In spite of the global recession, India's relationship with Singapore has never wavered. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, speaks on the global economy, how he sees India, what makes China No.1 in Asia and how Singapore manages to attract the best civil servants despite the lure of the private sector.
Lee Hsien Loong,
Prime Minister of Singapore
Age: 58
In Power Since: 2004
Education: Graduated in the Mathematics from University of Cambridge, UK; Master’s in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Career: Before entering politics, he was a Brigadier-General in the Singapore Armed Forces. Was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in 1990. He also concurrently served as Minister for Finance from 2001 to 2007
If you have two wings to fly with, what part of the bird would you be?
Well, we will be one of the feathers.
That’s very modest…
We are very small. Including all the foreigners we are five million people and India is 1,500 million.
Is China on its way to becoming the dominant power in Asia?
China started earlier than India. They began the reform and opened up in 1977-1978. India didn’t start till perhaps around 1990 when Dr. Manmohan Singh was finance minister and Narasimha Rao was the prime minister. India’s GDP, purchasing power parity is only about third of China’s. Your world trade is only about fifth of China’s. Potentially of course, if India can open up and liberalise and press on with policy reforms, then of course you can narrow the gap and catch up. But in your political system it is not easy to do all the things you want.
So we are paying the price for the democracy in a sense?
I think you are progressing at the rate which your society and a political system enables you to do. I am not sure how you would govern India in a different way.
(This story appears in the 18 June, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)