Early life
The eldest child of former-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo, Lee was born in Singapore on February 10, 1952. In Lee Kuan Yew's biography, the young Lee had learned Jawi script since he was five, and has always been interested in the affairs of Singapore, often following his father to the rally grounds since 1963.
Lee studied at Nanyang Primary School, received his secondary education at and subsequently studied at National Junior College, where he learned the clarinet under the tutelage of Adjunct Associate Professor Ho Hwee Long. He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1974 with First Class Honours in Mathematics and the . He subsequently obtained a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's in 1980.
Lee joined the Singapore Armed Forces in 1971 and rose quickly through the ranks becoming the youngest Brigadier General in Singapore's history. In 1978, he attended the at Fort Leavenworth. He retired from the military in 1984 to enter politics and was elected as a Member of Parliament that year. Lee's first wife, Malaysian-born doctor Wong Ming Yang, died on 28 October 1982 of a heart attack three weeks after giving birth to Lee's first son Lee Yi Peng, a mildly albino. There were rumours that Wong died of suicide. In 1985, Lee married Ho Ching, a fast-rising civil servant. They have one daughter and three sons , including one daughter and son from Lee's first wife.
In 1992, Lee was diagnosed with lymphoma. He underwent a three-month period of chemotherapy and has since recovered.
Early political career
Lee entered politics at the age of 32 in 1984. He was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Defence in December 1984 by his father, Lee Kuan Yew, and was subsequently promoted to Acting Minister for Trade and Industry in 1986, and the Second Minister for Defence.
In February 1987, issues on ethnic relationships in Singapore surfaced when Malaysian leaders asked the Members of Parliament why there were so few Malays holding key positions in the . Lee Hsien Loong, then Second Minister for Defence, stated that the SAF did not want its soldiers to be in a position where the loyalty of the soldiers might clash with racial and religious factors.
Deputy Prime Minister
When Goh Chok Tong became the Prime Minister of Singapore on November 28, 1990, Lee became the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore. He focused on economic and civil service matters and concurrently served as Minister for Trade and Industry until 1992.
Lee was appointed Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 1998, and Minister for Finance in 2001. During Lee's thirteen and a half years as Deputy Prime Minister, he exerted significant influence on Singapore's governance, especially in economic and social affairs.
To ease the growing budget deficit due to falling tax revenues from cuts in corporate and personal income taxes and other factors such as the Iraq War and outbreak, Lee proposed on August 29, 2003 to raise the from three percent to five percent, a change that took place in January 2004.
Lee also initiated several relaxations of the requirements for Singapore citizenship, especially in for foreign husbands of Singaporean women and foreign-born children of Singaporeans. The changes were made after repeated pleas from MPs and the Remaking Singapore Committee.
Prime Minister
2004
On August 12, 2004, Lee Hsien Loong succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister, relinquishing his Chairmanship of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to Goh Chok Tong. Lee was sworn in by former Yong Pung How at the , office of the President of Singapore.
Lee made his maiden National Day Rally on August 12, 2004. In his speech, Lee initiated the policy of the "Five-day work week", a plan that would remove a half-working day on Saturday. The plan took effect on 1 January 2005.
Lee also proposed two-month paid maternity leaves for new-born's mothers and financial incentives to mothers who give birth to a fourth child. These policies were initiated in response to the declining birth rate that Singapore has experienced in recent years.
In November 2004, Lee sparked a national debate when he revealed a proposal to build two Integrated Resorts which are holiday resorts with casinos. In April 2005, despite substantial oppositions expressed by the public, Lee announced the decision to approve the proposal. The two IRs are to be built in Marina Bay and Sentosa. To limit the negative social impact of casino gambling, Lee suggested that safeguards be implemented, such as prohibiting minors from entering the casinos and charging a SGD$100 entrance fee for Singaporeans and permanent residents or SGD$2000 for a year long entrance fee.
