Inauspicious Dreams? MM on Cambodia

眠い。体がだるい。２週間分の疲れか……。

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映画を見ながら、それが実体験となっていく夢。日本の外務省と（おそらく）内務省の対立で混乱する町だった。時代は幕末か明治初期。江戸時代に外務省も内務省もないのに。外務大臣役は「勝野洋」で、「あ、あなたが外相役ですね」と話しかけていた。半覚半眠状態の自分が、「勝野洋」は「小説吉田学校」で海軍出身の中曽根康弘役だったなぁと、それからこんな映画は東宝か東映が作ってたな（そんな映画はないと思うが）と独り言。自分は（おそらく）外務省側で、洋風の大邸宅の迷路のような廊下を小走りに進んで、敵の攻撃から何とか逃れようとしていた。急勾配の狭い階段を下りようとすると、これはゴンドラのようにゆっくりと１階に降りていった。他の「出演者」には、「大滝秀治」と「ＬＫＹ」がいた。

時代は今になって、台湾のパーティー会場。誰かの結婚式のようだった。何時から始まるのかわからず、会場外のベランダで過ごす。さっきの映画の本編と制作中の出来事がまぜこぜでテレビ放映されていて、これを見ていた。隣で見ていたのは「ＬＫＹ」だった。多少、緊張しながらではあったが、知人のように話していた。

パーティー開始まで時間があるなら、台北市の中心まで行きたいと思い、出かける。徒歩だったか、バイクだったか、はっきりしない。どうやら、方向を間違えたようで、たどり着かない。大阪での友人で台湾に縁の深いＫちゃんと彼女のお母さんが現れ、道をたずねる。

母親と米国を旅行していた。きつい坂道を登っていた。「そんなに急いで歩いたら疲れるから、ゆっくりでいい」と言うのに、親はさっさと歩き進んでいく。建物に入った。ある部屋の入り口で中年の米国人男性が母親と握手。握手などする機会のない親はとまどっていたが、軽く握手。男性が小さな番号札を渡す。手書きで「６」とあった。部屋は「霊柩車」の展示場で、数人が見学していた。実際の車はなく、カタログが置いてあった。ページをめくると、霊柩車ではなく、世界各国をイメージした棺が掲載されていて、実際の葬儀の写真も１枚づつあった。日本のページもあって、その棺は華美ではなく、飾りのない地味なものだった。

その部屋を出ても、母親はさっさと急いで歩き、追いつくのに苦労した。赤信号になる直前に道路を渡った母親を、とうとう見失った。困っていると、幼児を連れた若い日本人夫婦と出会う。子供は男性に抱かれていて、彼らの甥だと言っていた。この土地が始めての自分は、女性に地理をたずね、彼女は「この辺が町の中心ですよ」と話してくれた……。

不吉な夢だったのか、それとも幸運の夢か。派手な「宮型」霊柩車の火葬場への乗り入れ禁止の記事（朝日）を読んだし、「ＬＫＹ」は授業実習の教材に使わせてもらったし、ずっと彼の自叙伝を読んでるし。何とか説明の付けられる夢だったか。

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I met [Prince Norodom Sihanouk] again when he came to Singapore in September 1981 for talks on forming a coalition with the Khmer Rouge… he had been through a harrowing time; many of his children and grandchildren had been killed by Pol Pot, and he was in fear of his life… He was a living tragedy, a symbol of what had happened to his country and his people. The Chinese had rescued him just before the Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh at the beginning of 1979… For a long time he was unforgiving and adamant against a coalition government with the Khmer Rouge.

A senior minster, [of Khmer Rouge], Ieng Sary, visited me in March 1977. He was soft-spoken, round-faced and chubby; he looked the softest, kindest person, one who would look after babies tenderly… He made no reference to this genocide and I decided against questioning him. He was bound to deny… that it ever took place. Ieng Sary was realistic. He wanted trade – barter trade. He needed spare parts for factories, pumps for irrigation and outboard motors for their fishing boats. In exchange he offered fish from the Tonle Sap, Cambodia’s famous inland lake which flooded every year and produced excellent fish. The barter trade did not flourish…, so we had little trade or anything else to do with them.

… Vietnam attacked Cambodia in 1978 and captured it in January 1979. Thereafter, Cambodia existed in my consciousness only through our activities in and out of the UN to garner votes to block the Vietnamese puppet government from taking over Cambodia’s UN seat, and through our support for Cambodian resistance forces operating from the Thai-Cambodian border.

When I inspected their training camp in northern Thailand in the 1980s I noted that it was not well organised and lacked military spirit. It was the best [Prince] Ranariddh could do because, like him, his generals and officers spent more time in Bangkok than in the camp. As we were supporting them with weapons and radio equipment, I felt disappointed… Ranariddh became the first prime minister (with Hun Sen as second prime minister) when his party won the 1993 UN-organised election… Being called the first prime minister and having his man appointed defence minister were of little value when the officers and troops were loyal to Hun Sen.

I met Hun Sen in Singapore in December [1993]. He was a totally different character [from Ranariddh], a tough survivor of the Khmer Rouge, a prime minister appointed by the Vietnamese in the 1980s but agile enough to distance himself from them and be acceptable to the Americans and West Europeans. He left an impression of strength and ruthlessness. He understood power, that it came from the barrel of the gun, which he was determined to hold…

Cambodia is like a porcelain vase that has been smashed into myriads of shards…

… History has been cruel to the Cambodians. (pp. 366-368)

Missed Chance to See Saint, Singing in Class and MM more on Vietnam

Feeling so exhausted, I missed a once-in-lifetime opportunity, to see the “hugging Saint” from India.

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Because I was still not very sure where the Bukit Merah classroom is, I took a taxi as I’d done the previous week. The driver asked me if it was to the direction of Henderson Road. I said yes. We passed Henderson and went further. He asked if the place is on the left or right side of Jalan Bukit Merah. I said on the right. We went further. When he asked me if the building was a condo, I said no. We went further. By the time when he asked me if it was in “Bukit Merah Central,” I had started to suspect that we had already passed the place and asked him to get me off. Ha… we passed a few bus stops too many and I had to walk back.

