Mr. Chairman, Ministers, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First, may I say what a great pleasure it is for Denis Thatchermy husband and me to be in Singapore once again. We admire everything you do here and the splendid way in which you do it; your determination always to be right ahead in the latest technology; and the marvellous example you set to cities of the world in the environment you have in Singapore and the wonderful architecture you have here.
When I was here in 1985, I saw the beginning of the Rapid Transit System. Today, we have travelled on that system to come here and it is truly lovely and a great asset and a great example to the world.
Now we come to another Singapore “first” , this remarkable, exciting, new development in technological cooperation between the United Kingdom and Singapore, and I hope that it will be followed by many many more. [end p1]
It is not necessarily apparent what it means from the name. That is like a lot of scientific things these days and like a lot of jargon, so I was very grateful for the demonstration which you gave us of what this excellent new machinery can do.
We have been trying to develop these things, both separately. We were not perhaps best at it separately, so we had that best of all cooperation—cooperation between one great British company and one Singapore company—to produce a world “first” .
Yes, it will transform the way we do things. We, in politics, need information. We often need it in graphical or diagrammatic form. We often need it quickly. I can tell you when I need it quickly: when I am going to answer questions in the House of Commons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the information is changing very rapidly, and someone who is going to ask me a question is determined to get later information than I have, so this will be extremely useful for me on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons!
It will make an enormous difference to women who have both a career and a home to run, because they can call up a shop and see on the telescreen exactly what products are on offer and order them that very moment.
It makes a tremendous different to the way in which one can teach children by asking them questions, and they learn both how to use all the latest electronics. They learn to respond, and I noticed from our excellent pupil today, that they also know how to spell—all of that by this new, latest equipment. [end p2]
It is marvellous for people in the financial world as, very quickly, even in your home, you can find out what is happening anywhere in the world if it is programmed that way.
The world is very very fast-moving and for those of us who have to make decisions, we need the latest information and we need the right information and we need it in a way in which we can use it. Sometimes, one gets so much information that you do not know anything because you cannot absorb it, so you have to have a system of getting the selective information and of getting it quickly. This will give you all of that and the commissioning ceremony marks the opening of the Teleview Video Text System jointly developed by Marconi and Singapore Telecom.
It is more than to me [sic]. Cooperation between Singapore and Great Britain means a great deal to the Government which I am privileged to lead. I have learned so much from your Lee Kuan YewPrime Minister and am always so anxious to come and discuss world affairs with him. We believe in the same things. We believe in developing and encouraging the talent and enterprise of the individual. We believe in giving incentives. We believe in great personal responsibility. We believe in saving for the future. We believe in building for the future. We believe in competition. We believe in keeping a step ahead. We believe that the way to [end p3] improving the standard of living for all is by developing the talent and ability of all our people and by ever-extending opportunity through good education and by that means, looking after the less fortunate through the wealth we create.
So it is a very special occasion for me to be with you at this commissioning ceremony and may I say that I hope it is the forerunner of many many more and may I wish you and your great country every success in the future (applause).