the fifteenth session of the Assembly, on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples.
113. The Government of Singapore wishes to take this opportunity to reiterate its foreign policy, which is one of non-alignment. All we want is to be left without interference to advance and develop ourselves by our own exertions towards a fuller life for our own citizens. Singapore continues to follow a friendly policy towards all countries on the basis of respect for their independence, neutrality and territorial integrity, and it hopes that this respect will be reciprocated.
114. It is our fervent hope that peace will soon return to South-East Asia. We believe that it is the right of Asians to guarantee their own independence and sovereignty through mutual agreement with friendly countries to coexist regardless of ideologies. Peace and stability in Asia can be attained if more attention is given to economic progress and advance, and less to the irrelevancy of political and other forms of posturing. It is hoped that eventually it would be possible to achieve some degree of regional economic integration in South-East Asia, including some form of a common market, as a means of accelerating economic growth in all countries of the region.
115. Singapore's independence is the fruit of our people's struggle against British colonialists over many years. We are a multiracial society in which there is tolerance and mutual respect between the different ethnic, cultural and linguistic elements which make up our State. If we may be permitted to make a comparison, and give expression to something of which we are very proud, Singapore may be regarded as a United Nations in miniature.
116. Finally, it is our ardent hope that the present conditions obstructing the effectiveness of the United Nations as peace-keeping machinery will he improved through constructive and realistic co-operation between the major Powers. This would enable us all to concentrate our respective efforts on striving for a better world for the people, a world in which there will be no place for poverty, disease, hatred, bigotry and ignorance.