Asia News Network's dialogue with PM Lee

Strong support for leaders 'good for Asia'

Easier to manage regional affairs and businesses in a cooperative way: PM

By Shefali Rekhi, The Straits Times, 10 Apr 2014

ASIA would benefit from strongly supported leaders in China, Indonesia and India, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a discussion with Asian editors as elections get under way in the latter two countries which are also two of Asia's largest democracies.

A strong mandate will make it easier for businesses and regional affairs to be managed in a cooperative way.

"I think it's good for Asia if the countries have capable, responsible and strongly supported leaders," he said. "Then you can do business, then you can manage regional affairs collectively and in a cooperative way."

Mr Lee made these remarks in response to a question on implications for Asia given that China has a powerful leader and the likelihood of India and Indonesia gaining strong leaders with credible mandates after the elections.

Parliamentary elections in Indonesia took place yesterday and the presidential election is due in July. General elections in India are ongoing, with the process due to be completed next month.

That was one of the questions put to Mr Lee when he met editors of the Asia News Network during an hour-long dialogue at the Istana on Tuesday, which was moderated by Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez.

Founded in 1999, the Asia News Network has a membership of 22 newspapers in Asia.

Besides The Straits Times and The Star and Sin Chew Daily in Malaysia, other members include China Daily, The Nation, Eleven Media of Myanmar, the Yomiuri Shimbun and The Jakarta Post. Editors were in Singapore for its annual meeting and to mark the grouping's 15th anniversary on Monday.

Taking up the point of strong leadership, Mr Lee added: "If the leaders are not strongly supported, or if their leaders are weak personally, then you may be able to have a discussion but it may not be so easy to deal with problems."

"Of course, strong leaders also have strong preferences and ideas, and it doesn't mean that they will all get together and it will all be the best of all possible worlds. There will be friction, there will be disputes, there will be difficult problems to be solved," he said.

Singapore, Mr Lee said, looks forward to working with a strong Indonesian government, one which would take an ASEAN perspective the way the present government has done and President Suharto did for many decades.

In India, he hoped that the new leadership will continue to pursue cooperation with South-east Asia and East Asia. As for China, President Xi Jinping would have a "full agenda" domestically and globally, managing China's presence and increasing weight in the world and "the way which advances China's interests and at the same time maintains China's position as a country which is a member in good standing in the community of nations".

Singapore's bilateral ties with Malaysia, Indonesia, China and other neighbours figured prominently in the discussion, during which Mr Lee was also asked to share his perspectives on the continuing search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the haze, ASEAN, flashpoints in the region, and his succession plans.

On Thailand, he noted that the founding member of ASEAN could have contributed far more to the grouping if not for its present political turmoil. The various sides would have to find ways to work through their differences, which was "a very deep problem".

But, he noted, Thailand was a more natural country than Singapore, being one nation, with people of the same race, language, religion, and a common history.

Turning to Malaysia, he said the planned high-speed rail link between the Republic and Malaysia would be a "game-changer". The target to complete the project by 2020 was ambitious, he acknowledged, as "many aspects have to be studied and discussed and agreed upon".

"But if we can get the high-speed rail between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur built, whether it is 2020 or whether it is a bit later, I think it will make a very big difference," he said.

Asked what regional countries could do to tackle the problem of haze, Mr Lee had a straightforward response: "Stop burning."

And laws to stop burning must be enforced, he added.

On ties with Indonesia, he said bilateral ties were generally good, and he had a "good relationship" with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the two countries had cooperated on many issues. Some differences had arisen from time to time, he noted. The recent naming of a warship after two Indonesian marines convicted of a bombing in Singapore that killed innocent civilians, he said, was "unfortunate".

STRONG MANDATE

I think it's good for Asia if the countries have capable, responsible and strongly supported leaders. Then you can do business, then you can manage regional affairs collectively and in a cooperative way.

If the leaders are not strongly supported, or if their leaders are weak personally, then you may be able to have a discussion but it may not be so easy to deal with problems.

- PM Lee, on leadership in China, India and Indonesia

Succession planning for S'pore leadership under way: PM
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 10 Apr 2014

SUCCESSION planning for Singapore's top political leadership is well under way, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Mr Lee, who is 62 this year, said he is making sure a new team, with new leaders capable of taking charge of the country, is ready.

His goal is to ensure the country continues to thrive after he is no longer the prime minister, he said at a dialogue with regional media editors at the Istana.

"In Singapore, we pay a lot of attention to succession planning and making sure we have a new team ready and new leaders who are capable of taking charge, so that the country can move ahead and the leaders can be in sync with the country," he said.

Mr Lee noted that he had brought in more than 20 new Members of Parliament in the 2011 General Election, several of whom are Cabinet members and are "doing well and moving into more responsible positions".

The four Cabinet members who entered politics in 2011 are Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin and Acting Culture, Community and Youth Minister Lawrence Wong.

"I hope they continue to do well and mature and grow in their responsibilities and in their understanding of Singapore," he said.

He also hopes Singaporeans will grow to accept their leadership.

Mr Lee had been asked by a Malaysian editor how long he planned to stay as Singapore's leader, as the era of long tenureship of prime ministers seemed to be over in South-east Asia.

"I think leaders stay as long as they are able to make a contribution. If they stay beyond that, then they have overstayed their welcome," he replied.

"I can't say exactly how long I'm staying but I'm 62 years old and that's not young," he added.

In 2012, he said in an interview that he hoped not to continue as prime minister beyond the age of 70.

When asked what key qualities he would look for in Singapore's leaders, Mr Lee said: "You must be quite clear what Singapore's interests are, and you must be able to persuade people that this is what we need to do together. People have to be willing to go with you and to say yes, I trust him, I (will) work with him."

Asked if he thought Singapore would still be all right if he were to retire as PM tomorrow, he replied: "That is the objective."

Responding to a question on how Singapore had rapidly developed into a global city, Mr Lee said it was very important for Singaporeans to have roots and a sense of belonging in the country.

"That's something we are working at because we are a country... you need to make sure that Singaporeans feel like that and are confident of their position in this society, which they have every reason to be."

S'pore's media model 'makes sense' for country
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 10 Apr 2014

PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he does not take seriously Singapore's low rankings on press freedom, as he believes the way the media here is managed "makes sense" for the country.

Mr Lee described the system as one in which "information flows freely on the Internet, you can get data instantly from anywhere in the world, newspapers report freely the news, but also responsibly".

Newspapers should aim to inform and educate and be a source of reliable information, opinion as well as entertainment. "And not all newspapers in the world aspire to do that," he noted.

This model has worked for Singapore, he said, but noted that it was also changing with the advent of the Internet and social media.

He made the point in reply to a question on what Singapore was doing to get a better ranking in the annual Press Freedom Index, done by non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders. In last year's index, Singapore was ranked 149th out of 179 countries, just above Iraq and Myanmar.

According to the report, the group's ranking looks at press freedom, including the laws governing the media. It does not measure the quality of journalism in the country's media. The results are also based partly on a questionnaire sent to partner groups.

Turning to the changes taking place in the media scene around the world, he noted that more people were now getting their news online and from social media.

An active user of Facebook and Instagram, Mr Lee regularly posts slice-of-life photos of his official trips overseas, as well as more serious updates such as condolences to families of disaster victims.

"I think it's a useful additional channel. But if you want to deliver an op-ed, 800 words is already too much for Facebook. And on Instagram, the paragraphs are even shorter. That's just the way the attention span is," he said.

He acknowledged that social media can influence election results as people use it to exchange opinions and snippets. He contrasted that to the way an older generation would read the newspapers "from cover to cover" to get a good sense of what was happening.

Excerpts from Asia news network's dialogue with PM Lee
The Straits Times, 10 Apr 2014

MALAYSIA'S SEARCH FOR MH370

I think your government has had a very tough time managing this crisis because it is quite unprecedented. You have been searching now for one month, and you have had no clues, or rather, you have no hard evidence of the aeroplane. In that situation, you have to deal with not just the engineering and the actual operations of it, conducting the search, but also the communications, with the families, with the relatives, with the international public who are watching this. So it's a very difficult situation which your government is in, and I think they have done a very manful job.


HAZE

Stop burning. But to stop burning, you must have the laws and you must enforce the laws. And then you must have sustainable agricultural practices. The climate is changing. We are having more extreme weather, more extreme droughts as well as rain. And when you have extreme droughts, dry weather, then even if you don't start a fire, a fire may start by itself. But if you do start a fire, it is very unlikely that you can control it.


THAI POLITICAL CRISIS

We are concerned about it because Thailand is a very important member of ASEAN, and if Thailand is preoccupied with domestic difficulties, you will not be able to contribute your full weight to ASEAN endeavours and deliberations. And we see this as a very difficult problem which Thailand, the Thai people and Thai society will have to solve.


CHINA AND SINGAPORE

We are both very different societies, at different stages of development. You are in very rapid progress, and you have gone beyond the initial take-off now to sustaining that development and transforming your economy. We are a very small microcosm, a small model of how one can do things in a country which is also a city, and you might find something interesting to pick up from us. And we certainly find a lot of fascinating things to learn from China.

S’pore-KL high-speed rail ‘a game changer’

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had a roundtable interview in Singapore with editors of regional newspaper grouping Asia News Network. The network comprises more than 20 news organisations from the region such as Singapore’s Straits Times, The Jakarta Post from Indonesia and Thailand’s Nation Multimedia Group. The journalists hail from countries such as China, Malaysia, Myanmar and Bhutan. Here are excerpts of the interview:
TODAY, 10 Apr 2014

Question: There is a lot of excitement about the high-speed rail to Kuala Lumpur, but you have set a very ambitious time frame for it.

