Lee Kuan Yew at the International Housing Conference 2010. CNA:
Mr Lee said over the next five years, the intake of foreigners will slow down but that means Singaporeans will have to increase their productivity.
Going further, dialogue moderator Professor Tommy Koh asked if more could be done to integrate those already here, in much the same way that the Ethnic Integration Policy was introduced in 1989 in public housing estates to get races mingling.
Mr Lee said: “Could the same approach be adopted towards integrating new Singaporeans? We are not allowing new Singaporeans whether from China, India, Malaysia, or whatever, to congregate in the same tower blocks, which they are already beginning to do.
“They buy second hand flats and they congregate. So we have a record of how many new citizens living where and we keep their numbers dispersed. It’s a very valuable tool of communal harmony.”
HDB later clarified that a quota policy on PRs for resale flats was being considered.
One other issue that came up during the dialogue is that of affordability, which has come up repeatedly. One suggestion was to have HDB provide more rental housing units.
Mr Lee said: ‘I completely disagree with that policy. It will lead us into all kinds of problems. You are getting a dependency group – dependent on the government on constant subsidies, whereas our philosophy is ‘I give you this asset, I will increase the value of the asset as the economy grows but it is yours and you look after it.’ And we do not have run down public housing like other countries which are rental.”
Mr Lee was also asked for his take on a recent media report that at least three opposition parties were eyeing National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan’s ward with the aim of making public housing affordability an election issue.
He explained: “What is affordabilty? From the point of view of the buyer? And the government that is subsidising you? The government has to price it at a level that is fair to the revenue it is collecting and fair to the individual, not only the present buyer but past and future buyers. If Mr Mah is unable to defend himself, he deserves to lose.
“No country in the world has given its citizens and families an asset as valuable as what we have given every family here. And if you say that policy is at fault, you must be daft.”
Filed under: Conference, Quotes | 1 Comment
Tags: hdb, housing, lee kuan yew, pr, quotas, subsidies
MM Lee in Paris for meetings
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is in Paris on a five-day visit which started on Tuesday. He is attending a meeting of the International Advisory Committee of French oil company Total International. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said that while in the French capital, Mr Lee will also meet French government and business leaders.
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Tags: france, lee kuan yew, paris
MM Lee gets first look at IR
Lee Kuan Yew checks out the casino he once opposed. Straits Times:
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew paid a visit to Resorts World Sentosa on Wednesday, a week ahead of the opening of its first phase on Jan 20.
He was hosted by Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman of the Genting group which owns the resort, and Mr Tan Hee Teck, chief executive officer of Resorts World Sentosa.
Mr Lee’s press secretary Yeong Yoon Ying said that during the visit, which lasted two hours, MM Lee toured the Universal Studios and had a brief visit to its four theme parks, some of its hotels, as well as the WaterWorld amphitheatre.
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Tags: casino, ir, lee kuan yew, resorts world, sentosa
A new book about Lee Kuan Yew’s contacts with India in the 1950s. AsiaOne:
THE little-known efforts of a young Lee Kuan Yew to court India from the 1950s are the focus of a new book by a veteran Indian journalist.
Looking East To Look West: Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India, was launched yesterday by President S R Nathan.
Author Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, a former consultant with The Straits Times, details the efforts of then prime minister Lee and select Singapore politicians to establish ties with India, which initially showed little interest.
The 384-page book is published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, where Mr Datta-Ray, 72, was a visiting senior research fellow.
The book’s title is a reference to Singapore’s position as India’s first stop on its diplomatic road across the Pacific, and ultimately to America.
The idea for the book came about after Mr Datta-Ray found old speeches by Mr Lee lauding India for its industrialisation plans and foresight.
They piqued his interest as Mr Lee’s words were in sharp contrast with the “local impression that Mr Lee was indifferent, critical or even hostile towards India”.
This impression, Mr Datta-Ray added, stemmed from Mr Lee’s more recent speeches on Indian Singaporeans.
He broached the idea of a book to Mr Lee in 2005, and spent about 10 hours conversing with him between 2005 and 2008 while conducting more research.
Praising Mr Lee’s “strategic vision”, Mr Datta-Ray said: “He knew even in the 1950s that China needed to be balanced, and that’s why he wanted India to emerge.”
The book is available now in Singapore/India and from Jan 15th in the United States.
Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India (ISEAS Publishing)
Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India (Amazon.com)
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Tags: india, iseas, lee kuan yew, sunanda k datta-ray
The Online Citizen digs up the full transcript for the controversial National Geographic interview:
MM Lee’s interview with NatGeo – transcript
Quite a fascinating, long-winding interview where Lee shows a glimpse — but just a glimpse — of his personality. He also notes that he recently had a bicycle accident bad enough to require physiotherapy, but this was not covered in the mainstream media. There is no dateline, but the interview apparently dates to summer 2009.
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Tags: Interview, lee kuan yew, national geographic, Transcript
Lee Kuan Yew on China at Business China. AsiaOne:
Asked in a dialogue to mark the second anniversary of Business China – a non-profit organisation that helps Singaporeans study, work or do business in China – how Singapore should cope with a rising China, he said: “There’s Japan, America, we can still live, doesn’t mean we’ll be squeezed out. We’ll find our role in other ways.” …
He said: “For us to remain effective players in the world, we must have our point of view, and not be a satellite of America, Japan, China…we’re not going to be in anybody’s pocket.
“If every time we parrot China or American lines, we’re written off.”
In the dialogue, MM Lee was also asked to comment on the recent climate talks in Copenhagen, regarded by some to be a failure because of China’s refusal to commit to carbon-emission reductions.
