130. It is with great pleasure that I add my voice to the many that have greeted with felicitations the election of His Excellency Mr. Arenales, the Foreign Minister of Guatemala, to the office of President of the General Assembly at its twenty-third session. In the short time that he has presided over this Assembly he has won the admiration and respect of my delegation by his impartiality and tact. He has brought credit not only to himself but also to his country, Guatemala, and to the whole of Latin America.
131. We were greatly distressed yesterday to learn that our esteemed President had undergone a delicate operation. Our distress was to some extent relieved by the news that the operation had been completely successful. We fervently hope that he will make a speedy and complete recovery, and return to preside over us soon.
132. I should also like to take this opportunity to pay a warm tribute to the distinguished Foreign Minister of Romania, His Excellency Corneliu Manescu, who so ably presided over the General Assembly at its twenty-second session.
133. My delegation would also like to offer its warm congratulations to the people and Government of Swaziland on their attainment of independence. We are happy to see the representatives of Swaziland in our midst and we extend to them a warm welcome to the United Nations. To the people and Government of Swaziland we extend our good wishes for continued progress and well-being.
134. As we reflect upon the events of the past year and as we look at the present international scene it is difficult to escape a feeling of depression and anxiety. Recent developments in many parts of the world have shattered, once again, the hopes of the world, and especially of small countries, that nations will abandon a policy based on might in favour of a policy based on the rule of law in international relations.
135. Small countries have always had to live in the shadows of bigger ones. And in recent years there was reason to hope that the shadows which big nations cast over their smaller neighbours would grow shorter and less threatening. There were encouraging signs, as when big nations joined others in the establishment and recognition of ethical norms in international relations. They loudly proclaimed their adherence to the principles of sovereign equality of all States; of respect for the territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States; and the renunciation of the use or threat of force in the settlement of disputes between States.
136. The old doctrine of spheres of interest in which a dominant Power could dictate to the States living in its shadows is clearly alien to these universally accepted principles of international conduct and wholly contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, which embodies the ethical code of international conduct. The principles of the Charter are, in the view of the Singapore Government, applicable to all nations both big and small, under all circumstances and at all times.
137. The slow but discernible progress made in recent years by the rival Power blocs towards mutual understanding and confidence has been seriously jeopardized by recent events in Central Europe. The Secretary-General has rightly warned against the danger of an increasing polarization of attitudes between East and West, with all its attendant dangers for the world. We agree with the Secretary-General when he said that the nations of the Third World could contribute to the lessening of world tension and the rebuilding of bridges between the Power blocs. In order that such countries may exercise this most desirable influence in world affairs, it is necessary for them to put their own houses in order, to stop quarrelling among themselves, to co-operate closely for their mutual benefit and security and in their international conduct to demonstrate their adherence to those ethical norms upon which world peace and understanding must be based.
138. Yet another casualty is the credibility of the big Powers. The credibility gap of the big Powers has now widened. This will no doubt have an adverse effect on the value of assurances and undertakings given by the super-Powers to one another and to other States. At the resumed session of the: twenty-second General Assembly, my delegation joined the overwhelming majority of Member States in endorsing the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We did so because we believe that a halt to the proliferation of nuclear weapons would reduce the hazard of a nuclear holocaust and because it would spur efforts towards general and complete disarmament. Although we approve of the Treaty we can understand the disquiet felt by some Member States about the adequacy of the security assurances given to non-nuclear-weapon States, a disquiet which can only be heightened by recent events in Europe.
139. We have celebrated 1968 as the International Year for Human Rights but the actual condition of human rights in the world gives us no cause for celebration. In too many parts of the world mankind still suffers from the scourge of war, from hunger, and from repression. The Viet-Nam war continues to take its daily toll of the lives of innocent people as well as of the belligerents and brings untold suffering to the living. It is to be hoped that the current moves to end the deadlock in the Paris talks will lead to a settlement acceptable to the parties concerned.
140. The past year also witnessed no progress towards peace in the Middle East. The cease-fire was continuously violated and we have heard in the Security Council repeated charges and counter-charges by the representatives of Israel and of the Arab countries. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ambassador Gunnar Jarring, has worked assiduously to find a formula for peace in the Middle East. His mission has, however, produced no results. We therefore urge all parties concerned to co-operate fully with Ambassador Jarring. We also urge the super-Powers to exercise restraint in their supply of arms to that area and to use the utmost influence to assist Ambassador Jarring’s search for peace in the Middle East.
141. Elsewhere in Africa, in Mozambique and Angola, in Namibia and Zimbabwe and in South Africa, our African brothers are still subject to colonial repression and racial discrimination. We join with them in their opposition to the evil doctrine of apartheid and in their just struggle to overthrow the chains of colonial rule. The intransigence of Portugal, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, if continued, must lead to increasing revolutionary violence as a means of achieving freedom and justice.
