Lee Hsien Loong

Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister of Singapore
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 August 2004
President	Sellapan Ramanathan Tony Tan Keng Yam
Deputy	First Shunmugam Jayakumar Teo Chee Hean Second Tony Tan Keng Yam Wong Kan Seng Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Preceded by	Goh Chok Tong
Leader of the People's Action Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 August 2004
Deputy	Wong Kan Seng Teo Chee Hean
Preceded by	Goh Chok Tong
Minister for Finance
In office 2001 – 1 December 2007
Prime Minister	Goh Chok Tong
Deputy	Raymond Lim
Preceded by	Hu Tsu Tau Richard
Succeeded by	Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
In office 28 November 1990 – 12 August 2004
Prime Minister	Goh Chok Tong
Preceded by	Goh Chok Tong
Succeeded by	Shunmugam Jayakumar
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC
Incumbent
Assumed office 31 August 1991
Preceded by	Constituency established
Majority	47,157 (32.2%)
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Teck Ghee SMC
In office 22 December 1984 – 31 August 1991
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1952-02-10) 10 February 1952 Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse(s)	Wong Ming Yang (1978-1982) Ho Ching (1985-present)
Children	Xiuqi Yipeng Hongyi Haoyi
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge Harvard University United States Army Command and General Staff College

Lee Hsien Loong
Chinese	李显龙
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Xiǎnlóng Southern Min Hokkien POJ Lí Hián-liông

Lee Hsien Loong (simplified Chinese: 李显龙; traditional Chinese: 李顯龍; pinyin: Lǐ Xiǎnlóng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lí Hián-liông; born 10 February 1952) is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Early life

The eldest child of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo, Lee was born in Singapore on 10 February 1952. His grandmother Chua Jim Neo was a Hokkien Nyonya, and his mother Kwa Geok Choo has ancestry from Tong'an District, Xiamen, in Fujian province. In Lee Kuan Yew's biography, the young Lee had learned Jawi script since he was five, and has always been interested in the affairs of Singapore, often following his father to the rally grounds since 1963.

Singapore Airshow 2010: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (left) and Ho Ching (right).

Lee studied at Nanyang Primary School, received his secondary education at Catholic High School and subsequently studied at National Junior College, where he learned the clarinet under the tutelage of Adjunct Associate Professor Ho Hwee Long. He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he graduated in 1974 with First Class Honours in Mathematics and a Diploma in Computer Science (with distinction). He subsequently obtained a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1980.

Lee joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1971 and rose quickly through the ranks becoming the youngest Brigadier General in Singapore's history. In 1978, he attended the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. He retired from the military in 1984 to enter politics and was elected as a Member of Parliament that year. Lee's first wife, Malaysian-born doctor Wong Ming Yang, died on 28 October 1982 of a heart attack three weeks after giving birth to Lee's first son Li Yipeng, an autistic albino. In 1985, Lee married Ho Ching, a fast-rising civil servant. They have one daughter and three sons (the oldest son of Ho Ching, Li Hongyi was the winner of the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Math & Science in 2006, the same year he was commissioned as an officer in the Singapore Armed forces at the SAFTI Military Institute), including one daughter and son from Lee's first wife.

In 1992, Lee was diagnosed with lymphoma. He underwent a three-month period of chemotherapy and has since gone into remission.

Early political career

Lee entered politics with the People's Action Party 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.

Deputy Prime Minister

When Goh Chok Tong became the Prime Minister of Singapore on 28 November 1990, Lee became the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore. He focused on economic and civil service matters and concurrently served as Minister for Trade and Industry until 1992.

Lee was 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 significant influence on Singapore's governance, especially in economic and social affairs.

To ease the growing budget deficit due to falling tax revenues from cuts in corporate and personal income taxes and other factors such as the Iraq War and SARS outbreak, Lee proposed on 29 August 2003 to raise the GST from three percent to five percent, a change that took place in January 2004.

Lee also initiated several relaxations of the requirements for Singapore citizenship, especially for foreign husbands of Singaporean women and foreign-born children of Singaporeans. The changes were made after repeated pleas from MPs and the Remaking Singapore Committee.

In the sphere of domestic politics, Lee played a key role as Deputy Prime Minister. In a media interview in 1996, ahead of the 1997 general election, he outlined what the ruling party looked for in its candidates for Members of Parliament.

On the international front, Lee helped build relations with other countries as far away as New Zealand.

Prime Minister

2004

In the months leading up to his taking over as independent Singapore's third Prime Minister in 2004, Lee was already signalling reforms in some key areas, including ceding more space to the private and people sectors. Of the government's role, he said: "Nanny should not look after everything all the time".

