From Third World to First The Singapore Story pdfdrive com

29. Strategic: Accord with the United States
When President Jimmy Carter took over from Gerald Ford, there was an abrupt
change of emphasis in US foreign and defence policies. He was more interested
in Africa than Asia. To the dismay of America’s friends and allies in Asia, he
announced that there would be a rundown of US troops in Korea. Carter believed
Americans were tired after the Vietnam War and wanted to forget Asia. He
concentrated on the reconciliation of black and white Americans. He also saw
his role as a builder of bridges across the great divide between the whites and the
blacks in southern Africa. His emphasis was on human rights, not defence and
security. Asean leaders braced themselves for four difficult years as they waited
to see what he would actually do.
When I met him in October 1977 he had budgeted his time meticulously.
There would be a 5-minute photo opportunity, then a 10-minute tête-à-tête
followed by a 45-minute discussion between the two delegations. He kept to this
schedule almost to the second. What astounded me was the subject he raised
during the 10-minute tête-à-tête – why did Singapore want high-tech weapons
like I-Hawk (Improved Hawk) ground-to-air missiles? It was not an item in my
brief. No previous president had ever queried me on our modest purchases of
weapons, let alone defensive ones. High on Carter’s agenda was the stopping of
arms proliferation, especially high-tech weapons, and I-Hawk was considered
high-tech for Southeast Asia. I said that Singapore was a very compact urban
target which had to be thickly defended. Our Bloodhound missiles were out of
date, but if he had difficulty selling I-Hawks to us, I would buy British Rapier
missiles; it was not a matter of great importance. To cut the matter short, I said
we would not apply to buy them. Two years later, they sold us I-Hawk missiles
after the US ambassador in Singapore, a former Democratic governor of North
Dakota and a Carter supporter, intervened with the White House.
The official delegations met for 45 minutes and finished to the second. He
had a laundry list which he pulled out from his shirt-pocket some 15 minutes
before the end to check if he had covered all the items. Without re-reading the

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minutes of the meeting, I would have had no recollection of what we discussed.
They were all inconsequential matters. His predecessors, Johnson, Nixon and
Ford, had always covered the broad picture: how did Asia look – Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan, then the communist countries of China and Vietnam, then
US allies Thailand and the Philippines.
Carter did not raise these subjects. Nevertheless, I decided to give him a
broad-brush picture of how important America was for the stability and growth
of the region, and how it should not lose its focus as this might weaken the
confidence of non-communist countries who were its friends. I am not sure I
made any impression. Had I not met Richard Holbrooke, assistant secretary of
state for East Asia and the Pacific, earlier in May in Singapore, I doubt if I
would have had a meeting with Carter. Holbrooke wanted someone from the
region to get him to concentrate on Asia, and thought I could be that someone.
When I was leaving, he gave me a green leather-bound copy of his campaign
autobiography, 
Why not the Best?
He had already inscribed it, “To my good
friend Lee Kuan Yew. Jimmy Carter.” I was flattered but surprised by my
elevation to “good friend” even before he had met me. This must have been
standard practice during his election campaign.
I scanned his book, hoping to get some light. I did. He was from the Bible
belt, a born-again Christian. Two items stick in my mind. His father had given
him a coin on his way to Sunday school. He came back and put two coins on the
dressing table. When his father discovered this, he was given a whipping. He
never stole again! I was puzzled how this helped him win his campaign. The
other part I recall from his book was when Admiral Rickover interviewed him
for duty on a nuclear submarine. Rickover asked him what his position was in
his class at Annapolis Naval Academy. He proudly said 59th. Rickover asked,
“Did you do your best?” He replied, “Yes, Sir,” then changed it to “No, Sir, I
didn’t always do my best.” Rickover said, “Why not?” Carter said he was
shaken. Hence the title of his book,