Rajaratnam's global city vision for S'pore

On Feb 6, 1972, Singapore's first foreign minister S. Rajaratnam delivered a visionary speech at the Singapore Press Club entitled "Singapore: Global City", laying down the vulnerable city-state's strategy for survival. Forty years on, the oratory by one of Singapore's eminent thinkers deserves far more recognition by Singaporeans, given that Mr Rajaratnam's arguments have since been vindicated on numerous counts. The intricately woven arguments in Mr Rajaratnam's speech continue to resonate today.

He began by rebutting the naysayers that minuscule Singapore had a "near-zero chance of survival", with no natural hinterland of raw materials. Instead, Singapore confounded such dismal predications because it "was transforming into a new kind of city- the global city". Indeed, Mr Rajaratnam employed the term "global city" decades before it was to become a popular buzzword and academic fad. By further emphasizing that "Whether cities were good or bad, the trend towards urbanization is irreversible", his words were a remarkably accurate harbinger of global trends today.

Credits: The Straits Times