From Third World to First The Singapore Story pdfdrive com

19. Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia: Coming to
Terms with the Modern World
On 29 October 1977 a Vietnamese DC3, an old Dakota, was hijacked while on
an internal flight and made to fly to Singapore. We could not stop it from
landing at Seletar Air Base. We allowed the Vietnamese to send a new crew to
fly the plane back with the old crew and the other passengers, after we had
refuelled and refurbished it. We prosecuted the hijackers who were convicted
and sentenced to 14 years’ jail.
Vietnam never paid for the supplies but instead sent us a stream of warnings
to return the hijackers or face the consequences. We had to stand firm and not
allow ourselves to be intimidated or there would be no end of problems.
Singapore’s relations with Vietnam, which was reunified in 1975, had started
with a stand-off.
The Vietnamese cunningly exploited the fears and desires of the countries of
Asean that wanted to befriend them. They talked tough over their radio and
newspapers. I found their leaders insufferable. They were filled with their own
importance, and prided themselves as the Prussians of Southeast Asia. True, they
had suffered, taken all the punishment that American technology had inflicted on
them, and through sheer endurance plus their skilful propaganda, exploiting the
American media, defeated the Americans. They were confident they could beat
any other power in the world, even China, if it interfered with Vietnam. For us,
the puny states of Southeast Asia, they had nothing but contempt. They declared
they would establish diplomatic relations with member states of Asean
individually, and refused to deal with Asean as a group. Their newspapers
criticised the existence of US military bases in the Philippines and Thailand and
spoke of collusive relations between China and Singapore.
By 1976 deepening disagreements with China made them despatch
diplomatic missions to Asean. Their deputy foreign minister, Phan Hien, brought
a message of peace when he visited the countries of the region. At first he

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excluded Singapore from his visits, but changed his plans and came in July
1976. He said Vietnam was non-interventionist in other countries’ affairs. He
drew a distinction between the people and the government of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam. The people of Vietnam supported the just cause of the
peoples of Southeast Asia fighting for independence, meaning the communist
insurgency. The government wanted to establish bilateral relations with these
countries. I pointed out that this diplomatic sophistry could not erase questions
in our minds that this dual track was interference. Referring to Soviet support for
Vietnam, I said great powers knew it was dangerous to clash directly with each
other so they used third countries to expand their influence. Differences between
Asean countries were resolved within Asean so neither the United States nor the
Soviet Union could exploit them.
A year later Prime Minister Pham Van Dong also did not at first include
Singapore in his proposed visits to the region, probably to make us feel insecure.
We were unmoved; they could not as yet do us harm. He came on 16 October
1978. I found him arrogant and objectionable. The Vietnamese were excellent
stage managers. Phan Hien had come first to show the sweet smiling face of
communist Vietnam. Now Pham Van Dong, an old man of 72, showed that he
was tough as nails. In discussions lasting two and a half hours, we dispensed
with courtesies and euphemisms. Indeed, our forthright conversation had started
in the car journey from the airport.
I began by welcoming Vietnam’s desire to work together with us for peace,
stability and prosperity, but listening to Radio Hanoi and reading