142. Let me now turn from the depressing political scene to the economic one. Here, the picture is not so grim but neither is it cheerful. Although in the past year the output of developing countries rose by 5 per cent this was due largely to a record harvest—the result of climatic and not of technological factors. Science does, however, offer the hungry nations of the world the prospects of a world of plenty. After twenty years of research a break-through has taken place in the production of new strains of wheat and rice and other grains which can improve yields three to five times. It is hoped that the developing countries will make use of these high-yielding grains as well as create the other necessary conditions for success — the education of peasants, better irrigation and the use of fertilizer.
143. Higher farm productivity, however, does not lead to a higher per capita income unless the productivity of the plants is higher than the productivity of the population. Many of the poor countries remain poor, some even become poorer. This is basically because their population increase outstrips their economic growth and this is an urgent problem which the governments of the less-developed nations can and must resolve. We, in Singapore, have succeeded in reducing the birth rate from forty-two per thousand to below twenty-five per thousand in nine years.
144. In 1960 the General Assembly, in resolution 1522 (XV), recommended that the total volume of aid from the developed to the developing countries should amount to one per cent of the combined national incomes of the developed countries. The first session of UNCTAD in 1964 explicitly recommended that each developed country should transfer one per cent of its national income. The New Delhi session of UNCTAD went a step further and voted in favour of a target of one per cent of the gross national product. Only the Netherlands and France have so far achieved the UNCTAD goal, for all aid, of one per cent
of the gross national product in 1967.
145. Indeed, the disparity between the developed countries’ gross national product and their provision for aid is growing. Resource transfers to the developing countries declined from 0.83 per cent of the developed countries’ gross national product in 1960 to 0.62 per cent in 1966. When “repayments in loans, interest payments, dividends, private investment, and other relevant items" were deducted, “the actual burden of development assistance on the world’s taxpayers” in 1966 was estimated at only $3,200 million. In that year the gross national product of the major donor countries totalled some $1,500,000 million and they spent $150,000 million for military purposes.
146. The failure of the rich countries of both the East and the West to support the United Nations Capital Development Fund has been sufficiently decried by preceding speakers. The meagre results of the New Delhi session of UNCTAD have been adequately lamented also by other representatives from developing countries. We join them in exhorting the rich nations to offer their resources more generously to the developing countries in their efforts to achieve rapid economic development. At the same time we must remind ourselves that the world does not owe us or any nation a living. And if the rich nations have a duty to assist the poorer ones, the latter have a reciprocal duty to help themselves more conscientiously and more effectively. They must learn to work harder to save more, to have honest and dedicated leaders and to pursue realistic policies.
147. There is no substitute for hard work, sound planning and pragmatic programmes, particularly for developing nations. Rich and developed countries can give aid, aid in the form of hardware and financial aid, but in the last analysis no rich or developed nation can give the will, the determination, the dedication and industry to another, recipient country. These commodities are not exportable: they must come from within the peoples living in the developing countries.
148. I should not leave the subject of economic development without paying a special tribute to the United Nations Development Programme. The Republic of Singapore has derived great benefits from the advice, expertise and facilities made available to us under the Programme. Such is our gratitude to, and confidence in, the UNDP that my Government has decided to increase our contribution to UNDP in the next year by 100 per cent.
149. Last year we referred in our general statement to the formation of the Association of South East Asian Nations, comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. Our membership in the Association is based, firstly, upon our desire to forge closer friendship and co-operation with our neighbours, to whom we are linked by long historical and cultural ties. It is also based upon our belief that the scale of modern technology has made economic autarchy an anachronism and economic inter-dependence an imperative. Several co-operative projects are under study and one or two bilateral projects have actually been started.
150. This Assembly has debated the question of China for almost twenty years. Nothing that has been said has deflected us from the view that the United Nations cannot continue to ignore the inherent right of 750 million people to be represented in this world community.
151. These are bleak days for world peace and understanding. In such moments, therefore, it is tempting perhaps to bemoan the ineffectiveness of the United Nations and even to denigrate it. The truth is, however, that the United Nations Organization has not failed Member States: it is the Member States that have failed the United Nations. There is nothing wrong that we can see with the principles of the United Nations Charter. What is wrong is that some Member States have a cynical regard for these principles. They are accepted only when convenient, and disregarded whenever expedient. What we need is not another pledge of our adherence to the Charter. What we need is a pledge to bring our conduct into congruence with our acceptance of the Charter. That pledge, on behalf of the Singapore Government, I do solemnly give you. Singapore is not only a peaceful State, it is a State at peace with the nations of the world.