About Me

My photo
I am a Practitioner of 'The 7e Way of Leaders' where a Leader will Envision, Enable (ASK for TOP D), Empower, Execute, Energize, and Evolve grounded on ETHICS!

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Daily Lessons from Life 12-13 January 2016 - PM Lee, President Widodo to meet for leaders' retreat in mid-2016

Last night there was an earthquake felt by me in Yangon knocking off electricity for a good 2 hours. So, did not get to write my blog! Not sure if there were substantial damages but nothing heard this morning so assumed nothing bad had happened!

"PM Lee, President Widodo to meet for leaders' retreat in mid-2016 - CNA 14 Jan 2016

JAKARTA: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Joko Widodo are expected to meet for a leaders' retreat in the middle of this year in Indonesia, said Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

This will be the second stand-alone bilateral meeting for both leaders and it marks 50 years of relations between the two countries. They first met during Mr Widodo's introductory visit last year.

Dr Balakrishnan said the exact date and venue of the leaders' retreat has not been confirmed. He also stressed that the relationship between Singapore and Indonesia is good and that there are many opportunities to enhance it.

Dr Balakrishnan said like all close-standing relationships, there may be problems from time to time.
He added that Indonesia is contemplating making significant changes in the regulatory framework for Batam, Bintan and Karimun, and that there were also discussions on how to improve the labour relations in the economic zone. The Indonesian government is expected to make announcements on the regulatory review in one to two weeks, he said.

“What our investors or what our private sector have told us is they need certainty," said Dr Balakrishnan. "They need to know what the rules are, they need a sense that there is a level playing field, they are not being disadvantaged, rules are not going to be chopped and changed down the road. When there is certainty, and if it makes business sense, I think investments will flow.”

Dr Balakrishnan also spoke with Indonesian leaders on the haze issue. He said the discussions were positive and they assured him no efforts will be spared to improve the situation. Dr Balakrishnan said the Indonesians seemed fairly confident that things should improve."

There is NO DOUBT that maintaining GOOD relationship with Indonesia is a VERY IMPORTANT thing for Singapore.

Lessons for me are:

1. keep the 'well known but unspoken' to each other - e.g. Singapore's need to maintain a VERY STRONG and POWERFUL defence force including army, navy and air force. Singapore friendly politicians have to put up with 'some hawkish' talks from some 'not-so-friendly towards Singapore' fellow politicians in Indonesia to speak some 'emotional things about Singapore';

2. work on the HAZE issue and PREVENT recurrence in 2016 NOW and be constantly 'In-your-face' of the PUBLIC of BOTH Indonesia and Singapore. IF we can achieve a 'NO slash-and-burn' 2016, that would be a tremendous achievement for BOTH countries and very helpful to the people of both countries too!;

3. increase the frequency and intensity of 'direct' meeting between the President of Indonesia and PM of Singapore PLUS their cabinet members. At least quarterly visits for a start!

 

No comments: