‘I tried to bring everybody to run with me. And I think we did have some success’: PM Lee

Singapore is a shining little red dot today, where people live in peace and contentment, and this is due to the effort of its citizens, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

In wide-ranging interviews in English and Chinese looking back at his years in office, a relaxed and smiling PM Lee said he was ready to hand over to a new leader to take Singapore forward. Asked if he would deal with tricky issues as founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew did after stepping down, or travel the world like second prime minister Goh Chok Tong did to cement friendships, PM Lee said: “To the extent that I have people who know me and whom I can talk to, I will certainly make use of that and engage them. Specific, sensitive policy, that is up to the prime minister to decide.”Whatever his role in the new team, he will only be in a supporting role, PM Lee stressed.

In the years since, the country has stayed open amid the backlash against globalisation, and moved to provide stronger social safety nets. Gross domestic product per capita more than doubled from $46,664 in 2004 to $113,779 in 2023. This upside, too, should not be just a distribution – “where you spend the money and it is gone” – but something society feels addresses real needs and deserves support.A visibly emotional PM Lee said: “They brought us here. If they had not stood and fought at the critical moment, and then slogged and built their whole lives to take Singapore forward, saved and enabled the next generation to move higher and further than they did, we would not be here today.

“But to say after this, we can fly solo – the Government does not need to watch, can take hands off the steering wheel or the controls, and it will look after itself – I do not think so. Never,” he added. While he will hand over his role as prime minister on May 15, there has been no announcement yet of when he will hand over the ruling People’s Action Party to his successor.

What has remained constant is the PAP’s commitment to Singapore, and its determination to maintain high standards of integrity and competence, he said.

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