TRANSCRIPT OF PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG’S INTERVIEW WITH US TELEVISION JOURNALIST CHARLIE ROSE ON 14 APRIL 2010 IN THE UNITED STATES
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CHARLIE ROSE (Q): “You seem to be sensitive to the issue of what is called nepotism?”
Mr LEE HSIEN LOONG: “We are very sensitive.”
Q: “Tell me about this sensitivity?”
Mr Lee: “The whole of our system is founded on the basic concept of meritocracy. You are where you are because you are the best man for the job and not because of your connections or your parents or your relatives. If anybody doubts that I as Prime Minister am here not because I am the best man for the job but because my father fixed it or my wife runs Temasek because I put her there, not because she is the best woman for the job, then my entire
credibility and moral authority is destroyed. I am not fit to be where I am and it is a fundamental issue of fitness to govern. First you must have the
moral right, then you can make the right decisions. It is a basic Confucian precept.”
Q: “Only when you have the
moral right?”
Mr Lee: “Then can you govern and make the country right and in Singapore people expect that. If there is any doubt that this is so and people believe that I am there because my father fixed it or the whole system really is just a make believe, then the system will come down. It is not tenable. If it is true, it better be proven and I better be kicked out. If it is not true, it better also proven to be not true and the matter put to rest.”
Q: “So if some journalist writes about nepotism and you think it is not true?”
Mr Lee: “Then we sue him as we did recently.”
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http://www.pmo.gov.sg/content/pmosi...terleehsienloongsinterviewwithustelevisi.html