2006
In February 2006, Lee announced in parliament a S$2.6 billion bonus called the ''Progress Package'' . The plan was to distribute budget surpluses accumulated from the past few years to adult Singaporeans in the form of cash to everyone, top-ups to the state pension savings for elders, rental and utilities rebates for those living in public housing, educational funds for school children from low-income families, and cash bonuses for low-wage workers above 40 and for those men who have completed National Service. The cash bonuses was distributed in early May 2006.
Critics, especially members of the opposition, have slammed the Progress Package as a "vote-buying exercise" for the held on 6 May 2006. In that election, Lee led the People's Action Party to win 82 of the 84 seats, including 37 walkovers. Lee and his 6-member team won the Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency with 96,591 votes out of the total 159,872 votes cast. Most of the opposition WP's team of 6 were their 20s and the constituency was contested for the first time in 15 years. Its decision to contest Ang Mo Kio came as a surprise, as the opposition was expected to stay away from GRCs helmed by heavyweight ministers; but the party said that giving Ang Mo Kio residents a chance to vote was a prime reason for contesting the GRC. Given the inexperience of the WP team and Lee Hsien Loong's position as the Prime Minister, they won a surprisingly strong 49,468 votes . There were also an extremely high percentage of void votes, 13,813 .
Foreign relations
;Relations with China
Relations with China have improved under Lee's administration. Smooth progress has been made in areas of trade, tourism and investment, which is not merely in accordance with the interest of the two countries, but promises to be further beneficial to the common development of the region. The China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation is responsible for promoting Sino-Singaporean co-operations.
During his meeting with vice-premier Wu Yi in September 2005, Lee proposed the establishment of a China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone, which would achieve the goal of realizing US$50 billion in trade volume before 2010. In doing so, both agreed that relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should be elevated.
During his seven-day visit to China in late October 2005, the Prime Minister stressed the need of improving bilateral diplomatic relationships between ASEAN and China. Lee also urged leaders to focus on the next wave of growth in north-eastern China.
"It is a long-term commitment. There is no place in the world that you can go in and your money just grows on trees. Not in China."
; Relations with United States
Singapore has generally had a favourable relationship with the United States. The growth of bilateral trade improved commercial and diplomatic ties between the two countries after the implementation of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and the growth in bilateral trade has been evident, since the Free Trade Agreement became effective on January 1, 2004.
Lee made his inaugural visit to the United States, as Prime Minister of Singapore, between 6th July and 16 July, 2005. Several other ministers, notably the defence minister Teo Chee Hean and foreign minister George Yeo, accompanied Lee.
On July 12, 2005, President George W. Bush and Lee signed the "Strategic Framework Agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Singapore for a Closer Cooperation Partnership in Defence and Security". The agreement was a natural step in the expansion of bilateral ties. President Bush and the then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had first announced their intention to conclude this agreement in October 2003.
The intention of the agreement is to address common threats such as terrorism and the proliferation of Weapons of mass destruction , which called for even closer cooperation between the United States and Singapore.
The agreement recognizes Singapore's role as a Major Security Cooperation Partner and will expand the scope of current cooperation in areas such as counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, joint military exercises and training, policy dialogues, and defence technology. The Agreement will further enhance regional stability by supporting the continued security presence of the United States in Southeast Asia.
Both Lee and Bush agree that US presence in Southeast Asia has promoted peace and stability, which are crucial for regional cooperation and economic development.
During their meeting, both Bush and Lee acknowledged the progress in the war on terror. Lee commended Bush's 'resolute and steadfast stance in the war on terror' and expressed Singapore’s continued support in this endeavour. In exchange, Bush commended the professionalism of the Singapore Armed Forces personnel, who have been deployed in support of Iraq operations over the past two years and of the Singapore Police Force, which has provided critically important training. Both Bush and Lee also pledged to sustain the close cooperation between the United States and Singapore in key regional and global multilateral institutions.
Controversy
As the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Lee's career has been shadowed by allegations of nepotism. At the age of 32 he became the youngest Brigadier General in Singapore's history, and from a young age was widely tipped to be Lee Kuan Yew's successor as Prime Minister. When Lee Kuan Yew stepped down as Prime Minister to make way for his successor, Goh Chok Tong, several critics had seen Goh as a seat-warmer, but Lee Kuan Yew said he had disproved that. In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew stressed that he could not have his son directly succeed him.
