Full transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s interview with BBC

Full transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s interview with BBC

BBC:

Has the region been too complacent about its dependence on Western markets?

PM Lee:

We’ve had no choice. The whole world is plugged in as one globalised world. The consumption, the markets are in America. India and China have been growing rapidly … but on a world scale, they’re still very small.

BBC:

Has there been a failure to focus on developing domestic markets in the Asia-Pacific region?

PM Lee:

The big domestic markets … will be China and India. The way to develop the markets will be to raise their standards of living. Then, they have the money to consume.

BBC:

How concerned are you about the huge paper losses that have been made in the two sovereign wealth funds here?

PM Lee:

The value of the portfolios have gone down — 20, 25 per cent. Everybody has taken a hit, whether you are Harvard, Yale, Stanford or the Norwegians. If you’re in the markets, you have to ride the ups and downs.

BBC:

Your wife until recently ranTemasek Holdings. Your father is deeply involved in the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

Is there a risk when the news is bad … that people will tend to blame your family rather than look at the institutions?

PM Lee:

The way you put it is not the way things work in Singapore.

The Minister Mentor is chairman of GIC not because he’s my father; it’s because he’s the best man for the job, and he’s been chairman since he’s been PM.

And Ho Ching was CEO ofTemasek not because she’s my wife but because the chairman of Temasek … and the board decided they wanted to appoint her as CEO.

They’re there as long as they’re effective, performing, and if they don’t perform, they have to take the consequences.

BBC:

Perception is so important in politics. In difficult times like this, do you think in retrospect, it might have been better for your family to have a lower profile?

PM Lee:

(Laughs) Life would be much easier for me if MM were not my father and Ho Ching were not my wife. But they’re there.

This is the way Singapore has worked. Singaporeans have understood this is how the system works.

And they’ll render judgment when elections come.

BBC:

Finally, Prime Minister, I read that you are apparently the highest paid head of government in the world. Your salary is about four or five times what President Obama gets. Are you worth all that money?

PM Lee:

(Laughs) I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings.We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want.

We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you are pretending and you just say, ‘Well, we are all in it for the love of King and Country’.

We want it to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money. But at the same time the sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.”

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Tags: BBC, Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore, Singapore Forum, Singapore Kopitiam, Singapurakini