S'pore must get politics right: PM Lee
By Robin Chan
The Straits Times
Monday, Jul 08, 2013
SINGAPORE - Singapore has to get its politics right if it is to maintain its economic edge, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday at a forum.
"If your politics is wrong, your economics is bound to go wrong. And the reason why so many countries cannot get their economics right is because their politics don't work," he observed.
"I think we have got to be able to get the fundamentals right. And so far, we have been able to do so," he added.
And as long as its politics stays that way, Singapore can continue to have policies that are fair and benefit the broad majority.
He indicated that having the right kind of politics, where political parties work to solve the country's problems rather than battle each other, is indeed a competitive advantage for the city state.
Addressing a 600-strong audience at the DBS Insights Asia Conference at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, PM Lee warned that vested interests or a divided society could hinder a government from doing "sensible things", like educating people, improving infrastructure and building a first-class environment.
He cited Singapore's Marina Bay as an example of what could be achieved when a country's politics was on the right track, allowing it to pull together a project with many different pieces to create something that was one of a kind.
"I think there's only one Marina Bay in the world," he said.
The right kind of politics is also necessary to attract good people into government, he said, adding that he would advise whoever governs Singapore in the future to "try very hard to keep the politics clean and straight, and to bring in people who can make a difference to the country".
While tackling questions on a range of issues including income inequality, Mr Lee signalled clearly that Singapore remained open to foreigners and to helping its own citizens by equipping them with the skills they need to help themselves.
Indeed, if he could persuade another 10 billionaires to move to Singapore, he would, even if that led to higher income inequality "because they will bring business, they will bring opportunities, they will open new doors, they will create new jobs".
Drawing lessons from the experience of Latin American countries, he also stressed that slower economic growth did not make for a more equal society, pointing out that several of these countries had both slow growth and some of the highest inequality in the world.
Singapore's approach is to equip people with skills so that they can be competitive, build up infrastructure so that people are attracted to live and work here, and have policies to lift up the less successful, he said.
At the same time, he did not shy away from admitting that his Government had made some mistakes in the past, joking - when asked what he would have done differently - that he would have certainly arranged for more trains earlier, in a reference to the strain on transport infrastructure that has caused immense public unhappiness.
He held up Singapore's "specialness" as something it must strive to maintain.
He said: "Singapore, today, for all our difficulties, I think internationally we stand high. Can we keep that? Because that makes a big difference to Singaporeans, not just to how we feel but really to our lives. That's a big challenge."
By Robin Chan
The Straits Times
Monday, Jul 08, 2013
SINGAPORE - Singapore has to get its politics right if it is to maintain its economic edge, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday at a forum.
"If your politics is wrong, your economics is bound to go wrong. And the reason why so many countries cannot get their economics right is because their politics don't work," he observed.
"I think we have got to be able to get the fundamentals right. And so far, we have been able to do so," he added.
And as long as its politics stays that way, Singapore can continue to have policies that are fair and benefit the broad majority.
He indicated that having the right kind of politics, where political parties work to solve the country's problems rather than battle each other, is indeed a competitive advantage for the city state.
Addressing a 600-strong audience at the DBS Insights Asia Conference at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, PM Lee warned that vested interests or a divided society could hinder a government from doing "sensible things", like educating people, improving infrastructure and building a first-class environment.
He cited Singapore's Marina Bay as an example of what could be achieved when a country's politics was on the right track, allowing it to pull together a project with many different pieces to create something that was one of a kind.
"I think there's only one Marina Bay in the world," he said.
The right kind of politics is also necessary to attract good people into government, he said, adding that he would advise whoever governs Singapore in the future to "try very hard to keep the politics clean and straight, and to bring in people who can make a difference to the country".
While tackling questions on a range of issues including income inequality, Mr Lee signalled clearly that Singapore remained open to foreigners and to helping its own citizens by equipping them with the skills they need to help themselves.
Indeed, if he could persuade another 10 billionaires to move to Singapore, he would, even if that led to higher income inequality "because they will bring business, they will bring opportunities, they will open new doors, they will create new jobs".
Drawing lessons from the experience of Latin American countries, he also stressed that slower economic growth did not make for a more equal society, pointing out that several of these countries had both slow growth and some of the highest inequality in the world.
Singapore's approach is to equip people with skills so that they can be competitive, build up infrastructure so that people are attracted to live and work here, and have policies to lift up the less successful, he said.
At the same time, he did not shy away from admitting that his Government had made some mistakes in the past, joking - when asked what he would have done differently - that he would have certainly arranged for more trains earlier, in a reference to the strain on transport infrastructure that has caused immense public unhappiness.
He held up Singapore's "specialness" as something it must strive to maintain.
He said: "Singapore, today, for all our difficulties, I think internationally we stand high. Can we keep that? Because that makes a big difference to Singaporeans, not just to how we feel but really to our lives. That's a big challenge."
