This is the transcript of part of the interview which the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.You can listen to the podcast of the interview here.
Watch BBC’s report (on video) on Singapore’s economy here.
BBC: Your own family has been quite involved in these funds. Your wife, till recently, ran Temasek. Your father’s deeply involved in GIC. Is there a risk that when the news is bad, as it has been over the past year for these funds, people will tend to blame your family rather than the institutions?
LHL: I think the way you put it is not the way things work in Singapore. The Minister Mentor is chairman of GIC not because he’s my father. It’s because he’s the best man for the job and he has been chairman since he was prime minister. Ho Ching is CEO of Temasek not because she’s my wife but because the chairman of Temasek and the board decided that they wanted to appoint her as CEO. And they’re there as long as they’re effective, performing, and if they don’t perform, well, they have to take the consequences.
BBC: A thing or two about perception. Perception is important in politics. And in difficult times like these, do you think, in retrospect, it might have been better for your family to have a lower profile?
LHL: (Laughs) Life would have been easier for me if the Minister Mentor were not my father and Ho Ching were not my wife. But they’re there. This is the way Singapore has worked. I think Singaporeans have understood this is how the system works. And they will render judgement when elections come.
BBC: Talking about elections, this is probably going to be the toughest year that most Singaporeans can remember. Are you anticipating some shows of public anger or displeasure because it is such a new experience for so many Singaporeans?
LHL: I think it is quite understandable that in a situation like this Singaporeans will be quite anxious, will be worried about their future and I think they have seen what the government has been doing. We had a very decisive Budget this year. The package was not only a big one but a directly focused one on saving jobs and helping people see through the downturn. And we will have to make sure we explain to people what can be done, what we’re doing and what they have to do.
BBC: People tend to blame governments…
LHL: Yes, that tends to happen but on the other hand, we’ve been through crises before and most times, after we’ve come back out and if we’ve handled it properly, we’ve come out stronger and better for the experience.
BBC: Finally Prime Minister, I read that you’re apparently the highest-paid head of government in the world. Your salary is about four, five times what President Obama gets. Are you worth all that money?
LHL: (Laughs) I’m not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent. What is the job worth, what is the quality of person whom you want. You need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you’re pretending and you just say, well, we’re all in it for the love of king and country. We wanted to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money but at the same time, their sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.
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PM Lee cannot articulate well when dealing with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interview.
Mind you, this is BBC. Not Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) reporters giving him an interview.
If PM Lee goes for Hard Talk Show…..he will be drilled.
BBC interviewer must have a gd time interviewing him cos PM Lee knows nothing. BBC should try to interview the puppet S’pore President next time round.
PM Lee looked like a MORON.
When his daddy is no longer around, PM Lee be history as well.
(With due respect, many are waiting this day to come. The Nation has suffer enough from both of them)
Kelvin Tan@90: Unfortunetely it was Col. Jessep who ordered the Code Red! He was the guilty one who lived under the illusion that he was indispensable.
mynameisnotlee@99: You are indeed being quite silLEE..
Look at that last question and his answer again. Truly the king of giving answers which mean nothing -.-
3) No Laughing Matter on March 20th, 2009 12.35 pm
Not published? last bit?
how can it be? the press is very high ranking wan or not? Very unbiased wan that everyone in this world knows right?
PM Lee was very impressive, very cool in the Interview. He was very relaxed, laughed a lot liked he usually did when facing the media or the people. He spoke English liked Angmoh.
He declared, to assure the World that he and all his men are in politics not for the money. They want to serve the people and the country, it was so touching that he appeared earnest and sincere.
Indeed, has he not been the Child of his father, the Minister Mentor and the Spouse of Ho Ching, ex CEO of Temasek, PM Lee might have been a greater man than he is.
I believe he is not in politics for money, I doubt he needs them, his family must have plenty of them. His Father Lee Kuan Yew alone is being paid few million SIN Dollars annually and so is his wife. No one should doubt his claim that he(LHL) is in politics for the sakes of the people and the country.
The Lee Family, especially MM Lee, have been revered for decades, proof of their respectabilities. Hopefully, the History of Singapore must record their contributions and all our students be taught to honour our greatest leaders.
And let us all pay our respects too.
since he didn’t do his job for the love of the country, i see no reason to support him since he’s doing a damn piss poor job for money.
if he is worth his salt, everyone in singapore should be 5x better off than us since he is paid 5x obama.
contrary to what he believe, if his father is not lky, he would just be a PEE SAI.
