ASEAN needs high tech to be heard

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

ASEAN needs high tech to be heard - minister 
03:09 a.m. Jul 13, 1998 Eastern 

SINGAPORE, July 13 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian nations must act
collectively in cutting-edge communications or risk losing their influence,
Singapore Information Minister George Yeo said on Monday. 

In a speech prepared an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in
Bangkok, Yeo said officials had been exploring establishing a satellite
channel and coordinating regional cooperation on the Internet. 

``We should do many more things together. If we work together, we will have
a collective voice in the world. As individual countries, we are likely to
be drowned out by louder speakers and become their playthings,'' Yeo said. 

According to the text of a speech issued in Singapore, he said information
technology (IT) had made the world one ``and given to international
financial markets a power not seen before to subvert and bypass national
authorities.'' 

``Whether we like it or not, IT has weakened the powers of government
everywhere,'' Yeo said. 

Aside from IT's impact on financial markets, it ``has also become more
difficult to preserve and promote the values which are dear to us. The
influence of Hollywood is pervasive.'' 

But on the plus side, IT ``is also an opportunity for us to educate our
people, widen political participation, strengthen our institutions and
increase economic efficiency,'' Yeo said. 

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.