“I feel very proud. This is not just any country but the centre of the banking world,” said a retired executive, who saw it as a real sign that Singapore has joined the world’s top banking nations.

Temasek Holdings put some US$10bil into the troubled UBS – formerly Union Bank of Switzerland – in mandatory convertible notes that will be convertible into shares after two years.

This is not the first foray into Western banking. Last year it bought 11.6% of  Standard Chartered Bank for US$3bil (RM9.93bil) and owned 2.1% of Barclays Bank (US$3bil).

However, among all its bank shareholdings, mostly across Asia, Switzerland is a special case, because it has long been regarded as the role model for Singapore to emulate.

In the eyes of many people here, this is the sort of opportunity that only comes once in decades.

A stock researcher said that in spreading its external wings, it is clear that Temasek has a dominant interest in banks.

A day earlier, it announced that it had increased its stake in a group that controls 56% of Bank Internasional Indonesia, the country’s sixth-largest bank by asset.

(On the same day, Singapore’s second-largest lender United Overseas Bank said it has set up a unit in China with registered capital of S$587mil (RM1.94bil)).

“All these deals will now probably result in another rush for banking courses among our undergrads,” the researcher said.

Mega-size global forays in recent years also included those in manufacturing, airlines, telecommunications and hotels.

It demonstrated how seriously Singapore is moving to reposition itself to face the rising challenge of countries like China and India.

It also shows that it has the reserves – accumulated brick by brick over the past 40 years – to enable it to play a mega-size global role.

For small city-states like Singapore, going global is not an option. Singapore is likened to a capital without a hinterland, like a larger Kuala Lumpur without the rest of Malaysia.

Over the past decade, Singapore moved to a higher level of technology to provide hub services to the world and open itself to global talent.

A random glance of headlines over the past two days shows – apart from the UBS deal – Singapore’s internationalisation pursuit.

+ The government is easing regulations across the board on the hiring of foreign workers in view of a tight labour market.

+ Singapore’s Keppel Corp said it had received approval to build Vietnam’s first waste-to-energy plant that will generate 20 megawatts of green power. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong is visiting Singapore’s industrial park in that country.

+ Singapore and Oman signed an agreement to boost bilateral investments, witnessed by visiting Oman Deputy Prime Minister Sayyid Fahad Mahmood Al-Said.

+ Singapore swept all seven gold medals in table tennis in the 24th SEA Games in Thailand with players who are migrants from China.

+ An agency report says that Singapore now has some 80,000 foreign students, up from 50,000 in 2001, mostly from Malaysia, Vietnam, China, India and South Korea.

+ Three parties from India, Australia and Kuwait, are teaming up to bid for three power companies being sold in Singapore.

These stories are fairly routine in 21st century Singapore, which continues to be rated as the most globalised country in the world.

The Globalisation Index said last year that nowhere in the world do foreign trade and investment flow more freely than in the Republic.

For Singaporeans, there is no mistaking the signs of globalisation. About a third of  the 4.68 million people here are foreigners. They are evident on the streets and in many homes.

Order a plate of fried rice at a hawker centre, and you’ll likely be served by a woman from China; manning the X-ray machine at a hospital lab is probably a Filipino; and Westerners are more visible in the heartland markets.

More Singaporeans are leaving. An estimated 150,000 Singaporeans are working or studying overseas, many of them not returning.

Not everything is fine and dandy with globalisation. It is contributing to runaway inflation, the worst in 12 years, a widening income gap and job losses to foreigners.

(Some economists, however, dispute this, saying the foreigners’ presence actually helps to lower inflation since many of them are paid lower salaries than locals.)

Apart from strong reserves, two factors are crucial for globalisation to succeed.

The first is harmony within the country, which can withstand the social tensions.

Many Singaporeans feel that they have become “second class citizens” in their own country because the government favours permanent residents.

“Globalisation means that Singapore no longer just belongs to Singaporeans; they have to embrace the numerous ‘foreign talents’ landing here,” a blogger wrote.

The second prerequisite is a cordial relationship with the outside world, which it has achieved relatively well.

In exceptional cases, mistrust poses an obstacle. Some foreign countries see Singaporeans – and the government – as being too ready to take advantage of others for profit.

A survey just published finds that Singaporeans rank making money ahead of family and health.

And political scientist Amitav Acharya suggests that Singapore should work to change how its foreign policy is viewed – to correct the perceptions that it is a competitive country which cares only about its own survival.

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

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