http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Hsien_Loong
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 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.
Perhaps understandably, the appointment of Lee's wife Ho Ching as the director of state investment agency Temasek has also raised some eyebrows. The
Lees reacted strongly against such 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 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[7] . 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.
On July 10, 2004, Lee visited Taiwan, causing displeasure in the People's Republic of China. 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 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 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 Taiwan Foreign Minister, Mark Chen,
called Singapore a "Pi-Sai Country", translated literally from Hokkien (Minnan), it means a "country no bigger than a snot". The Taiwanese Foreign Minister later made a formal apology.
In 2005,
Lee made a remark regarding Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 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.[8] His remark drew public demonstrations outside Singapore embassy in Japan on May 24, 2005 with protestors criticising Lee for "meddling" with Japanese issues.
In November 2005, Singapore had a diplomatic row with Australia over the imminent execution of Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van. In one incident, then Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his government were upset when Lee failed to inform 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 by Australian government and Nguyen's lawyer were turned down. Singapore did however grant an exception to allow Nguyen's mother to hold his hands (but not hug him) following a personal appeal by Howard. Nguyen was later executed on December 2, 2005.
[edit] Defamation judgment
On September 24, 2008,
High Court, in a summary judgement 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.[9] 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.[10]
[edit] Salary
Lee Hsien Loong currently earns an annual salary of S$3,870,000 (US$ 2,856,930 ) [11], an increase of 25% from S$3,091,200 (US$2,037,168)[12], 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[13]. The new salary of SG$3.8 million took effect in January 2008. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said in parliament that the Singapore head of state and his ministers deserve such a high income because Singapore is a small country that lacks a large pool of talented people.
