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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040119/D805SVM81.html

Singaporeans Urged to Act Like Monkeys

Jan 19, 7:38 AM (ET)

SINGAPORE (AP) - People in strait-laced Singapore were urged Monday to act 
like monkeys -
the Chinese zodiac sign for the coming Lunar year - for the sake of their 
country.

Singaporeans could foster an economic recovery this year by behaving more 
like monkeys,
Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said in a Lunar New Year message reported in 
The Straits
Times newspaper.

Chinese communities around the world will herald the start of the Year of the 
Monkey on
Thursday. Chinese believe the monkey is clever, flexible, innovative and 
confident, but
can also be selfish, jealous and vain.

"Be like a monkey. When things happen, you have to be nimble. Take advantage 
of
opportunities, don't be cast down, but rise to the challenge if it does 
occur," Tan was
quoted as saying.

Tan urged Singaporeans not to be daunted by the challenges of helping the 
city-state
recover from its worst economic downturn. The SARS outbreak, the Iraq war and 
slumps in
global manufacturing and air travel hit Singapore hard in 2003.

Singapore's economy grew 0.8 percent last year, but unemployment sits at a 
17-year high
of 5.9 percent.

Last year, in the Year of the Sheep - known in Singapore as the Year of the 
Goat - Prime
Minister Goh Chok Tung issued a similar animal-themed call to arms when faced 
with "an
imminent war in Iraq."

"In the year of the Goat, we must try to be like the mountain goat, 
sure-footed and hardy
and able to move safely in a rocky environment," Goh said.