Mr. Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman, SMU Board of Trustees

Prof Howard Hunter, President, SMU

Graduands of the SMU Class of 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Congratulations to the Class of 2008

1. It gives me great pleasure to speak at SMU’s Commencement Ceremony, the fifth in the university’s eight-year history.

2. My warmest congratulations to the class of 2008, the 1,167 undergraduates and post-graduates graduands from the:

a. School of Accountancy;

b. Lee Kong Chian School of Business;

c. School of Economics;

d. School of Information Systems; and

e. The pioneer batch from the School of Social Sciences

3. This is a truly proud and exciting day for you all, to celebrate with family and friends. As you are poised to enter into the portals of your working life, the sense of anticipation and excitement is palpable. But against the backdrop of the turbulence in the global financial systems, bursting housing bubbles, suffering equity markets, inflationary pressures and forecasts of economic slow-down, it would be understandable if some of you might also harbour uncertainty and even pessimism.

4. Many might be asking these questions: What are future prospects – for Singapore and SMU graduands? How should you position yourself to make the most of opportunities? What long term trends should you be looking out for, as you plan your careers? 5. I would like to help answer these questions in this commencement address. I intend to do this by painting the big picture and hope that this will provide you with a map to chart your own paths to success.

6. My address will be in two parts – The first on tsunamis and the second, on silk routes.

TSUNAMIS

7. First, Tsunamis. On Dec 26 2004, the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck. Forces deep within the bowels of earth – in this case, a rupture in the fault line along the Sunda Trench, off the western coast of northern Sumatra, just north of the Simuelue Island in Aceh – catapulted monstrous waves outwards which wrecked devastating havoc when they crashed onto human settlements on land. I remember vividly, the story from your own Chairman, as he received sequential SMSes from different parts of the World where his resorts were located. From Phuket in the north, to the Maldives and Seychelles in the West, each SMS chronicled the arrival of towering waves traveling at the speed of a jetliner – 900km/hr! When they hit immovable land, the impact and damage was hard to imagine.

8. Singapore sent our multi-role vessels (LSTs) and Chinooks to provide humanitarian relief. When they arrived, they discovered coastal areas along parts of Sumatra to be unrecognizable. Maps were rendered obsolete as the landscape had altered irrevocably.

9. We can visualize the effects of natural disasters and our minds can wrap around their effects even if we were not physically there. But I wanted to use this physical example to help you visualize “political” tsunamis to explain where we are today. There were actually two such episodes. The first wave emanated from the fall of the Berlin wall on Nov 9, 1989, 10.30pm. The immediate reaction was a celebration of the end of and the triumph over Communism in Europe as seen through the political lenses of the Cold War. The second wave emanated from a man of small stature but who would prove colossal for his impact on China and the world – Deng Xiaoping. Credited by many as the architect responsible for reforming China, the earthquake of his making took longer, starting as a slow rumble in the 70’s but progressively rising to a crescendo in the late 80’s. The sum effect of both earthquakes was that Capitalism and free markets was established as the world’s economic system. Flows of capital, goods and services were less impeded.

10. And the addition of hundreds of millions of workers from China and later a few hundred million more from India into the global labour market shifted the ground beneath us all. We were all witnesses to these effects on a regular basis over the past decade or so. Factories uprooted, as businesses shifted their manufacturing plants into China to take advantage of the masses of low-skilled labour. Calls made in the US would be taken by operators in India, who tailored their accent to suit different parts of America. X-rays and ECGs taken in the US were read by doctors in India.

11. Singapore too was affected by this political tsunami that propelled globalization. To cite just one example, wage deflation of low-skilled workers here because of cheap labour elsewhere necessitated the introduction of Workfare. Whether the effect were good or bad, even now, the effects of the aftershocks are still felt – in diverse areas of maritime trade and security, energy consumption and supply lines, commodity prices etc.

12. So much for the past to help you better understand the present. What about the future? For this, let me talk about silk-routes.

SILK-ROUTES

13. For reasons yet unclear, China the Celestial Empire retreated into self-exile in the 15th century and stopped contact with the outside world. Ideas, goods and services between East and West were truncated. India stalled, marginalized by the Cold War. But now, with the rise of China and India, a modern silk route between East and West has been established. And ASEAN sits astride this route with Singapore as a key node.

14. The modern silk route is driven by the wealth effect. According to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, China’s economy is projected to overtake the US’s by 2025. The same report projects that India will overtake the US by 2050. The price of oil at USD$145.85 per barrel has enriched oil- and gas-exporting states in the Gulf region and the Middle East. One certainty about humans when they get richer is that they like to spend. Together, China and India have 538,000 millionaires, 5.3% of worldwide millionaires. If the number of Chinese and Indian millionaires grows at the current rate, it could exceed that of the US, which currently has about 30% of worldwide millionaires, in less than 15 years.