“The highest paid (LHL) is telling the world that he is waiting for the lower paid (Obama) to turn things around. How ironical can that be?”
haha, it should be the other way round? the lower paid Obama should ask LHL to turn it around, since he is so highly paid, he should be able to do it better…what crap
#106,
pm lee doesn’t really need $$ & sure he has plenty of them
he just needs continue to sustain his power, to hold on to lee’s legacy
long live the king…we r the n.korea of south east asia!
He is not cut out to be in politics. No leadership qualities, no charisma. I
doubt whether he’s got the passion since you don’t need to be paid so much if your heart is in it to serve. More likely invited to carry on the dynasty.
He is not even a shadow to his father when the latter was younger.
Would be more useful as a Mathematics professor
Given the sentiments expressed on the internet, presumably by the ‘cool’ and educated, it is difficult to see why anyone would aspire to be a PAP member. Perhaps their only option is to pay exorbitant salaries and bonues to attract ‘talents.’
In the current AIG fiasco, their employees were afraid to publicly associate with the company. Perhaps the negative sentiment is having an impact on PAP recruitment.
Contrary to perception made, they are many capable and talented people here…but tough and resilent people ? Ask around please…………
MM is one such all round leader who brought Singapore out of Malaysia; perhaps unlike Petra Blanca, it maybe good riddance from Malaysia’s point of view.
The problem may be that there is only one hill here and the hill is taken and who says money does not grow on trees on that hill…………………and many would want the invitations up but few are really chosen.
There is really no need to attract foreign talent here for political appointments- the malaysians are already all over here. Have you guys bunked with them overseas ? DBS if you can, but try to be Malaysians.
Foreigners are more needed for procreation purposes here as I understand it now.
Singaporeans have a lot to learn – not only just mandarin….A Hong kong friend once told me tongue in cheek and in rich cantonese dialect to the watered down translated effect of ” In just one round you will all be dead ” , cruel and direct but possibly true from his point of view after knowing Singaporeans abroad.
Singaporeans – count your blessings and pray everyday that we do not get hit by tsunami or earthquake – the small lightning strike on the merlion is a good wake up call..And what about gambling in the IRs ? Export trade is down bad. What about re-exporting the gambling overseas instead of championing the IRs as providers of employment……..croupiers ? strange profession.
i felt sick in the stomach listening to him talk
fight election one on one not grcs.
there should be a law that everyone must fight a ward one on one and no such thing as grcs.
#106: are you for real? or just being cynical…
which angmoh spoke like him? all the money, privilege and education yet still doesn’t speak the language well…
@106,
it is a given PM Lee and famiLee is worth multi millions, then why the hack does he pay himself millions and he ain’t great and never will be even if he is reincarnated several times. Truly pathetic and I also doubt he can teach maths.
maybe primary school level lah!
Dear Sirs;
me wrote he(Lee Hsien Loong) spoke liked angmoh, not angmoh spoke liked him.
Though the familee have multi-millions, they may have apetite for multi-billions, can they be working towards setting a World Record or even to have their Names in the Guiness Book of Records for posterities and not greeds for the money per se ? Posterity is what men want to achieve after wealth, ‘fu si liu pi, ren si liu ming’ meaning the tiger leaves behind its’ skin while man leaves behind his name(reputation) after their deaths. Any means to create that reputation is worth resorting to, just to be famous.
The Familee deserves every gram of respect that Singaporeans can give, they have make our live memorable in many ways. We are first world, we can use English to communicate with the World at large, we live in clean highrise buildings and our country is so rich and powerful that we are able to help the US and their collapsing banks and financial institutions etc. Is there a second tiny dot with leaders as capable as ours ?
Did you ever notice something? Those asia country which do better like singapore, hong kong, taiwan got angmoh country in control before. Is Angmo who make the change that we can accept the changes. if not our thinking will still be like china. Ya you are rich and powerful, but ask yourself one question, are majority of the singaporean happy? I bet you came from a rich background, with silver spoon. please communicate with the majority but not brunch of rich kids.
Da ppl have spoken???
Yes, they have. They had. They have been. They will prolly do it again.
unique not for nothin.
To #106 Pure Singaporean on March 21st, 2009 8.16 pm and #117 To Post #115 & 116 on March 22nd, 2009 9.06 am:
Thanks for the Sunday morning gallows’ laughs!
