Singapore Embassy
Ms Karen. The main area that we covered in the short briefing was the importance of bilateral ties between Singapore and US. Singapore is a close, strategic partner of the US across a range of political, economic, security and development initiatives. Since Singapore's independence in 1965, Singapore and the US have maintained strong relations and will continue to build on and explore new areas of mutually beneficial cooperation. As much as the US has benefitted Singapore by providing much assistance in our developing stages and military advancement, Singapore has also served as an important trade, investment and defense partner of the United States. Agreements such as the Free Trade Agreement and Trans-Pacific Partnership have further enhanced the relationship between the two countries and made both invaluable to the other.
One of the main points that Ms Karen elaborated on was the fundamental difference between USA and Singapore. Although Singapore has proven to be a successful city-state that rose from the depths of poverty to a first-world nation in a short time, as Ms Karen emphasized, Singapore is definitely not a model for any other country, as with America. Every country has their own history, geography and culture, so it is impossible to create an exact carbon copy of any country. Many Americans have questioned why Singapore does not follow America's example and implement democratic ideals, like the liberal environment or structure of Congress. Hence, one of the jobs that ambassadors have to do is to explain the context of Singapore and why Singapore has such a unique brand of politics.
Our Ms Karen described her job interestingly as "part-journalist, part-tour guide and part-friend". We were pretty intrigued to hear her description, as we previously thought that the nature of the job was serious and maybe, boring, having to send in many reports and deal with conflicts. She further went on to elaborate that working as an ambassador is akin to taking on different jobs with every change of profile. It does seem like a dynamic job that has many twists and turns and one can never know what to expect while on the job.
Fun-fact #1: The Embassy in America is the only Singapore embassy that has the assistance of an officer from Ministry of Communications and Information due to the open media in USA.
Fun-fact #2: Singapore provides more than 40,000 jobs to Americans.
Some food for thought: What is the most important takeaway from this visit? What idea resonates with you the most?