In today’s workshop, I sang “Sekai no kuni kara kon’nichiwa,” the theme song of Expo ’70 in Osaka, a few times. It was for my Japanese lesson for my classmates.

To come back home, I walked a short distance from the classroom and found the Bukit Merah bus stop. To my surprise, Buses 5, 16, 123 and 851 were all there!

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At around 3 o’clock, I started to feel sleepy. I can’t beat sleepiness… When I finally woke up from this nap, it was almost 10 pm. Thus I missed my only chance to see the Saint.

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Now that I’ve finished my practicum, I should concentrate on the remaining tasks. Not many remain.

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Then [Prime Minister Pham Van Dong] turned to economic relations, with the astonishing news that Singapore could contribute to Vietnam’s reconstruction. When I gently remonstrated that we must get some return for our goods and services, he bluntly said Vietnam’s economy was not developed and the possibilities for trade were limited… [H]e said… Singapore had benefited from the Vietnam War, selling the Americans war material, hence it was our duty to help them. I was dumbfounded by this arrogant and belligerent attitude.

… I said the main war materials we supplied to US forces in Vietnam were POL (petrol, oil and lubricant) from American and British oil companies. The profits to Singapore were negligible. He looked sceptical. I said we were prepared to trade but not to give aid. He was not pleased. We parted civil but cold.

… [I]n 1990, in Davos for a World Economic Forum meeting, Vo Van Kiet, the first vice-chairman of the council of ministers of Vietnam, asked me to see me. He hoped we would set aside outstanding differences and cooperate. I regretted that so much time had been lost in their occupation of Cambodia since 1978. Until that conflict was resolved there could be no government-government ties… (p. 350)

In October 1991 Vietnam and all parties signed agreements in Paris for a comprehensive political settlement. A week later, Vo Van Kiet, now the prime minister, visited Singapore… As the dinner was breaking up, he rose and walked up to me, held my arms in a semi-communist embrace, and asked whether I would help Vietnam. I asked, how? By becoming their economic adviser. I was speechless. I had been the target of their virulent attacks since their occupation of Cambodia. I said… that I had no experience of a big country like Vietnam with a population of 60 million people, a country devastated by many years of war and working a communist system that had to be transformed into a market system. He persisted and followed up in two letters.

After an exchange of letters, I agreed to visit them, not as an adviser, but brainstorm ideas on their change to a free-market economy. It was a totally different relationship when I went to Hanoi in April 1992… I suggested that they study the process through which Taiwan and South Korea had transformed themselves from agricultural into newly industrialising economies. A good strategy, I said, would be to use South Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), as the dynamo to get growth going for the whole country… People in the south were familiar with a free-market economy and could easily revert to working the old system…

Kiet flew to Ho Chi Minh City from Hanoi for a final meeting with me. He asked me to return every year, saying I had been a real friend because I had given honest and sincere advice, although sometimes it was painful to hear… (pp. 351-352)

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♫ ３月30日の日曜日～（誰の歌やったかなぁ……。）

Practicum Evaluation, Mistaken Visa Expiry Date, "BlueWave" Lives on in JB, and MM on Vietnam

今日（金曜日）、またビザの切れる日だと心の底から「信じて」、急いでお願いした滞在延長申請の手紙を受け取りに東の端っこまで行った。手紙とともに授業実習の評価ももらった。日本人のこの自分が、英語で英語の授業をした結果。十分満足すべき評価だと思った。

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そのまま、Woodlandsに行く。出国印を見て、１週間間違えていたことに初めて気づいた。アホ。まぁ、１週間「早く」間違えていてよかったと自分をなぐさめた。

Johor Bahruで、「（オリックス）ブルーウェーブ」が生き続けていることを確認した。

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The Vietnamese cunningly exploited the fears and desires of the countries of Asean that wanted to befriend them… [Their leaders] 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… defeated the Americans… For us, the puny states of Southeast Asia, they had nothing but contempt… 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… [The deputy foreign minister, Phan Hien] said [in July 1976] Vietnam was non-interventionist in other countries’ affairs. He drew a distinction between the people of Vietnam 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… Differences between Asean countries were resolved within Asean so neither the United States nor the Soviet Union could exploit them. (pp. 347-348)

… [Prime Minister Pham Van Dong] came on 16 October 1978. I found him arrogant and objectionable... 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… [t]hey are unfriendly, even threatening… Dong declared… Vietnam had to contribute to the cause of revolution and peace in Southeast Asia and the world. This should not be of concern to Singapore. Vietnam was… a brave nation, intelligent and rich in natural resources. Both the United States and Japan had told Vietnamese that their country would become economically a strong country, and that, the United States and Japan, would need economic and trade relations with it.

[H]e claimed that Beijing had instigated 140,000 to 150,000 ethnic Chinese in the north to leave Vietnam and return to China across the border. They could not understand why. The root cause was [after Vietnam’s victory over the Americans]… China had continued its expansionist policy against Vietnam. Beijing had made use of Khmer leaders to launch attacks into Vietnamese territory to commit atrocious crimes… The overseas Chinese had always been attached to their fatherland… Beijing had exploited such sentiments.

