Lee Kuan Yew
Moves to the forefront
He assumes active leadership role in the wake of public furore over ministers’ pay leap. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Apr 28, 2009

FACED with the highest level of citizens’ disenchantment in years, Lee Kuan Yew, aged 83, has emerged from being an influential advisor to play – at least temporarily – a high profile leadership role.

In the past week, the minister mentor surprised Singaporeans with pronouncements on a wide range of subjects normally handled by the Prime Minister or his ministers.

Altogether his messages made up 18 newspaper stories published in just three days, some from the same function.

Observers cannot recall any other time since 1990, when Lee stepped down as prime minister, when he had taken such an active part in defending policies.

At the time, Lee defined his new Senior Minister role as advisory, with normal day-to-day decisions left to the Cabinet. “I’m just the goalkeeper of the team,” he had said then.

With few exceptions, he has generally stuck to the promise, confining himself largely to foreign visits “selling” investment, or dishing out views on world affairs.

This past week has been outside the norm.

He is responding to the public furore over a decision to raise cabinet salaries, already the highest in the world, by another 60% at a time when the poorest are getting poorer.

Lee’s burst of activity has raised the question of whether it is a one-off thing or an indication of his dissatisfaction with the way the younger leaders are handling unpopular policies.

Lee touched on issues ranging from global warming to China’s emerging role, from globalisation and foreign workers to casinos and this year’s economic growth.

He also commented on the new Extradition Treaty with Jakarta. (“It will not frighten rich Indonesians away”).

He paid tribute to Singaporeans who were doing the “hard and dirty work” for the country. “It sounded like a campaign speech,” an observer said.

Two of his pronouncements, however, touched on new policies.

In a Reuters interview, Lee dismissed talk that Ho Ching, his daughter-in-law, would leave as Temasek Holdings’ CEO or be transferred to the Government of Singapore Investment Corp as a result of the Thai Shin Corp debacle.

This seemed to differ slightly from what his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had earlier said, that if it turned out that a mistake had been made, Temasek would have to face accountability.

The second revelation was a big surprise. Lee said that homosexuals should not be criminalized because theirs was a genetic condition, not a lifestyle preference.

It was a total rejection of his – and his government’s – views, and comes after the authorities had banned a film depicting gays from the Singapore Film festival.

Lee senior’s first priority seems to be to allay whatever doubts there may be from within the PAP’s Youth Wing.

In a dialogue with 400 members, Lee appealed for understanding that large pay increases were needed to recruit – and keep – talent and integrity in government.

He described Singapore as “a very special country,” which cannot be compared to others.

Lee has clearly not lost his ability to articulate problems, which had served him well in the past to turn dissent into acceptance.

This time, however, with public opposition so deep, the Lee magic failed to work.

Unlike their parents, the post-1965 generation has no firsthand experience of the chaotic past of the 60s and 70s or the role Lee had played to modernise the nation. They do not feel beholden to him.

Critics feel he should have left the Cabinet to let younger leaders take effective charge. “The trouble is he just doesn’t trust anyone,” said a young IT professional.

The popular feeling is that the Lee Kuan Yew era lives on, irrespective of who the Prime Minister is.

Recent events centred on the issue of succession for Hsien Loong, less than three years after he became prime minister. It was a subject he himself raised.

During the debate over pay and good government, the younger Lee surprised Singaporeans by saying that the search for his successor would start now.

He would be ready to name him by 2011 and he should be ready to take over by 2016. If this timetable plays out, he would have served 12 years – two years less than his predecessor Goh Chok Tong.

This could mean one thing. Lee Kuan Yew will be around to help decide who will succeed his son to become Singapore’s fourth prime minister.

(This was first published in The Star on Apr 28, 2007)