I think that’s what we are aiming for. There is a lot of work to be done. Many aspects have to be studied and discussed and agreed upon. But if we can get the high-speed rail between Singapore and KL built, whether it is 2020 or whether it is a bit later, I think it will make a very big difference to the connection between two very vibrant cities, in the way you can do business together, in the way you can travel up and down, the convenience of it. It is a game changer. I mean, it’s like the Euro(star) train between London and Paris. And in Asia or in South-east Asia, certainly, I think Singapore and KL are the two natural ends between which you would like to have such a link.

Question: What are the possible obstacles or road blocks that could derail this high-speed rail plan?

We have not yet worked out the specifics of it. We know, in principle, that we want this. (Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak) has said that in KL, the terminus is going to be in Bandar Malaysia, in the Sungai Besi side. I have told him that in Singapore, we have three sites possible, but Jurong East is one very attractive one that we are considering. So, in those broad terms, we have decided the shape of it.

But where is the line going to go? How is it going to be built? What’s the engineering? What’s the financing? What’s the governance? What’s the legal framework? How are we going to operate this? These are all very complicated to do even in one country, but to do in two countries and to work it all out in what would be quite a compressed time frame, I think (it) will test our teams.

Question: Singapore has been seen as a model in our part of the world and, for that matter, many other nations in other parts of the world. There’s so much to draw from Singapore. (Is there) anything that you would actually caution us, you know, not to ape from Singapore or not to borrow from Singapore? What should we not take from Singapore?

We do not hold ourselves as a model for others to imitate. We are only solving our own problems and, generally, we have managed, sometimes, we are still working on it. If other countries find it interesting and relevant and want to use it, adapt it, pick up ideas from it, we are happy that we have been useful. But I think every country’s circumstance is different. It’s not just the size, it’s not just the location; it’s also the history, the nature of the society, the temperament of the people, what you are prepared to accept, what you would like to aspire to, how you want your society to operate and how you want to fit in with your neighbours. And that’s different. We happen to be in South-east Asia, smallest country in the region, at peace with our bigger neighbours and able to maintain good relations with them.

Question: What is your Government doing to get into a better position in the ranking of Reporters Without Borders?

I have given up that. I do not take them seriously. They put us somewhere around Zimbabwe; I said, so be it. I mean, they find it useful, I just ignore that. We manage our press, our media and our freedom of information in a way that makes sense for Singapore. Information flows freely on the Internet, you can get data instantly from anywhere in the world. Newspapers report freely the news, but also responsibly, so that you inform and educate people, so that this is a source of reliable information, opinion as well as entertainment. And not all newspapers in the world aspire to do that.

I think that it’s a model that has worked for us. It’s a model that is changing, because the Internet is a very big new factor, social media is a very big new factor, which we are struggling with. I think it’s something that we have to deal with and not something where we say, well, we give up; that’s the way the world is and anything goes. And I really don’t know and don’t mind where the next ranking comes out for journalists.

Question: You have been quite active on social media as well. Can you tell us a bit about that experience, and if you are planning to do even more?

Well, it’s a very interesting exercise, because I embarked on this about two years ago and launched a Facebook page. And later on, we launched an Instagram account. I am on Twitter too, but Twitter in Singapore doesn’t have much following. So, it’s mainly Facebook and Instagram. Facebook has a bigger following, but Instagram has more younger people.

It’s a good way to have informal comments on serious and semi-serious matters. You also have some light comments from time to time, because people like to see the human side of you and it helps to build up the eyeballs. And if you want to appear on people’s news feeds, you must make sure that people “Like” you from time to time. That’s a technical requirement. “Like”, meaning capital “L”, doesn’t mean they really necessarily have warm feelings, but there’s a technique to it. When to post; how to post it; what language to use; how to keep it snappy and interesting; what sort of pictures to use, because the pictures make a big difference. If you post one of your own pictures, that gives a more authentic feel to it, even if it is not the best picture available.

So, I think it’s a useful additional channel, but if you want to deliver an op-ed, 800 words is already too much for Facebook. And on Instagram, the passages, paragraphs are even shorter. That’s just the way the attention span is.

Question: The era of long tenureship of Prime Ministers seems to be over, especially in this region. We see governments changing very fast now. You have been in power for about 10 years now, or thereabouts. How do you see your own future? How long do you plan to stay in helming this country?

I think that leaders stay as long as they are able to make a contribution. If they stay beyond that, then they have overstayed their welcome. And in Singapore, we pay a lot of attention to succession planning and making sure that we have a new team ready and new leaders who are capable of taking charge, so that the country can move ahead and the leaders can be in sync with the country. I can’t say exactly how long I am staying, but I am 62 years old and that’s not young.

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