On 12 August 2004, Lee Hsien Loong succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister, relinquishing his Chairmanship of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to Goh Chok Tong. Lee was sworn in by former Chief Justice Yong Pung How at the Istana, office of the President of Singapore.

Lee made his maiden National Day Rally on 12 August 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 leave for mothers of newly-born children 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 opposition 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.

The 2006 General Election

In February 2006, 3 months before the General Election, Lee announced in parliament a S$2.6 billion bonus called the Progress Package. The plan was to distribute budget surpluses accumulated from the past few years to adult Singaporeans in the form of cash to everyone, top-ups to the state pension savings for elders, rental and utilities rebates for those living in public housing, educational funds for school children from low-income families, and cash bonuses for low-wage workers above 40 and for those men who have completed National Service. The cash bonuses was distributed in early May 2006.

Critics, especially members of the opposition, have slammed the Progress Package as a "vote-buying exercise" for the Singapore parliamentary election held on 6 May 2006. In that election, Lee led the People's Action Party to win 82 of the 84 seats, including 37 walkovers. Lee and his 6-member team won the Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency with 96,591 (60.42%) votes out of the total 159,872 votes cast. Most of the opposition WP's team of 6 were in their 20s and the constituency was contested for the first time in 15 years.

Its decision to contest Ang Mo Kio came as a surprise, as the opposition was expected to stay away from GRCs helmed by heavyweight ministers; but the party said that giving Ang Mo Kio residents a chance to vote was a prime reason for contesting the GRC. Given the inexperience of the WP team and Lee Hsien Loong's position as the Prime Minister, they won a surprisingly strong 49,468 votes (30.94%). There were also an extremely high percentage of void votes: 13,813 (8.64%).

2010

In May 2010, Lee instituted electoral reforms to the current electoral system by reducing the number of Group representation constituencies (GRC), increased the number of Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) to a maximum of nine (inclusive of the number of elected opposition members of Parliament), and the number of Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) permanent also to nine. Also part of the reforms was the legalization of internet campaigning and mandating a "cooling-off" day where campaigning is prohibited except for party political broadcasts.

2011

Effective 1 June 2011, Lee was named chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation which manages more than $100 billion of the in assets. He succeeds his father, Lee Kuan Yew, who will remain as senior advisor to the fund.

The 2011 General Election

Main article: Singaporean general election, 2011

In April 2011, a general election was called for 7 May 2011. For the second time, the PAP was not return to government on Nomination Day with only one uncontested walkover. In the final results, the PAP saw a 6.46% swing against the it from the 2006 elections to 60.14%, its lowest since independence. While the PAP met most expectations to sweep into power and claim over two-thirds of parliamentary seats, it won 81 out of 87 seats, and lost Aljunied Group Representation Constituency to the Workers' Party of Singapore, the first time a GRC was won by an opposition party. Two cabinet ministers namely Foreign Minister George Yeo Yong-Boon and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua were defeated.

Later on, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong tendered their resignations from the Cabinet, stating that they wished to give the Prime Minister a "fresh clean slate" in forming the Government and enable him to "have a completely younger team of ministers to connect to and engage with this young generation". Lee and Goh were appointed as senior advisers to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) respectively.

Lee was sworn-in into a second term on 21 May 2011. His new cabinet included three newly appointed ministers namely, S. Iswaran, formerly Senior Minister of State for Education and for Trade and Industry, was elevated to the Cabinet as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and Second Minister for Home Affairs and for Trade and Industry. Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing, both elected to Parliament for the first time, were respectively assigned the posts of Minister for Education, and Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Minister of State for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Heng was the first new MP directly appointed a full minister since 1984.

Foreign relations

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 beneficial to the common development of the region. The China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) is responsible for promoting Sino-Singaporean co-operation.

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 (ASEAN) 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, saying:

"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."

United States

Lee visits the United States in July 2005.

Singapore has generally had a favourable relationship with the United States. 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 1 January 2004.

Lee made his inaugural visit to the United States, as Prime Minister of Singapore, between 6 July and 16 July 2005. Several other ministers, notably the defence minister Teo Chee Hean and foreign minister George Yeo, accompanied Lee.

On 12 July 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 Southeast 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.

Controversies

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 Prime Minister to make way for his successor, Goh Chok Tong, several critics had seen Goh 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. The appointment of Lee's wife Ho Ching as the director of state investment agency Temasek has also raised some eyebrows.