112) Many Talented People Here But….
This guy shows TOC is unbiased. ;)
101) jerry on March 21st, 2009 5.02 pm ,
“When his daddy is no longer around, PM Lee be history as well.
(With due respect, many are waiting this day to come. The Nation has suffer enough from both of them)”
It is so so pathetic esp when you think you and your family have achieved so much and yet having heaps of ppl wishing your early demise as an end to suffering. What is the whole point, really, KY ask yourself, for the glorifcation of your own selfish ambition ?
101) jerry on March 21st, 2009 5.02 pm
“(With due respect, many are waiting this day to come. The Nation has suffer enough from both of them)”
It is so SO pathetic that when you think you and your family has achieved so much and yet having heaps of ppl wishing & praying for your early demise as an end to suffering. What is the whole point, KY, ask yourself ?
just a thought :
EXPORT or IMPORT , these concepts never existed on earth until it was invented.
Why should there be only Export and Import? If you think in this well, you will be bounded by its limitations. Get out of the well.
think about it. ;)
I feel blessed to be in this country as compared to other countries like the UK or US and will fight with my life for the sovereignty of this country. I propose we go into farming where we can secure some kind of food security if we can feed 1million people. If we change convert our islands for military purpose, we too can convert some for farming for food security.
Farming rules.
Dear #120;
glad that You like the comments.
Appreciate your remarks too.
In a letter to the ST on 20/3/09 Tan Chak Lim who last voted for the PAP in the 1980s wrote to ask the govt to review the GRC system so that more citizens can have a chance to vote. Even Iraqis and Afghans risk suicide-bombers when they attempt to vote. But here, in prosperous, peaceful Singapore, many are often denied the chance to vote.
LKY & the PAP make a mockery of the electoral system in Singapore.
GRC is a fraud….It spell for NOT elected people in Parliament. Those people don’t deserve to be elected. We need to revert to single constituency .
“LKY & the PAP make a mockery of the electoral system in Singapore.”
I’m not surprised consider they can even make a mockery of themselves and not even feel shameful of that. They don’t even have self-respect for themselves, what respect will they have for others ?
What they have is insecurity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituencies_of_Singapore
“The official justification for GRCs is to allow minority representation. However, opposition parties have criticized GRCs as making it even more difficult for independent and opposition members to get elected, as a single strong candidate will find it very difficult to win and a steep group deposit of at least S$67,500 (S$13,500 per candidate) is required to stand for election. The opposition has also charged the government with gerrymandering GRC boundaries at very short notice, and “stuffing” otherwise weak GRCs with cabinet ministers. Many PAP MPs have also entered parliament by being placed in a Minister’s GRC and so have never faced a vote.
Critics have noted that Joshua Benjamin Jeyaratnam won the 1981 Anson by-election in a Chinese-majority constituency, and that since the GRC system was implemented, minority representation in Parliament has actually declined.
Goh Chok Tong admitted in 2006 that the GRC system is a method to enable new PAP candidates to win election easily .”
How dare he laugh about salaries when we are suffering in this economic crisis?
I seriously don’t like his last answer. He’s skirting the issue altogether.
I’m sure Obama is more open to a pay cut than he is. I’m sorry.
Interesting all the anger in the many posts. It is energy that needs to be constructlively harvested to bring about systematic change in Singapore. Unfortunately, I saw this years ago and did not want my family to be denied of what are their basic rights as citizens. (Refer to the UN Charter of Human Rights) The vote is something that is precious to all human beings. It marks a decision to have a say, to have a voice. Unless Singaporeans understand and appreciate this important duty, they will always be apathetic, frustrated and powerless to change the political system. Fear is what keeps regimes in control and fear is what grips most Singaporeans. There are too few voices willing to take the risks. For me the only solution to a moral dilemma at the time was to leave. I now have a say in another country and so do my family. I hope that through my participation in my adopted country I can help bring about change on a larger than national scale. I know that the government I vote in is accountable to the people, and hopefully in their negotiations on the world-wide stage, they can bring some solution of the madness of greed, pride and a lack of compassion for the poor or those who struggle. I hope the government I helped vote in will help tackle global issues such as Climate Change, world poverty, unequal and unjust trading terms between nations. Mine is a small voice, but it is an important voice in the electoral process of my adopted country and I do not take it for granted. I still love Singapore and the people, but I left because I knew that the only way for me to speak freely about the injustices of the beautiful country of my birth or about any form of injustice, was for me to leave. A big sacrifice, but well worth it.
