'Being exceptional is essential': PM Lee

In the third part of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's televised chat, 'Ask The Prime Minister', he talks about Singapore's future, political succession, and his aspirations for Singapore.

How are you going to ensure diversity of experience and views within the Cabinet?

Well, we have a significant number of people come into government from the public sector. But at the same time we've tried very hard to bring in people from the private sector, and I have some key members of the Cabinet - Ng Eng Hen, who was a doctor; Shanmugam, who was a lawyer, Iswaran… Indranee, another lawyer. I think that we need a balance of people from government, who have had experience in the administration, and also from the private sector, experienced in how the economy works, and put them together.

It's very hard to bring people in from the private sector, because once you've headed into the private sector, you've prepared yourself psychologically for that route… And to change from being a successful lawyer to a successful Minister - not everybody can make that switch. And so we need to work very hard to identify suitable people, bring them in, and they have to have guts to take the chance to come in, and maybe may not succeed. But we have to try to get that mix.

Has it become harder after the last GE?

I think it has gotten harder. It's not so certain, so people have to calculate the risks. But even more than that, there's more hurly burly, there's more barracking, more flak on the internet.

And it's not just the candidates, it's the families too. Why do you want to do that? You are making a good living, you are taking care of us, you are living quietly, placidly, nobody disturbs us when we go to the hawker centres. Suddenly you go into the public life and have to read all this stuff in the websites... and when I go out I've lost my privacy. It is a very serious consideration. It has made it much harder. It is a serious problem.

On succession

I do not have a specific date, but I have said that I shouldn't be Prime Minister until the age of 70. I think we must have a successor team in place and ideally a successor in place well before that…

It's a very demanding job - it's not just emotionally, or mentally - you have to be alert. But physically - the travelling, the going about… you have to project, and you have to be on top of it. If you are not on top of it, it shows straightaway. And to do that, you cannot be a very old man.

On the qualities of the next PM:

Ideally we have another Lee Kuan Yew, [but] that's not going to happen. There's only one Lee Kuan Yew in many, many, many, generations, in many, many countries. We've been blessed and we have to work with the talent which we have. We have good talent, we have people who have the commitment, who have the ability, who have the experience, collectively, to make the system work. And what you need is to be able to have these people be recognised and accepted, and that confidence built in them over time, that they are a safe pair of hands, and then they can do a good job.

Even if you have a good person and he is not known, you have a problem. I was very, very lucky, I had 20 years of apprenticeship before I took over as PM. I don't think any other PM in Singapore is ever going to be as lucky as me, and I think Singapore will have to get used to the idea that you have people come in, you have a leader who has not been there quite such a long time, you have to operate in a different sort of way but he can make it work.

We are focused on getting a successor team, I don't decide who it is, they will have to decide amongst themselves who will be their leader, and then Singaporean voters will have to decide whether they want this team as their government. I think that's the first and most important priority.

I have brought in a significant number of good people these last two elections. The most recent term we've got Heng Swee Keat, we've got Chan Chun-Sing, we've got Lawrence [Wong], Tan Chuan-Jin. I've got Sim Ann, whom we've just promoted to MOS, we've got Desmond [Lee], whom I've just brought in. I'm bringing in Low Yen Ling, I'm bringing in some people from the backbenches. I think they are a good team. They've learnt well, they've been plunged into a very deep end, very cold water, but they've worked very hard, they've learnt fast. It still takes a while for people to completely learn about them and develop that familiarity and rapport with them. But their hearts are in the right place, and I think they are shaping up, and around that team we will have to build - and we will build - the successors. I hope next election I will be able to reinforce the team further. We are working at that. There's never an end point to this. At every election there will be turnover, some will retire, a new tag team will go on… this is continually work in progress.

On what kind of city Singapore should be:

It can't be a city just of buildings. It has to be a city with spirit, with life, with vitality, with identity and with pride. And I think that's what we're building in Singapore. When people come to Singapore, it's not just that they find the streets clean and trees green and the city nicely laid out and you've got Marina Bay. But it's the spirit of the people - how you work together, how you take care of the place, how you carry yourself with pride.

I talked about Changi Airport in the Rally. What makes it special? It's not just the tower - it's the way it works. You arrive, you know you have arrived - the customs, the immigration, the baggage handlers, the taxi drivers... everything clicks, and everybody works with the next team. And that's what makes Changi Airport unique and not so easy to replicate.

But as with Changi, so too with our economy, so too with our government, so too with our whole society - it needs to be like that. People have to feel that this is ours.- we will do something about it, it's not just the government. This is Singapore', we are Singaporeans, we take pride in the city.

Can we build an equitable nation and still be exceptional?

You need to be both. If it's an inequitable nation, if there's a sense of social injustice, you will not be exceptional. I think being exceptional is essential. Because if you are ordinary, you are nobody. A city of 3 million people in it - [there are] dozens of such cities in Asia, most of which you won't remember the names of. But Singapore, there's only one Singapore, and that's why Singaporeans enjoy not just pride in their status in the world, but quality of life, jobs, opportunities, connections. Wherever you go, you're welcomed, you're looked up to. And I think we always need to be that.

But at the same time it would be a place where everybody has opportunities: where if you work hard, you can move up; where you may be poor, but you are not ashamed of your background, because it's what you are doing and what you are contributing which makes a difference. And I see no reason why we can't do that. We have the opportunities, we have the base... I think we have the society which is like that, where people can talk to one another. And whatever rank you are people will talk to you and say, Mr Lee, let me tell you this. And you don't scrape, you don't bow, there must courtesy and respect mutually, but a sense of equality and an egalitarian spirit.

On competitiveness:

I think you'll find happiness in achievement. And competing, pressure - an appropriate amount of pressure - I think is a positive thing. If you are completely without pressure, you'd just sit back and relax. And a holiday is good: 1 week, 2 weeks... the 3rd week… what are you doing with your life? So I don't think pressure in itself is a bad thing - maintaining it at a sustainable pace, and keeping on with that achievement: I'm doing something meaningful, I want to do something, I am getting up tomorrow, out of bed… so many things which I'd like to do next. I think that's the attitude which we'd like people to have.

On what he aspires Singapore to be:

I think that's an important aspect of the ethos of Singapore, that you are always looking towards tomorrow, that you are always trying to build, and we can be one of the best places in the world to live and to work and to play. And let's keep on maintaining that and improving on that. At the same time we must have a sense of who we are and where we came from.

We are not just a city in the middle of nowhere.... We are here, in South East Asia, we had a history, our forefathers came here, they built this place, we took over the responsibility from them, and we are taking care of it and trying to carry it forward, so that when our children take over the responsibility from us, they can build on it further. And you must have that sense of continuity - where you came from, where are you going to. Then you'll know who you are and where you want to go in life.

In two years, Singapore will be 50. What have we learned in 50 years?

I think we will have ample reason to celebrate but I don't think we should stop at celebration. It's not just fireworks and parties - I think we should give thanks. 50 years: we have had a successful half century, [a] tremendous achievement. There must be a spirit of commitment, dedication of ourselves to the next phase and a resolution that 'I want to take this further'.

Fifty years is not a long time in the history of a nation, but at the beginning of a nation, 50 years is a long way to go. [...] After 50 years Singapore is totally transformed. I think we give thanks; and to be pensive after 50 years, to be thoughtful, to have some soul searching - it is quite understandable. We are at a milestone, where do we go next. I believe we have every reason to be confident and take it to the next stage - ourselves and our children - and we will do that.