While China, like other big countries, refused to commit to percentage cuts, it is taking its contribution to global warming seriously, as evidenced by its efforts in investing in wind technology and the efficient use of coal, MM Lee said.
Filed under: Event, Quotes | 1 Comment
Tags: business china, china, copenhagen, lee kuan yew
The National Geographic gets a blast of Lee Kuan Yew’s Darwinian worldview:
They say Lee Kuan Yew has mellowed over the years, but when he walks into the interview wearing a zippered blue jacket, looking like a flint-eyed Asian Clint Eastwood circa Gran Torino, you know you’d better get on with it. While it is not exactly clear what a minister mentor does, good luck finding many Singaporeans who don’t believe that the Old Man is still top dog, the ultimate string puller behind the curtain. Told most of my questions have come from Singaporeans, the MM, now 86 but as sharp and unsentimental as a barbed tack, offers a bring-it-on smile: “At my age I’ve had many eggs thrown at me.” …
To lead a society, the MM says in his precise Victorian English, “one must understand human nature. I have always thought that humanity was animal-like. The Confucian theory was man could be improved, but I’m not sure he can be. He can be trained, he can be disciplined.” In Singapore that has meant lots of rules—prohibiting littering, spitting on sidewalks, failing to flush public toilets—with fines and occasional outing in the newspaper for those who break them. It also meant educating his people—industrious by nature—and converting them from shopkeepers to high-tech workers in a few decades.
Over time, the MM says, Singaporeans have become “less hard-driving and hard-striving.” This is why it is a good thing, the MM says, that the nation has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants (25 percent of the population is now foreign-born). He is aware that many Singaporeans are unhappy with the influx of immigrants, especially those educated newcomers prepared to fight for higher paying jobs. But taking a typically Darwinian stance, the MM describes the country’s new subjects as “hungry,” with parents who “pushed the children very hard.” If native Singaporeans are falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide,” that is their problem.
The politically incorrect interview has been studiously ignored by mainstream media, but howls of outrage are filling the blogosphere: start at Temasek Review.
UPDATE: Full transcript now available.
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Tags: human nature, immigration, lee kuan yew, nat geo, national geographic
Lee Kuan Yew in Delhi. India Today:
If India wants to make it to the big league, that is economies growing beyond the current 8-9 per cent rate, here is Lee Kuan Yew’s mantra.
The Minister Mentor, Republic of Singapore addressing a day-long lively dialogue session of the Singapore Symposium, jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), has suggested India first cut down on red-tapism. Second he wants India to provide greater incentives for the private sector. Third India must address the challenge of infrastructure shortage, and finally, liberalise foreign direct investment norms in the country.
Greater liberalisation in FDI norms would allow India to shift its people out of agriculture into the industrial sector, which is essential for poverty reduction, said Lee. The infrastructure priority is to provide greater connectivity among Indian cities.
Sidestepping a question on the emergence of a global currency, Lee insisted there would be no change in the global dominance of the US dollar as an international reserve currency over the next 10 years. However, central banks across the globe may diversify their foreign exchange reserves into other international currencies such as euro and yen, said Lee.
According to the Singapore leader, the slowdown would not impact consumption in the US as the economy was driven by consumption. Rather, Lee pointed out that reckless consumption in US would continue to grow, despite the current economic crisis.
On the economic cooperation between India and China, Lee felt that while cooperation may increase over the next few years, there was a little possibility of India overtaking China in its economic size.
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Tags: bureaucracy, economic growth, fdi, global currency, india, lee kuan yew, red tape
Lee Kuan Yew in India. CNA:
NEW DELHI: Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who is on an official four-day visit to India, met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday. …
Earlier Tuesday, Mr Lee met Indian External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna. They held a brief discussion on regional affairs and issues of mutual interest.
Mr Lee is scheduled to meet India’s strategic thinkers and businessmen on Wednesday as he participates in a dialogue session at the Singapore Symposium being held in New Delhi.
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Tags: india, lee kuan yew, manmohan singh, s.m. krishna, singapore
Recent Entries
- A credible challenge emerging
- Lee: HDB considering imposing a quota on PRs in resale flats
- MM Lee in Paris for meetings
- MM Lee gets first look at IR
- New book reveals MM Lee’s early efforts to woo India
- Lee Kuan Yew: National Geographic interview transcript
- MM: S’pore won’t be squeezed out by rising China
- The Singapore Solution: Lee Kuan Yew in the National Geopgraphic
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A credible challenge emerging
Interesting commentary in The Star:
FEARED for his destruction of political foes, Lee Kuan Yew once predicted that when he quit, a new breed of quality politicians would come out to challenge his party.
Today Lee remains very influential in the Cabinet, but his prophecy is prematurely coming to pass.
At 87, the Minister Mentor is seeing the emergence of a rising number of Singaporeans with good academic credentials to take on his successors. At the peak of tough – but effective – rule, none but the bravest would have dared to venture without preparing to pay a price.
There are several reasons for the change. First, years of stepped-up investment on education has given birth to a highly-expecting, worldly-wise population.
Second, Lee has mellowed and his charisma of power perceivably declined because of age; a counter-trend is taking place that could eventually end Singapore’s predominant one-party structure.
Lee has predicted the PAP could retain power for two more terms – or 10 years – but after that it would depend on its leadership capabilities.
(He confirmed his increasing passive role in a recent interview when he said he was not doing much work these days “except forecasting”.)
The public fear of Lee, once a dominant feature that influenced many aspects of society, has significantly decreased.
Filed under: Commentary | 1 Comment
Tags: lee kuan yew, politics, reform party, retirement