Multilateralism and international cooperation has served the world well since World War II, but global organisations and systems need to be updated for today's world, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen. The Covid-19 pandemic is but the latest event to have "shakened and weakened the very pillars" of the current global system, said Dr Ng. But countries should rethink and rework the system without throwing the baby out with the bath water, he added at a virtual dialogue yesterday. "Globalisation 1.0 was not perfect, but it did serve our needs," said Dr Ng, in an hour-long virtual dialogue organised by German think-tank Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). "A regression to parochial nativist and discriminatory policies by any country...will result again in bloc and misaligned interests which led to the previous two world wars." Of the many challenges facing this generation, Dr Ng said the threat to multilateralism and cooperation is the quintessential one as it affects the fundamental stability of the current world order. This order, rooted in multilateralism, had allowed for progress, development and peace for many, including Germany, J...