I asked whether China would have the same policy in Singapore if it had an embassy here. He did not think it would because it did not want to bring all the overseas Chinese. It was better to leave them where they were, to use them as instruments. Looking at me pointedly, he said that ethnic Chinese everywhere would support China, just as ethnic Vietnamese abroad would support Vietnam. (pp. 348-349)

Nomura-san, Kuwata and Nomo, Today's Practicum

昨日、楽天が今季初勝利。偶然だが、カツノリくんのお母様の誕生日だった。デイリースポーツによると、お父様のノムラさんは試合後、「公私混同はいかん」と言ったらしい。記者はおそらく、ノムラさんが「公私混同」を理由に南海ホークスの監督を解任されたことを知らないんだろう。皮肉なコメントなのに。ヤクルト、阪神、楽天と、ノムラさんにはカツノリくんが付いてきます。

監督で４番で捕手。南海ホークスで絶対的な立場だったノムラさんだが、特に捕手に関しては、後継者を育てることには熱心ではなかったようだ。当時の控え捕手は、黒田正宏に柴田猛に岩木哲。ノムラさん解任後には、大洋ホエールズから伊藤勲を佐藤ミチとのトレードで、またドラフト１位で中出謙二を獲得するも、正捕手として安定することはなかった。正捕手と呼べる選手を得るには、ドカベン香川くんの後の吉田博之まで待たなければならなかった。そして南海ホークスは売られていった。

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桑田が引退を表明した。惜しい気もする。同年代の野茂がべネズエラへ行ってまで現役であり続けようとするのと対照的でもある。ただ、絶頂期に米国に行った野茂と、日本での選手生活を長く続けてから米国に行った桑田では最初から姿勢に異なるものがある。自分にとってのパイオニアは、やっぱり野茂だな。

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もうどうでもいいはずなのに、読んでしまうのは、ノムラさんとイノキさんに関する記事。

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I had my second practicum today. It was past 4:30 am this morning when I e-mailed my lesson plan to the Director. When I checked the inbox when I was preparing to go to the class, I found her reply and quickly revised it. The class was harder to manage than that of last week because the size was bigger (with would-be teachers participating as students) and a few “authentic” students who were really reserved.

The Director said after this class again, “well done.” And one of the students (from the Philippines) came to me and said, “Thank you for your class” with a handshake, making me feel truly relieved.

I still have assignments to complete, but my thinking is that I (an ESL student in Kalamazoo over 20 years ago) am now completing a circle.

Pass Application, Jln Jln and MM on the Philippines

It has been a fine, hot day with occasional thunder, but no rain. I visited Peninsular Shopping Centre before noon to pass my Student Pass application form to a “Michelle.” She told me that there would have to be a few more days to submit the application online as the PSC office is only temporary. I wondered why it had to be online, but I didn’t pursue it because I believed that she knew more about the procedure than me. And I forgot to bring, or I totally didn’t think about, the certificates and testimonials from my schools and former employers. Then, I need to see her again tomorrow. On Friday, a trip to JB…

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I climbed up the Fort Canning for the first time and jalan jalan around the city hall area to take photos and went as far as to the Fullerton Hotel. After many years here, I was acting like a tourist. This is all because of my new camera, my experience working for papers, and also because I need more photos to be used as class materials and . Nobody knows which photo can be used for particular classes. Thus I need many for possible future use.

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[Ferdinand] Marcos did not consider China a threat in the immediate future, unlike Japan. He did not rule out the possibility of an aggressive Japan if circumstances changed… (p. 337)

International outrage over the killing [of Benigno Aquino] resulted in foreign banks stopping all loans to the Philippines… [Marcos] sent his minister of trade and industry, Bobby Ongpin, to ask me for a loan of US$300-500 million to meet the interest payments. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “We will never see the money back.”…

Shortly afterwards, in February 1984, Marcos met me in Brunei at the sultanate’s independence celebrations. He had undergone a dramatic physical change… He looked most unhealthy. An ambulance with all the necessary equipment and a team of Filipino doctors were on standby outside his guest bungalow. Marcos spent much of the time giving me a most improbable story of how Aquino had been shot.

As soon as all our aides left, I went straight to the point, that no bank was going to lend him any money. They wanted to know who was going to succeed him if anything were to happen to him; all the bankers could see that he no longer looked healthy… I asked whom he would nominate for the election. He said Prime Minister Cesar Virata. I was blunt. Virata was a non-starter… Marcos was silent, then he admitted that succession was the nub of the problem. If he could find a successor, there would be a solution. As I left, he said, “You are a true friend.” I did not understand him. It was a strange meeting. (pp. 337-339)

… I asked the learned lady what lessons her [constitutional] commission had learnt from the experience of the last 40 years since independence in 1946 would guide her in drafting the constitution. She answered without hesitation, “We will not have any reservations or limitations on our democracy. We must make sure that no dictator can ever emerge to subvert the constitution.” Was there no incompatibility of the American-type separation of powers with the culture and habits of the Filipino people that had caused problems for the presidents before Marcos? Apparently none.

Endless attempted coups added to Mrs [Cory] Aquino’s problems… Without President Suharto’s firm support, the [Asean] summit [of December 1987] would have been postponed and confidence in Aquino’s government undermined.

… This was a pity because they had so many able people, educated in the Philippines and the United States… There was no reason why the Philippines should not have been one of the more successful of the Asean countries. In the 1950s and ‘60s, it was the most developed, because America had been generous in rehabilitating the country after the war. Something was missing, a gel to hold society together… (pp. 340-341)

… Fidel Ramos… was more practical and established greater stability. In November 1992 I visited him. In a speech…, I said, “I do not believe democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy.” In private, President Ramos said he agreed with me that British parliamentary-type constitutions worked better because the majority party in the legislature was also the government. Publicly Ramos had to differ.

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Cory Aquino is suffering of cancer...