The Lees have reacted strongly against these allegations by taking legal action, often winning large out-of-court settlements for defamation from, among others, the International Herald Tribune (1994), Bloomberg (2002), The Economist (2004) and the Financial Times (2007).

Lee's career has also been dogged by a reputation for being arrogant and autocratic. According to documented sources, 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. While those directly involved have never publicly mentioned the alleged incident, in 2003, then prime minister Goh Chok Tong dismissed the incident when discussing the leadership transition to his successor.

Taiwan

On 10 July 2004, Lee visited Taiwan, causing displeasure in the People's Republic of China. On 28 August 2004 in his maiden National Day Rally speech, he criticized the Taiwanese leadership and populace of overestimating the support they would receive if they were to declare Taiwan independence. At the same time, he also clarified during the rally that his visit to Taiwan in July was to ensure he gathered enough intelligence to make the 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 Taiwan Foreign Minister, Mark Chen, called Singapore a "Pi-Sai Country", translated literally from Hokkien, it means a "country no bigger than a booger." The Taiwanese Foreign Minister later made a formal apology.

Japan

In 2005, Lee made a remark regarding Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine, stating that "from the point of view of many countries in the region who have experienced Japanese occupation, it raises many unhappy memories". His remark drew public demonstrations outside the Singapore embassy in Japan on 24 May 2005 with protestors criticising Lee for "meddling" with Japanese issues.

Defamation judgment

On 24 September 2008, High Court, in a summary judgment by Justice Woo Bih Li, ruled that the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) magazine-Hugo Restall, editor, defamed Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The court found the 2006 article "Singapore's 'Martyr': Chee Soon Juan" meant that Lee Kuan Yew "has been running and continues to run Singapore in the same corrupt manner as Durai operated NKF and he has been using libel actions to suppress those who would question to avoid exposure of his corruption." FEER has 30 days to appeal. The court sentenced FEER publisher and editor, owned by Dow Jones & Company (in turn owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp), to pay damages to complainants.

Defamation lawsuit

In 2010, Lee Hsien Loong, together with the two former prime minister preceded him, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, threatened legal action against The New York Times Company which owns The International Herald Tribune regarding an Op-Ed piece titled ‘All in the Family’ of 15 February 2010 by Philip Bowring, a freelance columnist and former editor of The Far Eastern Economic Review. The Herald Tribute apologized in March that readers of the article may ‘infer that the younger Lee did not achieve his position through merit’. The Times and Bowring also agreed to pay SG$60,000 to Lee, SG$50,000 to Lee Kuan Yew and SG$50,000 to Goh (total amounted to about US$114,000 at the time), in addition to legal costs. The case stemmed from a 1994 settlement between the three Singaporean leaders and the paper about an article also by Bowring that referred to ‘dynastic politics’ in East Asian countries including Singapore. In that settlement, Bowring agreed not to say or imply that the younger Lee had attained his position through nepotism by his father Lee Kuan Yew. In response, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders wrote an open letter to urge Lee and other top officials of the Singapore government to stop taking ‘libel actions’ against journalists.

Salary

Lee Hsien Loong currently earns an annual salary of S$3,870,000 (US$2,856,930), an increase of 25% from S$3,091,200 (US$2,037,168), making him the highest paid head of government in the world. In comparison, the President of the United States earns a salary of US$400,000. The new salary took effect in January 2008.

Honours

• Orden El Sol del Perú en el grado de Gran Cruz con Brillantes (Order of the Sun - Peru), bestowed 22 November 2008.
• Olympic Order (Gold), conferred 13 August 2010.
• Bad Democrat Of The Year, conferred 13 August 2006.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• "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.
• Singapore announces 60 percent pay raise for ministers International Herald Tribune.
• Koh, Buck Song (2011). Brand Singapore: How Nation Branding Built Asia's Leading Global City. Marshall Cavendish, Singapore. ISBN 978-981-4328-15-9.

External links

• Prime Minister's Office Singapore official government website
• Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, MP official government website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Lee Hsien Loong on Charlie Rose
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• Lee Hsien Loong collected news and commentary at CNN
• Lee Hsien Loong collected news and commentary at The Economic Times
• Lee Hsien Loong collected news and commentary at The Los Angeles Times
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• Lee Hsien Loong, The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy on PBS, 2002
• Profile: Lee Hsien Loong, BBC News, 11 August 2004

Speeches

• "Transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally English Speech on 19 August 2007 at NUS University Cultural Centre". Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Singapore). 19 August 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
• Transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally English Speech 2008

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