Singaporeans upbeat about AEC: ST poll
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Singaporeans are looking forward to being part of a wider formalised community - hoping it will lead to more jobs and trade opportunities, a new poll has found.
People here hope the formation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will reduce business costs and allow for seamless travel within the 10-country grouping.
And they believe the AEC might even make Asean more inclusive, give it a stronger regional identity and improve its negotiating power.
Still, they recognise all this will take time and assumes everyone will come on board. A small number of respondents, however, hope it will bring no major change.
In all, 85 Singaporeans responded to a poll anchored by The Straits Times and supported by papers in the Asia News Network on the AEC titled Are We A Community?
Their views, as reflected in the poll, in many ways mirror those of their counterparts in Asean.
Nearly six out of 10 Singaporeans who took the online poll share an optimism similar to that of their peers in Malaysia and the Philippines that businesses will do better once Asean becomes a community. Close to four out of 10 Indonesians and Thais held a similar view.
Nearly 75 per cent of Singaporeans believe the formation of the community will make Asean more competitive.
This upbeat sentiment resonates with people in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand as well - the four countries from where 80 or more responses were received during the 50-day polling period. A minimum of 80 responses was sought to ensure a reasonable sample to gauge sentiments in the region.
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