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(Photos: Fort Canning, Fort Canning, (same old) Merlion, Anderson Bridge, Esplanade Theatre (L) and Singapore Flyer (R), Indian National Army Monument, St. Andrew's Cathedral, covers of "TIME" and "Newsweek" reporting the "People Power" in the Philippines in 1986)

Strange Dreams and MM on Thailand

断片的でしかないけど、またヘンな夢を見始めた。この数日の間に、大型犬が自分との別れを惜しんでいる夢、手続きすることを忘れて、６万円以上の還付金を受け取る機会を逃した夢、大地震に遭遇した夢などなど。

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先週、プロ野球パリーグが開幕した。人気でセリーグに劣るパが少しでも注目度を上げようとして両リーグ同時開幕をやめてから久しい。パリーグの開幕シリーズと同時期にセリーグがやってることは、米レッドソックスとアスレチックスを招いてのプレシーズン試合。これでは両リーグが足並み揃えたプロ野球人気の向上など、あり得ない。

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I met Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn in Bangkok in 1966…

He lamented the fact that the Americans were fighting with one hand tied behind their backs; they attacked North Vietnam only by air and fought a defensive war in South Vietnam, a no-win strategy. All they could hope for was not to lose. The Thais were adjusting to new reality. (pp. 329-330)

As a formulator of policy, Kukrit [Pramoj, who became prime minister in 1975] worried me. I visited him in Bangkok on 17 April 1975, a week after the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and two weeks before Saigon fell. He did not have much to say about Thailand’s position… Kukrit said the US bases should go within a year. He was no longer sure of the United States, and their pressure, being more of a “target” than a “deterrent”, compromised and embarrassed Thailand… Singapore’s view was that the presence of the US Seventh Fleet made our relations with China and the Soviet Union easier…. When the Soviets wanted Singapore to allow them to store oil for their fishing fleet on one of our outer islands, we had told them to buy from the American oil companies in Singapore. If there were no Seventh Fleet, we would not be able to give them such a reply. (p. 331)

I asked why Radio Hanoi was so hostile towards Thailand when their government was extending the hand of friendship. Their tactics, Kukrit said, were to coerce and frighten the Thais into establishing diplomatic relations, and they wanted the world to see that Thailand was frightened. He described his meeting with the leaders of the North Vietnamese delegation to Bangkok:… he “shivered in the embrace”. (pp. 331-332)

Our relations with the Thais became closer after the Vietnamese attacked Cambodia in December 1978. General Kriangsak, the Thai prime minister then, had no experience in foreign affairs…

He had placed all his bets on the Chinese. When Deng Xiaoping visited Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in November 1978,… Kriangsak’s welcome was the warmest… If China allowed the Vietnamese a free hand in Cambodia, Kriangsak and Thailand would be in peril. Deng looked grim when I described the consequences that would follow if Thailand switched sides believing that the Soviet Union was going to prevail in Southeast Asia. (pp. 333-334)

My Practicum, MM on Indonesia and OH!

Last Thursday, I had my first practicum. I was rather prepared mentally, but my worries were about my lesson plan, realia and props. I spent sooooooo many hours to prepare them for the previous few days. In the morning of the day, I was still not sure as to how I could conduct the class.

It was not too bad after all. Perhaps my experience of teaching helped in Japan. After I started the class, my director, looking at the materials I had prepared, was sending me an OK sign. I was relieved a great deal. And Buddy (photo) helped me a lot! Thanks Buddy, you’re a very nice chap!!

Today, I attended a workshop with the next batch of people because I missed the last one for the visa-related reason I had already described. The director said that she would video-record my second practicum, which should mean my performance can be an example for others. She asked me to bring my materials to the next week’s workshop. A delightful surprise. In addition, I was asked to do a short Japanese lesson at the next workshop in order for the participants to experience what beginners go through, i.e. putting them in a situation where they don’t understand the language they are supposed to learn.

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[Suharto] did not mention East Timor, which Indonesia was to occupy two weeks later. It was a good meeting…

But three months later, because Singapore abstained in a vote at the United Nations on Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, a second chill descended on our relations. Other Asean members had voted with Indonesia. Indonesia’s army leaders boycotted our receptions in Jakarta for Singapore Armed Forces Day and National Day. Our counsellor in Jakarta reported that several generals said Suharto had been more angered than over the hanging of the two marines. (p. 304)

… [In November 1976] I agreed to provide [President Suharto], unofficially, with our trade statistics to help them curtail “smuggling”, but asked that they should not be made public. He wanted these trade figures to be published. I explained that as our statistical classifications were different from theirs, publication would cause more misunderstanding… (pp. 304-305)

あぁ、これが貿易統計を発表しなくなった発端か。今は公表されている。

Although our meeting went well, our ambassador in Jakarta, Rahim Ishak, warned that Indonesians, both the leaders and the people, viewed Singapore as Chinese. He said Indonesian attitudes to Singapore were inextricably tied up with their feelings towards their Indonesian ethnic Chinese. Singapore, he warned, would be a convenient whipping boy whenever there was discontent in Indonesia. This proved to be prophetic when Indonesia went into crisis in 1998-99. (p. 305)

[Suharto] appointed B.J. Habibie as vice-president because, as he said 48 hours before he resigned, nobody would want Habibie as president. Suharto believed that no one in Indonesia and no foreign power would conspire to remove him if they knew Habibie would then be president. (p. 316)

We knew Habibie well because he had been in charge of Batam’s cooperation with Singapore. He was against the Chinese Indonesians and by extension against Singapore with its Chinese majority. He wanted to treat us as he did his Chinese Indonesian cukong (compradores), to be pressured and milked. (p. 319)

There was more corruption at all levels [under Habibie] than during the worst of the Suharto years. The opportunities for graft were immense because many banks and large companies were insolvent and depended on government rescue schemes, opening them to pressure… The IMF and the World Bank withheld funds for Indonesia until a thorough audit had been made and the wrongdoers punished. Habibie blocked the publication of the auditor’s report on the ground that it breached Indonesia’s banking secrecy rules. The Indonesian media reported that the money had been traced to members of his family. (pp. 322-323)

During the Suharto era, to avoid misunderstanding with the president or his aides, we did not meet Indonesian opposition leaders… During their visits [between January and April 1999], Singapore ministers met the speakers at lunches and dinners to understand and establish rapport. In this way, we got to know Gus Dur (later president), Megawati Sukarnoputri (later vice-president) and Marzuki Darusman of Golkar (later attorney-general in Gus Dur’s cabinet).

