Lee Hsien Loong (Hanzi: 李显龙/李顯龍; pinyin: Lǐ Xiǎnlóng; born February 10, 1952) is the third Prime Minister of Singapore. He also serves as the Minister for Finance. Lee Hsien Loong is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and is married to Ho Ching who is the Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the government-owned Temasek Holdings.
Early life
The eldest child of former-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo, Lee was born in Singapore on February 10, 1952. In Lee Kuan Yew's biography, Lee had learned Jawi since he was five, and was always interested in the affairs of Singapore, often following his father to the rally grounds since 1963.
Lee went through his secondary education at Catholic High School and studied at National Junior College subsequently. He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1974 with First Class Honours in Mathematics and a Diploma in Computer Science (with distinction). He subsequently obtained a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1980.
Lee joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1971, retiring as brigadier general in 1984 when he was elected as a Member of Parliament.
Lee, who was widowed in 1982 when his Malaysian-born wife Wong Ming Yang, a medical doctor, died three weeks after giving birth, found a new partner in 1985, fast-rising civil servant Ho Ching. They have one daughter and three sons (including one daughter and son from his first wife).
In 1992, Lee was diagnosed with lymphoma and he went through a three-month period of chemotherapy. During his treatment, Lee appeared visibly bald.
Early political career
Lee entered politics at the age of 32 in 1984. He was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Defence in December 1984 by his father, Lee Kuan Yew, and was subsequently promoted to Acting Minister for Trade and Industry in 1986, and the Second Minister for Defence.
In February 1987, issues on ethnic relationships in Singapore surfaced when Malays asked the members of parliament why there were few Malays holding key positions in the SAF. Lee Hsien Loong, then minister for trade and industry and second minister for defence, stated that the SAF did not want its soldiers to be in a position where the loyalty of the soldiers might clash with racial and religious factors.
In response, the Malaysian foreign minister, Rais Yatim, criticised the fact that the Chinese Malaysians were represented only to a small extent in the armed forces and the top echelons of the civil service, concluding that it was a tit-for-tat situation, and that the UMNO should leave Singapore alone. However, pressure from the public forced the UMNO to respond to the case.
Deputy Prime Minister
Lee became the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore when Goh Chok Tong became the Prime Minister of Singapore on November 28, 1990, specialising in economic and civil service matters. At the same time, he continued serving as Minister for Trade and Industry until 1992.
Lee was subsequently appointed Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 1998, and Minister for Finance in 2001. During Lee's thirteen and a half years as Deputy Prime Minister, he exerted a great deal of influence on Singapore's progress, particularly in the economic and social affairs.
During the debate of CPF cuts in late August 2003, the government announced that the CPF be cut from 36 to 33% from October 1, and CPF rates will range from 30 to 36%, depending on economic conditions. In response, Lee revealed in his parliamentary statement that nearly 38% of the 577,000 CPF members, who use CPF for mortgages, find that their monthly CPF contributions are not enough to cover their monthly mortgage payments. Furthermore, the number will increase by 76,000 after the CPF cut.
To ease the growing budget deficit in view of the CPF cut as well as the falling tax revenues from cuts in corporate and personal income taxes and negative factors such as the Iraq War and Sars outbreak, Lee proposed on August 29, 2003 to raise the GST from three percent to five percent, a change that took place in January 2004.
We are prepared to run deficits in a downturn... And if we had to go to the president and explain, I think we can make a good case, and I think he will listen to it rationally and hopefully, sympathetically.
Lee also initiated new citizenship rule that recognises marriage trends of Singaporean women marrying a husband of other nationality, with children born overseas to have a choice to acquire citizenship, after repeated pleas for the change to be made by MPs and the Remaking Singapore Committee over the past years. The change also included the limitation on the transfer of citizenship by descent to one generation.
However, the child can be granted Singaporean citizenship on condition that the Singaporean parent must have stayed in Singapore for a stretch of at least two years within the five years before the birth of the child. Alternatively, the child can qualify for citizenship by descent if the Singaporean parent has stayed in Singapore for a cumulative period of at least five years up to the birth of the child.
The previous law does not allow Singaporean citizens by descent – children born to Singaporean parents abroad – were not allowed to pass on citizenship to their children who are also born overseas. This was ensured through registration in Singapore itself; and the government's intent was to avoid having a generation of "absentee" Singaporeans.
Prime Minister
On August 12, 2004, Lee Hsien Loong succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister, relinquishing his Chairmanship of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to Goh Chok Tong in the process.
Lee officiated the opening of the newly-restored Malay Heritage Centre in Singapore on June 5, 2005. The opening was witnessed by Yaacob Ibrahim, the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs. [1]
Lee sought security support on the Straits of Malacca in the wake of pirate attacks on ships that pass through the Strait of Malacca. Approximately 50,000 ships pass through the Straits each year. In response, Lee sought security assistance from neighbouring countries, including the US, at a meeting of defence ministers from around the world in Singapore June 3, 2005.