15. A burgeoning middle class in both these countries translates directly into a demand for high-value services – in education and health care; in tourism, in leisure and entertainment; in wealth management; in housing, etc. Infrastructure developments in these countries and petro-dollar states in the Gulf and Middle East will facilitate trade along the silk route. The highways run virtually on electrons, powered by knowledge and innovation. But real goods and people must follow by ship, air and land.

16. ASEAN by virtue of its location and diverse cultures appear to be in a prime position to benefit from this cross-flow of activities. The mind boggles to just think of how much it could gain if it was economically integrated and acted as an intermediary between East and West. We hope that ASEAN can capitalise on these opportunities and prosper as a region but many of our neighbours are distracted by internal politics.

17. For Singapore, we must forge ahead in this window of opportunity. To succeed we must be purveyors of fine silk and not coarse wear if we are to add value and keep our pole position on this silk route. We must be an oasis where people from all cultures feel comfortable. Recently, royalty from a large Middle-East country made official visits to this part of the World. He had two days at the end of that official trip for his own leisure.

18. His officials recommended somewhere else but he insisted on spending that time in Singapore. What did wealthy, well-travelled royalty, who could choose to be anywhere else, find appealing about Singapore? He put it simply but powerfully when he plainly said, he felt comfortable and at home here. No one gave him strange or unwelcome looks, whatever his garb. He liked our green spaces and our friendly service.

19. We must offer high-end services, preserve our image of integrity, transparency and efficiency. We must establish and expand existing hubs in education, finance, biochemical and petrochemical industries, leisure and entertainment and R&D centers. Opportunities for SMU students

20. You as SMU graduates are well-positioned to make the most of the opportunities here and abroad along the modern silk route. SMU is a young university, less than a decade old, but employers are already impressed with the quality of its graduates - confident, street-smart, energetic and outspoken. They embody the spirit of entrepreneurship and global perspectives that the university sets to cultivate in all its graduates.

21. Such qualities, together with SMU’s own excellent relationship with prospective employers, have made SMU students highly sought-after by industry. Employment rates of SMU graduates have been consistently high, and feedback from employers continues to be positive. I am told that Singapore companies have recruited many SMU graduates for their operations in the Gulf.

22. Established companies have also hired fresh graduates from SMU, reflecting the confidence in their long term prospects within the company. One example is Ms. Priyam Saraf, who graduated summa cum laude last year with a double degree in Information Systems Management and Economics. She received an offer from Bain & Company, which I understand rarely employs fresh graduates.

23. Other SMU graduates have chosen to take the road less-travelled to make their mark. For example, Mr. Rich Ho, a graduate from the pioneer batch, has launched his own production company and has since received a Golden Horse nomination for his short film “The Alien Invasion”, the only non-Taiwanese nominee from Asia in that year.

24. These positive examples reflect qualities of courage and fortitude which SMU aims to imbue. You have live examples of this – well-known alumnus, Liew Chong Choon, who did not allow muscular dystrophy to deter him from an active undergraduate life and career after graduation. After graduating, he joined the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports as an Elderly Care Policy Officer. His brother, Liew Chong Heng, is commencing today. Both did not allow their disabilities to stand in the way of excelling and contributing to society.

25. I started this speech acknowledging the volatile economic environment. But my outlook for Singapore and SMU students graduating today remains very bullish. My call to you is Carpe Diem. Seize the opportunities. Put to full use the education and skills you received at SMU and proceed boldly. Succeed for yourselves and your family but also give back to Singapore and the larger global community.

26. Other SMU graduates have set the example to help the less fortunate through social enterprises. I understand that 7 SMU students have set up the Camory Food Industries Co. in Cambodia which helps the community directly in terms of job creation in an economically disadvantaged area, and through pledging part of their income to local charity efforts aimed at improving education programmes.

27. SMU is to be commended for making community service an integral and consistent part of its curriculum through programmes, and not just one-off projects. I hope that more of you will be motivated to do your part for the local and global community, using the skills and entrepreneurial spirit you have gained here. Social entrepreneurship, driven by your ideas and ability, can give many less fortunate people across the world hope for a better future.

28. As each of you succeeds, give back to SMU and Singapore. Continue to add to this oasis, so that future generations, like you can also benefit and fulfill their aspirations. Once more, congratulations, and I wish you every success and a bright, fulfilling future.