January 23, 2010 by admin
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Written by Our Correspondent
Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen was asked a sensitive and
difficult question during his dialogue session with NUS Society
(NUSS) members.
Mr Dennis Tan, a 49 year old workplace safety and health trainer
and NUSS member asked Dr Ng why MM Lee Kuan Yew is not stepping
down.
Lee is currently the oldest member in the Singapore cabinet at
86 years of age. He was the first Prime Minister of Singapore from
1959 to 1990 before stepping down. He subsequently held the
positions of Senior Minister and the Minister Mentor presently.
To his credit, Dr Ng gave a diplomatic reply without offending
both Singaporeans and his political master:
“The question is, does MM add value to Singapore? I’m not
talking about in history, I’m talking about now. That’s the
question that should be asked, not whether he should retire or not.
Singaporeans must decide. MM spots pitfalls, he tells you what to
avoid. He pushed for F1, for the IRs. So you decide. At the end of
the day, it’s the vote. If his constituents at Tanjong Pagar feel
he’s not adding value, they are free to vote.”
Lee has attracted the ire of many Singaporeans by
continuing to stay on in the Singapore government. Though he
admited that he “is not doing much work except forecasting”, some
still regard him as the “real power” behind the scenes.
He currently draws about an annual salary of $3 million dollars,
more than 5 times that of U.S. President Barack Obama. The
Singapore government is the only one in the world with a Minister
Mentor, two senior ministers and two deputy prime ministers in
addition to the Prime Minister himself.
Besides his portfolio in the cabinet, Lee is also the Chairman
of Government Investment Corporation (GIC) which manages much of
Singapore’s national reserves.
Lee’s son Lee Hsien Loong is currently the Prime Minister of
Singapore. His daughter-in-law Ho Ching heads Temasek Holdings,
Singapore’s other sovereign wealth fund.
One of his nephrew-in-law Wong Kan Seng is both the Deputy Prime
Minister and Home Affairs Minister of Singapore.
The elder Lee has ruled Singapore with an iron fist since first
assuming his position in 1959. He spent the later part of his
political career traveling around the world to dispense his usual
“pearls of wisdom” to other leaders on how to run their
countries.
Lee has yet to reveal if he will contest in the next general
election due by 2012. The last three elections had been walkovers
for him. Perhaps the opposition can consider sending a young team
to contest against him in the next election to see if voters still
want him to “add value” to Singapore.