This had angered Habibie and his aides who publicly expressed displeasure at our interfering in their internal affairs. (p. 325)

[Gus Dur] invited me to be a member of his international advisory council for Indonesia’s economic recovery, an honour I could not refuse. He talked of ethical standards and clean government. I said if he expected his ministers to be honest, they had to be paid so that they could live up to their status without corruption…

We had an empat mata meeting for an unrestricted discussion. His vitality in spite of his age, two strokes and a hectic morning was reassuring… His demeanour was that of a president in complete command of the situation…

His sense of humour was matched by a realistic appreciation of self. He joked, “The first president of Indonesia [Sukarno] was crazy about women; the second president [Suharto] was crazy about money; the third president [Habibie] was just crazy.” His daughter who accompanied him asked, “What about the fourth president?” Without missing a beat, he said, “Wayang” (a performance, theatre). In one word, he summed up his role in Indonesia. (p. 327)

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ソフトバンクが南海ユニフォームを使用するということは、王貞治が南海ユニフォームを着るということではないか！奇縁でしかない。

PC Hampers My Work, Eto Shin'ichi, and MM on Dr. M

My PC has been wobbly, with its performance very unreliable. I can’t finish what I have to finish as fast as I wish. It only makes me frustrated in a big way when I have to prepare for my practicum today (Thursday) .

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数日前、江藤慎一死去の報あり。

♫ 江藤監督、あのファイト
じんとくるんだ泣けるんだ
加藤、田中に、東尾が
投げる魔球だ、火の玉だ……
「ぼくらの憧れライオンズ」

江藤と言えば、東京スタジアムを本拠地にしていたロッテ・オリオンズだった。中日時代の彼は知らない。ロッテの後、大洋、そして太平洋クラブの兼任監督。「闘将、火と燃えて」を中学校１年生で読んだかな。

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昨日、ソフトバンクが南海とダイエーの「復刻」ユニフォームを阪神との交流戦で使用することが正式に発表された。「南海ホークス」はダイエーともソフトバンクとも違う。復刻など、やってほしくない。やるなら、南海ホークスのユニフォームはノムラさんの楽天との試合で使ってほしかった。

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… I invited [Deputy Prime Minister Dr] Mahathir [Mohamad] to Singapore in 1978. I expected him to succeed Hussein [Onn] as prime minister and wanted to put our old antagonism behind us. I knew he was a fierce and dogged fighter… I was not unwilling to clash with him when we were in Malaysia, but feuding between two sovereign countries was different. I initiated this dialogue to clear away the debris of the past.

He was direct and asked what we were building the SAF (Singapore
Armed Forces) for. I replied equally directly that we feared that at some time or other there could be a random act of madness like cutting off our water supplies, which they had publicly threatened whenever there were differences between us… I said I believed that he would not do this, but we had to be prepared for all contingencies.

Mahathir was candid about his deep anti-Singapore feelings. He recounted how, as a medical student in Singapore, he had directed a Chinese taxi driver to the home of a lady friend, but had been taken to the servants’ quarters of this house. It was an insult he did not forget. Singapore Chinese, he said, looked down upon the Malays.

… [H]e said clearly that he accepted an independent Singapore and had no intention to undermine it. My reply was that on this basis we could build a relationship of trust and confidence. So long as we believed they wanted to do us in, we would always be distrustful, reading sinister motives into every ambiguous move.

… I believed I had satisfied him that I was not interested in outmanoeuvring him... It was as well I initiated this dialogue and developed a working relationship. Had we carried our old antagonisms into the future, both countries would have suffered.

As prime minister, he visited Singapore in December 1981. He advanced the time for peninsular Malaysia by half an hour so as to have one time zone for West and East Malaysia. I said Singapore would do likewise for the convenience of everyone. The put him in a good mood. He explained that he had had to educate his Malaysian officials to get them to reverse their opposition to Singapore Airlines flying to Penang… He had asked his ministers and officers to learn from Singapore. No other Malaysian prime minister or minister had ever publicly said they had anything to learn from Singapore…

日本市場の時間に合わせて変更したという説は？

I visited Mahathir in Kuala Lumpur the following year, in 1982…

The meeting was decidedly warmer than the last. Mahathir’s approach to Singapore was more pragmatic. At a press conference, I said there had been a meeting of minds, that we were on the same wavelength…

The thaw did not last long. Antipathy for and envy of Singapore always tempted Malay leaders to seek popularity with their Malay grass roots by hitting out Singapore… In January 1894 they imposed a RM100 levy on all goods vehicles leaving Malaysia for Singapore.

… [Japanese and American] MNCs had set up electronic assembly plants in Johor to have the products sent to Singapore for more complex operations. The RM100 levy was a signal that such a relocation was not favoured. .. Instead of cancelling the levy they increased it to RM200 to discourage the use of Singapore’s port.

In October that year Malaysia reduced its import duty on a variety of foodstuffs, mostly from China, provided they were imported direct from the country of origin into Malaysia. We told their finance minister, Daim Zainuddin, that their policy to exempt duty on goods imported via sea and airports but not via a land route, like the Causeway. It was clear that the measure was aimed against Singapore.

In 1986 our ministry of foreign affairs announced that Israeli President Chaim Herzog was to make a state visit that November on the invitation of our president. There was an outcry in Malaysia, with demonstration rallies and protests outside our high commission in Kuala Lumpur, inn their states and at the Causeway. They protested officially. Daim, who was close to Mahathir, told our commissioner that the visit was an insult to Malaysia and the Muslims. He said that although Mahathir had said in Parliament that they would not interfere in another country’s affairs, privately he was very unhappy... Mahathir recalled the Malaysian high commissioner in Singapore for the duration of President Herzog’s visit, saying that relations with Singapore were no longer as good, but that ties were far from tense.

