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SCMP Reporter

There is a saying about diplomats that they keep a suitcase packed and ready, just in case that call comes in from the top to move.

Chan Heng Wing, the consul-general of Singapore, is a classic case in point.

Mr Chan was appointed the consul-general of Singapore in Hong Kong and asked to move to his new post in a matter of hours. Actually, the urgency of his appointment was heightened by the death of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping the previous day, and the world's eyes were focused on Hong Kong.

Every diplomatic mission in the former British colony was keeping a close eye on which way the dice would roll, with the impending handover of Hong Kong just months away.

Mr Chan had worked in Hong Kong for a few months prior to his appointment as consul-general for the Ministry of Information and Arts.

He was handed the delicate task of holding the bridge between the two most competitive cities of Asia.

Speaking in a resonant voice and with steady composure, he recounted how the sudden change and ambiguity lying ahead at that time did not unsettle him.

It was a significant time for the territory as it looked towards its reunification with the mainland and the end of more than 150 years of British colonial rule.

Unlike the stereotypical image of a Singaporean, Mr Chan has a jovial and easy-going nature, which is immediately revealed as he talks animatedly about Hong Kong's topography.

'This is one of the rare cities in the world where the view of mountains, water and buildings come together to form a spectacular scene,' he says, looking out to the harbour.

His expression changes as he talks passionately about food, an interesting topic for any Singaporean. He knows the best magazines to read about the best eateries and restaurants in Hong Kong.

Mr Chan says his curious love affair with Hong Kong started when he was growing up in Singapore watching Cantonese plays and movies made in Hong Kong.

He was glued to the radio listening to Reddifusion, a popular 24-hour broadcast in the '50s, enjoying the narration of Chinese classics and Cantonese dramas. A sentimental man, Mr Chan recalls how television killed one of his favourite pastimes.

'My favourite story teller was Lei Dai Sor, who told great Cantonese drama stories, but Reddifusion died in the '60s with the advent of television,' he rues.

When he arrived at the old Kai Tak airport in 1997 during his first visit, he was taken aback by the surroundings.

'It was a completely different image from what I had in mind, which was that of the old Kowloon City; old, dirty, messy and buzzing.' Mr Chan has lived a dramatic life, similar to the dramas he loves with a passion. Growing up in Singapore in the 1950s and '60s, Mr Chan jokes that he sang three national anthems. He actively participated in dramatic activities in college, but stayed away from the political unrest sweeping the Malay Federation those days. The unrest culminated in Singapore breaking away from Malaysia in 1965.

'I just stayed the observer, I was too young to participate,' he said.

But despite the racial tension around him in his formative years, he believes in looking at the bright side.

The social unrest, which was ticking like a time-bomb, has made him alert and sharp. 'In the '50s and '60s, there was a lot of turbulence, curfews and riots,' he said cautiously.

The consul-general has handled inquisitive Hong Kong reporters astutely, considering the sterile journalism practised in Singapore.

The main reason for this is that he started his career as a broadcast journalist and knows the tricks of the trade. The decade he spent working for television in Singapore has made him quite capable of handling the media here.

Perhaps his journalistic background was also the reason that he got a call from then Singapore's permanent secretary to the United Nations, and now president of Singapore, S R Nathan.

Mr Nathan offered him a diplomatic posting to the UN, thus disturbing his peaceful and delightful daily routine: taking care of his first new-born daughter and doing freelance writing.

'My diplomatic career was thrown into the deep end,' he said in jest.

After he returned from New York he spent a few years working for the Singapore Government, until the call to Hong Kong came.

Mr Chan believes his diplomatic background, despite its inherent nomadic demands, has strengthened his roots in Singapore. 'As a diplomatic representative, you are always trying to explain and talk about your country, and [are] very aware of what is happening at home. You do not lose awareness as compared to working in a commercial firm.' The moment we ask about the competition between Hong Kong and Singapore, he goes into cautious diplomatic mode. 'There is greater awareness [about competition] in Hong Kong than in Singapore, some of it for psychological reasons.' Using the analogy of two runners in a race, he explains that the one leading would see the one behind as a threat, but the one behind will see the other as an objective. 'When I first arrived some of the newspapers here said that Singapore is taking away Hong Kong's businesses, but those are multinational companies they are referring to and their businesses can go anywhere in the world.' Singapore was looking beyond Asia for growth, he said. 'For many years, Hong Kong was ahead of Singapore, but the world is changing. Now when we look at the economy, we do not only look at Asia, our competitor can even be in Europe,' he said.

He traced the good relationship between the two economies back 70 years, when both were ruled by the British. Every year there is an exchange at the highest level between the various departments of the two governments, including the housing authorities and police.

'Hong Kong is a Chinese society, Singapore is a majority Chinese society. It is a cultural dimension we are addressing which is different, the solutions are not technical but cultural.' 



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