Global Challenges in the 21st Century: A View from Chile

III. Closing Remarks by K. Kesavapany

III Closing Remarks K. Kesavapany His Excellency President Ricardo Lagos, President of the Republic of Chile; His Excellency Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore; Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman of Institute of Southeast Asian Studies; Excellencies; Ladies and Gentlemen. Mr President, you began your speech very modestly by saying that what you have to say would not amount to very much in comparison with previous speakers. Let me say that this has been an excellent and thoughtful speech on the twin themes of globalization and multilaterialism. It therefore gives me great pleasure to thank you for what we at ISEAS regard — and I am sure the audience share with me — a landmark speech at the Singapore Lecture series. I would also like to thank His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for chairing the session and for his Opening Address. And I now have the pleasure of calling upon our Chairman, Professor Wang Gungwu, to give a small token of appreciation to the President. It is a water-colour painting by Mr Neo Kim Chye, one of Singapore’s water-colour artists.© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore RICARDO LAGOS Since the early 1980s, Mr Lagos has been one of the leading political figures of Chile. At that time, he left a successful academic and professional career to become fully engaged in the struggle for democracy in Chile. Born in Chile on 2 March 1938, he is married to Luisa Durán and has five children. Mr Lagos received a law degree from the University of Chile (1960) and a Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University in the United States (1966). Mr Lagos is the author of several books and dozens of essays in scholarly journals. Among his more renowned books are: Concentración del Poder Económico (1962), Chile at the Turning Point, with F. Gil and H. Landsberger (1979), Hacia la Democracia (1987), and Después de la Transición (1993). He became the leading dissident figure in Chile when, in the 1980s, on a widely-seen live TV programme he challenged General Pinochet and called for a peaceful mobilization of the citizenry against the dictatorship. During the 1983–84 period he held the position of President of the Alianza Democrática, the broadest coalition of democratic forces opposing the dictatorial regime that ruled Chile at that time. He was also a leader of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party. In 1987 he presided the Committee of the Left for Free Elections, and during that same year he founded and later presided the Party for Democracy (PPD), which was fundamental in the defeat of General Pinochet in the 1988 plebiscite. The PPD is today the second largest party in Chile’s governing coalition of democratic parties.© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 19 Also in 1987 Mr Lagos was jailed by the military government and released after three weeks of imprisonment without any charges. At the time, various personalities, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, publicly demanded his release. He was named Minister of Education between 1990 and late 1992. From 1994 to 1998, he served in the post of Minister of Public Works. Mr Lagos is also a member of the Distinguished Twelve Member Commission of the Socialist International, along with such personalities as Felipe González and Grö Bruntland, in charge of advancing proposals for the renovation of social democratic thinking in the 21st century. He is the President of Fundación Chile XXI, a non-profit institution that aims at enhancing democracy, promoting exchanges of ideas and proposals for the modernization of the Chilean economy and the state, as well as the consolidation of a participatory, egalitarian, and culturally diverse society.© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 20© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore THE SINGAPORE LECTURE SERIES Inaugural Singapore Lecture 14 October 1980 The Invisible Hand in Economics and Politics by MILTON FRIEDMAN 2nd Singapore Lecture 30 October 1981 American Foreign Policy: A Global View by HENRY KISSINGER 3rd Singapore Lecture 2 December 1982 Peace and East-West Relations by GISCARD D’ESTAING 4th Singapore Lecture 10 November 1983 The Soviet Union: Challenges and Responses as Seen from the European Point of View by HELMUT SCHMIDT 5th Singapore Lecture 8 November 1984 The Western Alliance: Its Future and Its Implications for Asia by JOSEPH M.A.H. LUNS 6th Singapore Lecture 5...