Lee hit the headlines on September 19, 2005 when he personally checked out a possible mosquito breeding site in an Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 drain. He also visited homes, a market and a hawker centre in his Teck Ghee ward, handing out leaflets, bamboo pole covers and insecticide to residents.
The activity was part of Lee's initiative to reiterate Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim's message to fight the spread of the dengue virus.
"Unless you know where to look, and you have to make a conscious effort to look, you may not realise that you're breeding mosquitoes. It's an exercise in being continuously vigilant. ... Are they breeding somewhere else or are there more people with the virus so it's transmitted more easily? Maybe the virus has changed. We need good scientific answers in order to plan a sensible, long-term, effective effort. We shouldn't just be going around trying to hunt at random and getting busy."
At a walkabout at Ang Mo Kio in March 2006, Lee said the PAP is aiming to win all wards in the upcoming General Election, widely expected to held in 2006.[2]
Decisions and Policies
Lee made his maiden "National Day Rally Speech'" sixteen days after he assumed the position as Prime Minister on August 12, 2004. In his speech, Lee initiated the policy of the "Five-day work week", a plan that would remove a half-working day on Saturday. The plan took effect on 1 January 2005.
Lee also proposed two-month paid maternity leaves for new-born's mothers and financial incentives to mothers who give birth to a fourth child. These policies were initiated in response to the declining birth rate that Singapore has experienced in recent years.
In November 2004, Lee sparked a national debate when he revealed a proposal to build two Integrated Resorts (IRs) which are holiday resorts with casinos. In April 2005, despite substantial oppositions expressed by the public, Lee announced the decision to approve the proposal. The two IRs are to be built in Marina Bay and Sentosa. To limit the negative social impact of casino gambling, Lee suggested that safeguards be implemented, such as prohibiting minors from entering the casinos and charging a SGD$100 entrance fee for Singaporeans and permanent residents or SGD$2000 for a year long entrance fee.
Lee made a National Day Rally speech on August 22, 2005 and mapped out the vision to remake Singapore and called on all Singaporeans to play their part. The vision encompasses how Singapore would look like in 2015. He proposed several changes to six major areas, which include:
1. City of the future?
- A new downtown at Marina Bay with three gardens, a lake, one Integrated Resort and a first-class Business and Financial Centre. Plus a vibrant Orchard Road and bustling Bras Brasah and Bugis area.
2. R & D Driver for economy
- A new Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council to take the new economy to the next level. Chaired by PM Lee with DPM Tony Tan as deputy chairman.
- A new National Research Foundation headed by Dr Tan.
3. Service Culture
- A long-term national effort to raise service standards, to be led by Minister Raymond Lim.
4. Education
- Polytechnics will link up with specialised foreign universities in niche areas.
- Post-secondary education accounts for students to pay for their higher education.
- Changes in curriculum for students in Normal (Technical) stream to make it more interesting through group work, hands-on work and use of information technology.
5. Help for Low-Income
- Poorer families to get a housing grant in their CPF to help them buy HDB flats.
6. Health Care
- Age limit for medical insurance scheme Medishield to grow up from 80 to 85.
- Medisave use to become more flexible, for use at private hospital and Class A and B1 ward stays, plus major treatments in specialist outpatient clinics.
We've created a Singapore spirit. We're courageous but compassionate, we're confident, never complacent. It's a spirit which will hold us together as one united people, each one contributing to remaking our nation.
Foreign Relations
Relations with China
Relations with China have improved under Lee's administration. Smooth progress has been made in areas of trade, tourism and investment, which is not merely in accordance with the interest of the two countries, but promises to be further beneficial to the common development of the region. The China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) is responsible for promoting Sino-Singaporean co-operations.
During his meeting with vice-premier Wu Yi in September 2005, Lee proposed the establishment of a China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone, which would achieve the goal of realizing US$50 billion in trade volume before 2010. In doing so, both agreed that relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should be elevated.
During his seven-day visit to China in late October 2005, the Prime Minister stressed the need of improving bilateral diplomatic relationships between ASEAN and China. Lee also urged leaders to focus on the next wave of growth in north-eastern China.
"It is a long-term commitment. There is no place in the world that you can go in and your money just grows on trees." "Not in China."
Relations with United States
Lee visits the United States on July 2005.
Singapore has generally had a favourable relationship with the USA. The growth of bilateral trade improved commercial and diplomatic ties between the two countries after the implementation of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and the growth in bilateral trade has been evident, since the Free Trade Agreement became effective on January 1, 2004.
Lee made his inaugural visit to the United States, as Prime Minister of Singapore, between 6th July and 16 July, 2005. Several other ministers, notably the defence minister Teo Chee Hean and foreign minister George Yeo accompanied Lee.