In February 1987 my son Loong, then minister of trade and industry and second minister of defence, answered a question on Malays in the SAF at a constituency function. Our Malays were asking MPs why we did not have Malay national servicemen in sensitive key positions in the SAF like the air force or armoured units. The cabinet had decided to take the matter open. Loong said that in the event of a conflict, the SAF did not want any of its soldiers to be put in a difficult position where his loyalty to the nation might conflict with his emotions and his religion… The Malaysian media read this as implying that Malaysia was the enemy. An ending stream of critical articles ensued.

… [I]n October 1987, I met Mahathir at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Vancouver. He said that all the things he had wanted to do in cooperation with me had gone wrong. They started to go wrong with the Herzog visit, then came the issue of Malays in the SAF. In April 1987 two assault boats with four SAF personnel entered a small creek, Sungei Melayu, opposite Singapore – Malaysian territorial waters – by mistake for 20 minutes. Malaysia delivered a verbal protest [suspecting of spying]. I apologised for their mistake but pointed out that they could not have spying as they were in uniform. Mahathir said he could not come to Singapore to see me because the atmosphere had gone sour…

Before I stepped down as prime minister in 1990, I tried to clear the decks for my successor. Drug traffickers travelling on the Malaysian Railway from Johor Bahru to Singapore had been able to toss drugs out of train windows to accomplices waiting at prearranged points. I had therefore told Mahathir in 1989 that we intended to move our customs and immigration from Tanjong Pagar Station in the south to Woodlands at our end of the Causeway, to make checks at the point of entry… Malaysians would be unhappy because, under the law, the land would revert to Singapore when it was no longer being used for the railway. I therefore proposed to Mahathir that we should redevelop this railway land jointly... After several months of negotiations, we finally agreed that there would be joint development of three main parcels of land at Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands. Malaysia’s share would be 60 per cent, Singapore’s 40 per cent. The Points of Agreement (POA) was signed on 27 November 1990, a day before I stepped down. As it turned out, I did not succeed in handing over my office to Goh Chok Tong with a clean slate. Three years after the agreement was signed, Daim wrote to me to say Mahathir thought it was unfair because it did not include a piece of land at Bukit Timah for joint development… It was a deal done between him and me, and it was difficult for Prime Minister Goh to have it reopened.

After 1990 I refrained from official dealings with all Asean governments, including Malaysia, so as not to cross lines with Prime Minister Goh. Unfortunately, for a hearing in chambers in a defamation suit in January 1987, I swore in an affidavit that Johor Bahru was “notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings’. This caused a furore in Malaysia when made public by the defendant who had absconded to Johor.

The Malaysian government angrily demanded a retraction and an apology. I apologised unreservedly. They were not satisfied and wanted my statement withdrawn from the court document. I saw no point in refusing. I was careless and put myself aside. In a signed statement, I repeated my unreserved apology and stated that I had instructed my lawyer to have “the offending words removed from the record’. The Malaysian cabinet met and announced they had accepted my apology. We noticed, however, that they cut off all bilateral contacts and in effect froze ties. Mahathir also said that Singapore always made things difficult, as in the case of the dispute over railway dispute. … [A]s in the past [their protest] reached a crescendo in threats to cut off our water supplies.

Despite my differences with him, I made more progress solving bilateral problems with Mahathir in the nine years he was prime minister, from 1981 to 1990, when I stepped down, than in the previous 12 years with Tun Razak and Hussein Onn as prime ministers.… (pp. 275-290) (Photo: March 19, 6:38 am)

Working with a PC Like This...

ＰＣの調子、悪い、悪い、よい、悪い、また悪い。こんなんで仕事が進むわけがない。課題をズンズンと終えないといけないのに……。おまけに来週の授業は自分が担当することになっている。

昨日（木曜日）午後、Kallangの教室に行く。「Student Pass」申請の書類をもらう。

夜、ウイルスチェック中のＰＣ画面を眺めながら、あんまりイライラしてきたので、夜９時を過ぎてから１カ月以上ぶりにショーチューを飲みに出かけた。バスで帰宅するつもりだったのに、１時まで飲んでしまい、歩いて帰ってきた。

何がＰＣトラブルの原因なのかわからない。キーボードの接点がまずくなっているのだと思うけど。さっきは、一度「Num Lock」にして、それを解除するとうまく動作するようになった。さっぱりわからない。

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From “Third World to First” on pork barrel politics and Devan Nair:

The PAP had countered the [opposition in the 1997 election] with the electoral carrot that priority for upgrading of public housing in a constituency would be in accord with the strength of voter support for the PAP in that constituency. This was criticised by American liberals as unfair, as if pork barrel politics did not exist elsewhere. (p. 157)

… In the afternoon of 15 March 1985 I was shocked when told [President Devan] Nair had acted in a bizarre manner while visiting Kuching in Sarawak… Nair had been uninhibited with women, including the wife of an assistant minister who accompanied him in a car, women at dinners and nurses who looked after him. He outraged their modesty, propositioned them, fondled and molested them. [His personal physician] Dr Tambyah flew at once to Kuching, where he found Nair had collapsed and lost control of himself…

… [A] psychiatrist, Dr R. Nagulendran, in a report of 23 March wrote, “He (Nair) suffers from ALCOHOLISM [sic]…”

Under the constitution, the president could not be charged for any crime… The cabinet discussed these developments at several meetings and decided that he had to resign before he was discharged from hospital and could resume his activities, or Parliament would have to remove him from office. The old ministers, especially Raja, Eddie Barker and I, were upset at having to remove an old colleague from so prominent a public office… On 27 March, when he had recovered sufficiently to understand the implications of what he had done, Raja and I saw him at the Singapore General Hospital. After some hesitation, he agreed to resign.

… He insisted on going to an ashram (retreat) in India, to meditate and cure himself the Hindu way. I did not think he would get better that way and urged him to go for treatment. After considerable persuasion by Raja, Eddie and some other old friends including S.R. Nathan…, he agreed to go to the Caron Foundation in the United States. A month later the treatment appeared successful.

