SINGAPORE - Getting Singaporeans to trust him is an "unending task", said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"But after many years, having been in the public eye for many years, people know you and they have seen you. They have seen your conduct, they have heard what you have said," he said in an interview with broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) that aired on Friday (March 24)
"Look and see what happens in different situations. Are you there for them or not? Are you still reliable under pressure? Do you have a message and hope for them? And gradually, you can build up. It takes time."
PM Lee was responding to a question on his leadership as the hour-long interview took a more personal turn, following a discussion about geopolitics, foreign policy and Singapore-China relations.
He said he does not regret choosing to be a politician rather than a mathematician.
He studied maths during his undergraduate days at the University of Cambridge in Britain.
"I was not a rising star. I was a promising student," he told his interviewer, Ms Esther Zou, who replied that he was being modest.
"No, it is a vast field. I did two undergraduate years in mathematics, so it is just barely at the foothills...
"I decided that I had the responsibility to come back to Singapore, be part of Singapore, and do what I could to help the country to succeed," he said.
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It has been a very fulfilling life, said PM Lee, who joined politics in 1984 at the age of 32, becoming the MP for Teck Ghee.
He has been prime minister since 2004, and is expected to hand over the reins to Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
Being in government for nearly 40 years now is "tremendously" intellectually stimulating, said PM Lee, because of the need to deal with a wide range of issues, including keeping Budgets balanced.
But it is never just numbers, he said. "The numbers have to work, but you must be able to make it work in terms which people can understand, accept and want to see. What difference does it make to somebody's life? Why does it matter to them?"
These are often intangible issues that are difficult to settle.
"You cannot say, 'Done, proven, QED, put aside, next problem,'" he said, referring to the Latin phrase often used in maths, "quod erat demonstrandum" or "which was to be demonstrated".
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.