Just to quietly congratulate the people of TOC for taking the courage to educate others. I hope your endeavors will flourish and succeed in giving people a chance to voice their opinions. Hopefully you will remain safe and will not suffer any backlash for your courageous work. The people of Singapore need such vehicles if nothing more than to be heard. Hopefully with time, things will change for the better and people will understand that the bottom line is never money, whether in exercising a vote, running a country, or wanting to live in real peace and harmony. Peace with freedom is the ultimate goal of every mature society.
LHL: (Laughs) I’m not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent. … And you cannot do that if you’re pretending and you just say, well, we’re all in it for the love of king and country. ….We wanted to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money but at the same time, their sacrifice cannot be too great…..
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Our ministerial salaries still peg to top executives’ salaries in Singapore? Is the comparison valid today?
Our PM is advocating Singaporeans should not have the sense of ‘all in it for the love of king and country…’?!
Is this the self-centred culture being taught here in Singapore?!
Who the hell is going to fight the war?!
Who the hell is going to think hard about the good for all and future generations of Singaporean, if “sacrifice cannot be too great” than a life of a soldier to protect his homeland?!!!
What kind of leader is this?!!
Therefore, i always think that our leaders would be the first to run out of Singapore should one day we go to war for whatever reasons.
Why? simply because the sacrifice is too great for them!
Wake up PAP policies!!! Singapore is not a company that keeps making money and more money. It is a normal country where people should work, live, play, and consider its a home, a sense of home from the bottom of their heart, not seeing a few P65 jokers dressing up like clowns doing Hip-hops.
the later the retributions come, the more severe it’s gonna be
Looking forward to the day of the fall of PAPees, enough of all those bullshits and lies, the citizens are all hard working people that are contributing to the nation’s growth and not just criminals or some kind of slaves that are being taken for granted all these years to pay you all sorts of taxes imposed as you like. One very good recent example of how easy to rip off money from the people was the opening of the new tunnel KPE, why imposed a 70km limit? when its supposed to be an express highway link for motorists instead to penalised some 3,000+ unaware motorists when speed limits at all major highways are between 80km and 90km, but why this one at 70km??? a trap?
Unoffical Source:
1) In future, No ERP in S’pore.
Vehicles will be charged base on distance travelled, monitored by satellite antena systems (something like radar tracking a plane location using Zone Marking). Regardless of weekdays, weekends or public holidays, vehicles will be charged. Price varies according to class like COE.
2) Income Tax.
Annual earning from employees submitted by companies to IRAS will be a think of the past.
In future, Tax will be imposed on employees base on monthly earning. In other words, before an employee receive his/her monthly salary, tax deduction will take place excluding his/her 20% CPF contribution. (S’pore govt wanted to follow European tax systems but Europeans Govts look after the nation, unlike PAP)
3) GST Increase Again after recession.
It is not a secret to the nation.
Stay Tune……
Please stop telling us that you are working for Singapore. You are working for your own humongous salary that is more that all the topmost twenty-two other heads of state put together can earn.
Yes it is total coincidental that his father, wife, classmates and friends are all there.
You need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars.
The best people in the US doing the jobs where trillions of dollars decisions are made took only a fraction of the wages that the people here who made billion dollars decisions paid themselves becos the americans did not have an open, honest, transparent system and we have.
PAP has turned a deaf ears to common sense and over sold their “capability”.
This is particularly so as they use GRC to smeak into Parliament since 1988.
The “We know best”mentality is programmed into all 82 PAP parliamentarians and many YP.
They will continue their policies until Singaporean gathered courage to bring down 21 or more PAP seats.
They liked to challenged opposition for alternatives while all PAP MP are muted and sing the same song in Parliament, shame on them who draws $23,000 MP allowance a month, that is 5 times of average Singapore household income per month.
Many professionals do not agree with PAP but they dont have the courage to stand in GE, afraid to be victimized which is still the most effective dirty tacts PAP used up to today.
Only our votes can encouarge alternative voices and bring out good opposition professionals and visionary people-leaders.
Folks it is in your hands… grumble or get the real alterantives out. !!
This pseudo-PM is talking about honesty, transparency and openness. PAP knows nothing of rule of law, transparecny, or for that matter honesty. I am sure the interview must have been inwardly laughing to himself during the interveiw and wondering how Singaporeans have or are being misled by people like this LHL.