One and a half years later, in a letter published in the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) of 29 January 1987, he denied that he was ever an alcoholic. The permanent secretary (health) sent Nair and the FEER a letter dated 14 February 1987, signed by all seven doctors who had managed Devan Nair’s case in March and April 1985, confirming their diagnosis of alcoholism. No doctor has contradicted these findings.

In May 1988 Nair intervened in the case of Francis Seow,…who had admitted that he had obtained from a US State Department official an assurance of asylum if he needed it. Nair attacked me, saying this was what I had done when I lobbied for international support while fighting the Malay extremists in Malaysia, meaning that I would have fled from Malaysia in case of trouble. When Nair refused to withdraw his allegations, I sued him and tabled a command paper in Parliament containing the documents relating to his alcoholism.

After these documents were published, Nair left Singapore and has not returned. Eleven years later (1999), in Canada, in an interview, he said that he had been wrongly diagnosed and that I had got the doctors to slip him hallucinatory drugs to make him out to be an alcoholic…

But all said and done, Devan Nair played a significant part in the building of modern Singapore. He stood up to counted when the communists attached the PAP in the 1960s, and he initiated the modernisation of the labour movement that made the NTUC an important partner in the development of our economy. (pp. 249-253)

Views of the City and MM on Opposition

On Sunday and last night, I took some more photos of the neighborhood. In the neighborhood temple, there was a Beijing Opera puppet theater. And there were also many candles in glass cups and fire in a kiln.

In the humid night yesterday, I went up to the top floor of the apartment complex (29th) and looked around to see the distant views. Tonight, again with a high humidity after rain, I went to a nearby 30-story block for a better view. In distance, I found the "Singapore Flyer" illuminated in blue.

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From “From Third World to First”:

… [J.B.] Jeyaretnam did break the PAP’s spell of unprecedented total support in a by-election in 1981… I left the arrangement for the campaign to the new assistant secretary-general, Goh Chok Tong… I did not take part in the [Anson] by-election campaign, leaving it completely to Goh and the young leaders… [The defeat] was quite a shock. I was disturbed, not by the defeat, but because I had had no signal from Goh that we might lose. I worried about his political sensitivity. (p. 146)

Jeyaretnam was a poseur, always seeking publicity, good or bad. (p. 148)

When dealing with the opposition, I had two preoccupations: Were they being used by the communists? And was this a “black operation”, one funded and run by a foreign intelligence agency to cause mischief? It was the latter concern which led to our investigation of Francis Seow, a former solicitor-general. The Marxist group… had gained influence in the Law Society… With Seow as president, the Law Society became politicised, criticising and attacking government legislations not on professional but on political grounds, something it had never done as a professional organisation by law to maintain discipline and standards in the legal profession.

Around that time, in 1987, a counsellor in the US embassy called Hendrickson met Seow to encourage him to lead an opposition group at the next election. The [Internal Security Department] recommended that we detain and interrogate Seow to get to the bottom of the matter. I agreed. We had to put a stop to this foreign interference in Singapore’s domestic politics and show that it was off-limits to all, including the United States… He… admitted that he had been to Washington to meet Hendrickson’s superior in the US State Department, who had assured him of refuge in America were he to run into difficulties with the government… [W]e gave him permission to travel to the United States to consult a cardiologist in New York and to attend a human rights conference. He did not return for his trial. Instead his lawyers submitted several medical reports [that] stated that it was inadvisable for Seow to travel internationally [and] that Seow was unable to undertake any air travel until treated for his heart condition. [T]he prosecution produced evidence that Seow had made at least seven air trips… Seow failed to provide further medical reports… One doctor later admitted that in fact he had not examined him and that he had not renewed his medical license to practice. Seow had no standing at the Bar, having been disciplined by the Law Society for financial misconduct. What was left of his credibility in Singapore was destroyed… Several years later, we learnt that the US government had indeed given Seow political asylum. (pp. 149-150)

Also Sayonara to My PC??

My PC has been acting funny since last night. The left “Shift” key is completely gone. The Shift function seems on all the time, preventing me from typing the symbols like “. (period),” “/ (slash),” and “’, (comma),” and the characters are all capital unless I press the “Caps Lock” key, a reversal of its normal function. In the same way, those symbols appear as ">," "?," and "<." Without the “period” key, I can’t finish my sentences!! I removed the “Shift” key and cleaned inside, suspecting loose connection, probably making the matter worse. Today, I used a room vacuum cleaner to clean up the keyboard and it sucked the “Shift” key in! I had to put my hand into a dust bag… Moreover, my “Firefox” browser sometimes opens a new window when I click a link in a web page.

Now, I’m typing using an external keyboard I got at a computer shop a few hours ago. A second keyboard is connected to a laptop, a stupid sight. This PC, which has worked so hard for me, appears to be approaching its final days.

Sayonara to My "World-Map Cap"

昨夜、Little Indiaから隣駅のRedhillまでＭＲＴ。そこから歩いて帰る。所要時間約30分。うち着いてから、かぶっていた「世界地図キャップ」がなくなっていることに気づいた。歩いていると暑くて、着ていた「ゲバラＴシャツ」を途中で脱いだ。その時に落としたに違いない。ＮＹ州Albanyの「Nature Company」で15年ほど前に買って、気に入ってたのに。

昨日の午後はうちの周辺を２時間歩いた。Tiong Bahru RoadをOutram Road方面に向かって「ホリデーイン」まで。「肉骨茶屋」を通り過ぎ、以前住んでいたBeo Crescentを抜けてTiong Bahru Plazaに戻ってきた。

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ジャズピアニストの山下洋輔、石川県の海岸で燃えるグランドピアノを演奏。その昔、坂田明、中村誠一、タモリとよくテレビに出てたなぁ。

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民主党最高顧問の羽田孜元首相が、「風邪をひいたため」リハビリ専門病院に入院中。風邪ひいて、リハビリか？

Odd Feeling of Familiarity

I’m having an odd feeling to the fact that everything looks so familiar again here in Singapore. So odd and so familiar… The only thing that has changed seems the balance of my bank account.

