Verbalism Personified

The Right man for the Job? Part 2

On 12th August 2004, Lee Hsien Loong will become Singapore’s third Prime Minister. Though coming out to be his own man, the younger Lee might well be a chip of the old block.

In his recent address at Harvard University, Lee Hsien Loong stated that new and exciting times were ahead for Singapore. “We are prepared”, he said, “to take the plunge.”

Yet he hardly seems the plunging type.

Son of Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, the younger Lee shares his father’s measured, practical and technocratic approach to government. Exuding a somewhat condescending and didactic bent, he has shown a tendency to chide and admonish rather than charm and encourage.

His speeches are filled with grim economic prognosis and sternly urge Singaporeans to tighten their belts. After a fourteen-year interval under the affable Goh Chock Tong, most Singaporeans will find the reversion of leadership to the Lee dynasty more like a cold shower than an exhilarating leap into the unknown.

Political reality in Singapore is seen like a monopoly. Senior Minister Lee still commands a powerful stature in parliament and supervises the Government Linked Investment Corporation (GIC), which manages Singapore’s foreign reserves. The younger Lee’s wife, Ho Ching, is chairman of Temasek, a government holding company that owns stakes in Singapore’s biggest firms. His younger brother Lee Hsien Yang, runs Singapore Telecommunications.

Supporters defend this concentration of power on grounds of ability and talent. The younger Lee’s rise through the ranks of the army to become a brigadier-general by the age of 32 and his promotion to the post of Deputy Prime Minister after only six years in politics seems nothing short of miraculous.

The younger Lee certainly projects great intelligence and determination, as demonstrated by his fight with cancer and in stoically enduring the death of his first wife. As a then-colonel in the army, he employed helicopters to rescue trapped passengers during the dramatic cable car disaster. As finance minister, he implemented much-needed and long-delayed liberalization of the financial sector. Though his father says that he should already be prime minister, conspiracy theorists put it down to concerns of nepotism.

In reality however, Mr. Goh was already groomed by Lee senior to succeed him. Having started a decade before the younger Lee entered politics, it would have been pre-mature to install his son. Better to have the younger Lee in a position where he could grow into his role and rise through the ranks. True enough, when Mr. Goh became Prime Minister, he promptly made Lee junior his deputy.

The incumbent has never had any rivals. Within the internal party’s nomination process, Mr. Lee was selected unanimously. In a state where the ruling People’s Action Party controls all but two seats in parliament, Mr. Lee defends the government’s more underhanded election tactics, such as threatening to put districts that vote for the opposition at the bottom of the list for public spending. He claims to want a more vigorous public debate, but at the same time, promises to demolish any critic who undermines the government’s standing. While rightfully so, this is not an empty threat. Opposition members have found themselves bankrupt after losing defamation suits while others wind up in jail.

As an example of how the government is prepared to open up, Mr. Lee cite recent relaxation of restrictions on busking and bungee jumping. Registration of a society has been made easier, though stopping short of doing away with the registration process altogether. Singaporeans do not yet have complete freedom to chew gum either. Though the ban on imports has been lifted, these are sold at pharmacies to registered buyers only. The government has also signaled a more liberal attitude towards homosexuality, while stopping short of officially recognizing the gay community. This was done after research showed that cities with high concentration of gay residents tend also to be centers of innovation.

On the economic front, the government’s planned economic reforms are less than revolutionary. Mr. Lee firmly believes in free-market economics. As finance minister and head of the central bank, he has cut taxes and liberalized the CPF pension system. In addition, he has opened up the banking sector to foreign competition. The government is also pursuing free-trade agreements with as many countries as possible. Though the details published in the papers show win-win situations for all parties concerned, as the government is keen to point out, skeptics wonder if there is more given away in an effort to win these agreements.

At the same time, it refuses to abandon the idea that it is the job of the government to champion particular industries. Currently it is pursuing investment in education and biotechnology, just as it once promoted electronics and petrochemicals. Nor has it followed through on talk of reducing government meddling in the economy, through outfits like Temasek and the GIC. In short, Mr. Lee seems to be sticking to Singapore’s special blend of a free market but state directed economy.

These policies have worked successfully and have propelled Singapore from third to first world nation in a generation. The economy is certainly doing very well. Posting a twelve percent growth in the second quarter, this is certainly good news compared to a year ago when the region was affected by the SARS outbreak. True to his word, Mr. Goh delayed stepping down until the economy was in better shape. So the next six months will be telling as to how the younger Lee grows into his role as Prime Minister and the reforms he would bring. Half expected to surprise political observers, Mr. Lee is far too pragmatic to fix something that is not broken.

posted by Teutoburg @ 1:09 AM