A shame and a sham of a party and it is indeed a sad for the citizens to still delude that we have a responsible govt lar.
I think the dustbin of history is big enough to accommodate all the PAP ministers. MM first, then SM, then PM and all the rest. I hope the lid will be kept tight so that the maggots within will not get out to contaminate the nation anymore.
Frankly, I’m amazed at all of you; all you do is stand around finding ways to level egregious and undeserved insults at the PAP. Sure, they aren’t doing a PERFECT job- but they’re doing a pretty damn good one. I mean, all of you guys who have to time to waste trolling these things- what’s your family’s yearly income? Compare that to almost any other country, and you’ll see that you bloody lucky.
Now, to stop myself sounding like a total fool who’s bought straight into random PAP propaganda, yeah it sure isn’t that rosy a picture. I’ll concede that Singapore is lacking in transparency, openness and all that other stuff. We ranked 146th in the world in terms of Press Freedom- yeah, that kinda sucks. We execute upwards of 60 people a year- year, that kinda sucks too. We live in a society where the government busies itself with the process of gerrymandering every election- you know what, that sucks too. We have a father-son combo for two of our three prime ministers- oops, that sucks as well.
On the other hand, we have the 2nd lowest amount of corruption in the world, after Finland. Last year, our economy was the fastest growing in the world during the second and third quarters, at a staggering 20%. Our GDP per capita is 3rd in the world by some accounts and at the worst 4th by others. Our crime rate is ridiculously low- compare to crime rate of Singapore to the crime rate of, say, the United States, and yes, it is about 5 times lower. And heck, come to think of it, Transparency International ranked Singapore as 9.3 on a scale of 0-10, where 10 is the most transparent. So don’t ignore the benefits the government has brought about, ok?
I don’t really know about you, but I’d rather well-off and lacking the ability to insult the government which ensured my prosperity than destitute but able to harangue the government which stole my money. Choose.
By the way, I’m fifteen. And it’s an indication of just how effective our education system is that I have the capacity to make these comments, whereas most schoolchildren in America are incapable of understanding basic arithmetic.
By getting togeher a Committee of people who have links with the Government, the PAP is ensuring that the answer for Ministerial salaries will be biased towards them. In due course we will receive from the Committee an answer which is somewhat less but still topping the world average for similar Government officeholders, ostensibly debated in a predominantly PAP Parliament and stick the results down our throats and continue to enjoy millions upon millions per annum. This time around we the citizenry cannot voice our misgivings again because the PAP will claim that the matter having been decided by an ‘independent’ committee and thoroughly ‘debated’ is legal and payable without further harassment.
No country in this world links Parliamentarian’s pay to the top earners in the private sector, except the PAP in Singapore. If America were to link its senators’ pay to its top earners, they would have to be paid billions per annum. Same consideration applies to British Parliamentarians, Australian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese,Indian, Malaysian. Indonesian etc. This is because the top earners are in the billionare range.Like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Bernard Arnault, Lawrence Allison, Lakshmi Mittal, Amancio Ortega, Eike Batista, Mukesh Ambani, Christy Walton, Li Ka-Shing etc No country has its officeholders salaries even close to the top bankers, lawyers and other professionals in their country’s private sector. If the US for instance had done that, Obama’s remuneration would be in the billions too. This is because the largest enterprises are based in the US and their CEOs are typically paid in billions.
It is only in Singapore that this concept that the Parliamentarians pay should be some percentage of top earners in the private sector. The PAP led by Goh Chok Tong had the temerity to initiate this concept in 1994 because they found that Singaporeans are a cowardly and docile lot. A whiff of the ISD shakes their knees. The thought of libel and having to face compliant judges in Court sent everyone scattering to their own private concerns and shutting their mouths tight. So through our inaction and silence we allowed the Ministerial salary scheme to get out of hand and out of this world.It is time we bring some reality back into the aspirations of the PAP, as otherwise they will rob us in the broad daylight, by Committees and the much vaunted Rule of Law by which they swear.
The oppositon party which we voted into Parliament should speak out for us now or it will be too late. We do not want a compliant committee ( just like judges in Singapore) to decide the Ministerial salaries, We want the salaries to be decided by International Business Consultants appointed by each opposition party. Tell this to PMLee, NOW !!!