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Last night, I started the second volume of “The Singapore Story” by LKY, “From Third World to First.”

Remaining Things from HCM and Phnom Penh

ホーチミン・シティーとプノンペンでの滞在中に書き忘れたこと、また書き残したこと。

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先月17日、コソボがセルビアからの独立を宣言した。セルビア人とスラブの血を共有するロシアがこれに同意するわけがない。

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プノンペンとの行き帰り、川をバスごとフェリーで渡った。「Neak Luong」という地だったが、不覚にもこの川が「メコン川」であることに昨日まで気づかなかった。

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プノンペンで宿泊したゲストハウスに飾られていた国王の写真は、今もとっくに退位したシアヌーク殿下のものだった。

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ホーチミン・シティーからバスが午前８時に出発したので、プノンペンも同時刻に発つと勝手に解釈。出発地点に急いで行くと、「あんたの乗るバスは午後１時30分発だけど、変更したいのか？」。チケットをよくながめると、確かに13時30分とあった。すでにチェックアウトしたゲストハウスに戻る気にもならず、変更してもらった。

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外貨を両替する手間が省け、また米ドルが下落しているので、ホーチミン・シティーでＡＴＭからの現金引き出しを試した。無事に引き出せることを確認した後は、両替できないベトナム通貨ドンを余分に持ちたくない思いから、必要な時に小額（通常200000ドン＝約20シンガポール・ドル）を引き出していた。昨日、うちの近くで通帳記入すると、覚えのない５シンガポール・ドルの引き出しが何度も記録されている。銀行手数料だった。20ドルの引き出しに５ドルの手数料って、ちょっと取りすぎ……。うちに戻ると銀行からの封書が何通も届いていた。どれもホーチミン・シティーでの現金引き出しを記録したもので、この手数料引き落としの通知だった。知っていれば、まとまった金額を１度に引き出していたのに……。ムダなことをしていた。

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シンガポールでテレビを見ることはめったにない。だが、ホーチミン・シティーではＮＨＫの国際放送チャンネルがあったので、部屋にいる時はこれを見ていることが多かった。ベトナムのチャンネルの他、中国ＣＣＴＶ、韓国ＫＢＳワールド、ＨＢО、ＥＳＰＮ、ブルームバーグなどが視聴可能だった。また、プノンペンのゲストハウスでは、シンガポールのＣＮＡを見ることができた。

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フライトに乗り遅れた４日の午後。いつも行く喫茶店で、シンガポールと連絡しながら仕事をしていた。年齢不詳の男性が向かい側に座っていた女性にカバンを見ていてほしいと言い残して席を立った。戻ってくると、２人は会話を始めた。すぐ近くに座っていたので、よく聞こえた。女性はオーストラリア人、男性はアメリカ人でカリフォルニア出身。男性が「英語を教えている」と言うと、女性は「エレメンタリー？それともセカンダリー？」などと質問していた。

男性は民間の英語学校で教えている様子だった。「学校を卒業してから、
“real job”に就いたことがない」と言ったのが強く気になった。英語（あるいは外国語全般）を教えることは正業ではないのか？20年ほど前の日本の姿に思いが至った。アメリカ人なら、その資質を全くといっていいほど問わず、「英会話学校」で楽々と職を得られた時代。

当時、日本の英字紙がこんな風潮を懸念する記事を載せていたことを記憶する。ある学校の責任者は「どんな人材を求めているか」との質問に、「native Americans」と答え、記者を唖然とさせていた。ホーチミン・シティーの「英語学習熱」を測ることはできなかったが、会話の内容から判断して英語学校で教えているであろう西洋人を何人かこの喫茶店で見かけた。あんな時代に戻りたくはない。

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日本政府の支援を得て建設されたホーチミン・シティーのタンソンニャット国際空港内で日本食レストランを見つけた。その名は「Kaisha」。もちろん利用しなかった。

いわゆる「フルサービス航空会社」のベトナム航空でシンガポールに戻った。機内でフルサービスを受けるのは、前回日本に一時帰国した時に使った全日空以来だった。アルコール飲料の無料サービスに機内食。なつかしい思いがした。

Snarled in a Thick Jam and It Makes Me Even Poorer

2008年3月4日（火）14:53 (Vietnam time)

I’m still in Ho Chi Minh City. When I was leaving the hotel this morning, I knew I had just enough time to check in for the flight. And the roads were unbelievably congested with the taxi going like a snail at 20-30 km/h… When I arrived at the airport, the JetStar check-in counter was already closed and I heard the final call to board. Too late… Sigh, sigh, sigh… I had no choice but to reserve another flight, and it had to be done as soon as possible. If I had checked the JetStar schedule, I might have got a cheaper flight to go back to Singapore. However, my thinking was that I wanted to get out of this situation fast. So, I reserved tomorrow’s Vietnam Airlines flight, costing me some more money… This is my very first time to have missed a flight.

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Yesterday afternoon, I learned, while checking newspapers online, that an MSDF destroyer (escort vessel), “Hamayuki” had a minor collision with a Cambodian-registered cargo ship in the Saigon port. I went to the port to see the accident scene, but from the street, nothing of the port could be seen with high fences along Saigon River. Resigned, I decided to take a few photos of the river cruise ships. Walking along the river near the boarding point for the ships, I found three navy ships in distance! I walked more to get nearer to the ships though the path along the river didn’t take me close to them. Beside one of the vessels was a small cargo ship! Ha! I believe I was among the first, including the MSDF itself, who took photos of the scene. (“Hamayuki” and another vessel “Matsuyuki,” which was berthed with side by side “Hamayuki,” had an accident today again, this time with a Vietnamese-registered cargo ship.)

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On “Australia Network”several days ago, I saw a woman presenter who used to work with ChannelNews Asia.