The man nominated to be the next United States Ambassador to Singapore has said that he would use ‘public diplomacy’ to promote greater press and political freedom in Singapore. Speaking at his nomination hearing on Tuesday, Ambassador-designate David Adelman, 45, said that these were the areas in which ‘Singapore needs the most improvement if it were to live up to the ambitions Americans have for democracy’.

Mr Adelman, a lawyer and Georgia state senator, made the remarks in response to a question from Virginia Senator Jim Webb, who asked if the US should engage Singapore in areas like democracy and press freedom.  ‘Make no mistake, currently Singapore is not a multi-party democracy,’ said Mr Adelman.  ‘And I intend, if confirmed, to use public diplomacy to work towards greater press freedoms, greater freedom of assembly and ultimately more political space for opposition parties in Singapore to strengthen Singapore into a multi-party democracy.’

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam welcomed a vow by David Adelman, President Barack Obama’s pick as Singapore envoy, to encourage the government to allow greater openness.  “The Reform Party welcomes the ambassador’s statement that he will use public diplomacy to work towards a genuine multi-party democracy in Singapore,” Jeyaretnam said in a statement.

We can only hope that the new ambassador will be a real change agent here.  However, the ambassador should recognise that democracy here should be for Singaporeans.  He should not try to pursue one that Americans “have ambitions for.”  Singapore does not need to live up to the Americans’ expectations.

Our nation is young and less mature than the West, what they have created and moulded over two centuries cannot and must not be forced on to us.  Opposition parties here must remember this, as they engage the new ambassador in his ‘public diplomacy’.

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