"It was better that someone else succeed me as Prime Minister. Then were Loong to make the grade later, it would be clear that he made it on his own merit."
However, such allegations by critics held on for six to seven years until Goh managed to prove his worth by regaining seats and pushing up the PAP's vote share in the 1997 elections.
Perhaps understandably, the appointment of Lee's wife Ho Ching as the director of state investment agency Temasek has also raised some eyebrows. The Lees reacted strongly against such allegations by taking legal action, often winning large out-of-court settlements for defamation from, among others, the ''International Herald Tribune'' , '''' , ''The Economist'' and the Financial Times .
Lee's career has also been dogged by a reputation for being arrogant and autocratic. According to one particularly persistent rumour, at a pre-Cabinet meeting in 1990 an enraged Lee first insulted the then Minister for Finance Richard Hu and then physically slapped the then Minister for National Development S. Dhanabalan when he sided with Hu and demanded an apology . While those directly involved have never publicly mentioned the alleged incident, in 2003, then prime minister Goh Chok Tong dismissed the incident when discussing the leadership transition to his successor.
On July 10, 2004, Lee visited Taiwan, causing displeasure in the People's Republic of China. On August 28, 2004 in his maiden National Day Rally speech, he criticized the Taiwanese leadership and populace of overestimating the support they would receive if they were to declare Taiwan independence. At the same time, he also clarified during the rally that his visit to Taiwan in July was to ensure he gather enough intelligence to make right decisions when he took over the baton as Prime Minister. He reiterated his support for the One-China policy. Later that year in September, Foreign Minister George Yeo cautioned the United Nations General Assembly about the dangers of letting the cross-strait relationship deteriorate. In response, an enraged Taiwan Foreign Minister, Mark Chen, called Singapore a "''Pi-Sai'' Country", translated literally from Hokkien , it means a "country no bigger than a snot". The Taiwanese Foreign Minister later made a formal apology.
In 2005, Lee made a remark regarding Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visit to Yasukuni Shrine, stating that ''from the point of view of many countries in the region who have experienced Japanese occupation, it raises many unhappy memories''. His remark drew public demonstrations outside Singapore embassy in Japan on May 24, 2005 with protestors criticising Lee for "meddling" with Japanese issues.
In November 2005, Singapore had a diplomatic row with Australia over the imminent execution of Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van. In one incident, then Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his government were upset when Lee failed to inform Howard the scheduled date of the execution during their meeting at the APEC summit even though Nguyen's mother was already informed of the date. Appeals for clemency by Australian government and Nguyen's lawyer were turned down. Singapore did however grant an exception to allow Nguyen's mother to hold his hands following a personal appeal by Howard. Nguyen was later executed on December 2, 2005.
Defamation judgment
On September 24, 2008, , in a summary judgement by Justice Woo Bih Li, ruled that the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine-Hugo Restall, editor, defamed Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The court found the 2006 article "Singapore's 'Martyr': Chee Soon Juan" meant that Lee Kuan Yew "has been running and continues to run Singapore in the same corrupt manner as Durai operated NKF and he has been using libel actions to suppress those who would question to avoid exposure of his corruption." FEER has 30 days to appeal. The court sentenced FEER publisher and editor, owned by Dow Jones & Company , to pay damages to complainants.
Salary
Lee Hsien Loong currently earns an annual salary of S$3,870,000 , an increase of 25% from S$3,091,200 , making him the highest paid head of government in the world. For comparison purposes, the President of the United States earns a salary of US$400,000. The new salary of SG$3.8 million took effect in January 2008. There has been a lot of controversy on this issue and the prime minister has responded by lending a portion of his salary to charity. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew claimed in parliament that the reason why the Singapore head of state, along with his ministers, deserve such a high income is due to the fact that Singapore is a small country and lacks a large pool of talented people.
Electoral record
Interviews
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