On July 12, 2005, President George W. Bush and Lee signed the "Strategic Framework Agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Singapore for a Closer Cooperation Partnership in Defence and Security". The agreement was a natural step in the expansion of bilateral ties. President Bush and the then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had first announced their intention to conclude this agreement in October 2003.
The intention of the agreement is to address common threats such as terrorism and the proliferation of Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which called for even closer cooperation between the United States and Singapore.
The agreement recognizes Singapore's role as a Major Security Cooperation Partner and will expand the scope of current cooperation in areas such as counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, joint military exercises and training, policy dialogues, and defence technology. The Agreement will further enhance regional stability by supporting the continued security presence of the United States in Southeast Asia.
Both Lee and Bush agree that US presence in the South-east Asia has promoted peace and stability, which are crucial for regional cooperation and economic development.
During their meeting, both Bush and Lee acknowledged the progress in the war on terror. Lee commended Bush's 'resolute and steadfast stance in the war on terror' and expressed Singapore’s continued support in this endeavour. In exchange, Bush commended the professionalism of the Singapore Armed Forces personnel, who have been deployed in support of Iraq operations over the past two years and of the Singapore Police Force, which has provided critically important training. Both Bush and Lee also pledged to sustain the close cooperation between the United States and Singapore in key regional and global multilateral institutions.
Controversy
As the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Lee's career has been shadowed by allegations of nepotism. At the age of 32 he became the youngest Brigadier General in Singapore's history, and from a young age was widely tipped to be Lee Kuan Yew's successor as Prime Minister. When Lee Kuan Yew stepped down as Senior Minister to make way for his successor, Goh Chok Tong, several critics had seen him as a seat-warmer, but Lee Kuan Yew said he had disproved that. In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew stressed that he could not have his son directly succeed him.
"It was better that someone else succeed me as Prime Minister. Then were Loong to make the grade later, it would be clear that he made it on his own merit."
However, such allegations by critics held on for six to seven years until Goh managed to prove his worth by regaining seats and pushing up the PAP's vote share in the 1997 elections. Another issue was Lee's encounter with cancer of the lymph nodes in 1992, in which several political commentators have doubted Lee's physical capabilities to withstand the hard life, the long hours and the pressures of prime minister.
Perhaps understandably, the appointment of Lee's wife Ho Ching as the director of state investment agency Temasek has also raised some eyebrows. However, the Lees have reacted harshly to such allegations, winning large out-of-court settlements for defamation from, among others, the International Herald Tribune (1994), Bloomberg (2002) and The Economist (2004).
Lee's career has also been dogged by a perceived reputation for being arrogant and autocratic. According to one particularly persistent rumour, at a pre-Cabinet meeting in 1990 an enraged Lee first insulted the then Minister for Finance Richard Hu and then physically slapped the then Minister for National Development S. Dhanabalan when he sided with Hu and demanded an apology [3]. While those directly involved have never publicly mentioned the alleged incident, in 2003 Goh Chok Tong referred to it anecdotally in order to deny it when discussing his successor.
On July 10, 2004, he created a diplomatic uproar with the People's Republic of China by visiting Taiwan. On August 28, 2004 in his maiden National Day Rally speech he criticized the Taiwanese leadership and populace of overestimating the support they would receive if they declared Taiwan independence. At the same time, he also clarified during the rally that his visit to Taiwan in July was to ensure he gather enough intelligence to make right decisions when he took over the baton as Prime Minister. He reiterated his support for the One-China policy. Later that year in September, Foreign Minister George Yeo cautioned the United Nations General Assembly about the dangers of letting the cross-strait relationship deteriorate. In response, an enraged Republic of China Foreign Minister, Mark Chen, called Singapore a "Pi-Sai Country", translated literally from Minnan, it means a "Country no bigger than a snot". The Taiwanese Foreign Minister subsequently made a formal apology.
Following Lee's remarks on Koizumi's Yasukuni shrine visits, stating that From the point of view of many countries in the region who have experienced Japanese occupation, it raises many unhappy memories, public demonstrations have been led just outside the Singapore embassy of Japan on May 24, 2005. According to news sources, demonstrators have heavily criticised Lee for "meddling" with Japanese issues.
Lee made headlines again in November 2005 with the imminent execution of Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van. He had failed to inform Australian Prime Minister John Howard the scheduled date of the execution during their meeting at the APEC summit even though Nguyen's mother was already informed of the date. Appeals for clemency were turned down. Nguyen was executed on December 2, 2005. Prior to the execution, an exception was made to allow Nguyen's mother to hold his hands after a personal appeal by Howard.
References
- "Hsien Loong: Election soon". (8 November 2005). New Straits Times, p. 31.
- PM Lee: Your vibrant global city, your home, The Straits Times, Headlines, p. 1.
External links
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Hsien_Loong under GFDL
