Internal Strength

Being small opens us to many vulnerabilities which larger nations do not face [...] But smallness also confers us certain benefits which we should not discount [..] The most important factor is our internal strength, our national life-force. What we must have is a sense of ourselves and of our own separateness and identity. This is not a question of economics or politics or technology. It is a moral question and a spiritual question. To put it in another way, deep inside the heart of every Singaporean, what is he or she? If the sense of being Singaporean is in our very heart and soul, then we will survive even if we are temporarily conquered and occupied, and if we are dispersed the way the Kuwaitis were after the Iraqi army walked into Kuwait in August 1990. We will continue to live on as an idea and that idea will enable us to gather together again on this island. The Jews never lost the idea of Israel since defeat and dispersal by the Romans 2000 years ago. For a long time, they said to each other "next year in Jerusalem". They finally succeeded when the State of Israel was established in 1948. But the Jewish state confronts an opposing idea in Palestine, which is another potent force seeking expression in a physical reality. Until the idea of Israel and the idea of Palestine can co-exist in some way, there will be no enduring peace in the Middle East.

Speech by George Yeo at the Temasek Seminar in 1996

Venice instead turned her insularity to advantage. Always sensitive to the requirements of trade, which was her lifeblood, the city-state established a system of administration founded on constitutional principles, the rule of law and the collective interests of her merchants. Slowly but steadily, with each invasion successfully repelled, with each crisis successfully overcome, she developed in her people that famous Venetian spirit that bonded Venetians everywhere together. A tradition of public service supplied the men of ability she needed for effective governance.

"Venice and Singapore: A Study in Parallels" - George Yeo