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By Peter Maloney
Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister and the man who put Singapore on the map as an economic power house, is now MM Lee to Singaporeans, or Minster Mentor Lee.
Former presidents in the U.S. have an honorary role and can often easily attract press attention (Bill Clinton weighing in on how to solve BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, for instance). In Singapore, however, that role has been made into an official position with its own title, Minister Mentor, and MM Lee, aside from other frequent public appearances and proclamations, writes a regular column in the island-nation's tightly controlled and only major daily newspaper, The Straits Times.
In his most recent column MM Lee weighed in on whether or not East Asian nations should form an economic cooperation zone similar to the European Union.
MM Lee does not pull his punches. No, he said. Why would Singapore want to be associated with troubled regimes in the region? Singapore has come too far to throw its lot in with nations that are not in control of their own destiny.
During his 31-year tenure as prime minister, Lee's unique blend of pro-business policies and social engineering steered Singapore from the third world to a country that now ranks 42nd in the world in terms of nominal GDP, fourth in GDP per capital (in terms of purchasing power parity; the U.S. ranks sixth), and 10th in terms of foreign reserves.
MM Lee sees the liability of political strife as recently displayed off the Korean peninsula with North Korea allegedly sinking a South Korean navy ship and in Thailand with the recent and bloody anti-government protests as an impediment to a successful outcome. And MM Lee is all about successful outcomes.
Another sign of that success was loudly proclaimed on the front page of The Straits Times the same day that MM Lee's column appeared. State investment vehicle, Temasek Holdings, reported record assets of S$186 billion (US$134 billion) in the year ended March 31. Temasek's assets surged 43 percent in its past fiscal year, and the investment firm said its post 2002 investments returned over 23 percent on an annualized basis, compared with 12 percent for investments before 2002.
The secret of Temasek's success? Investing in Asia. As of March 31, 78 percent of Temasek's portfolio was in Asia, up from 74 percent in the previous year. And where within Asia did Temasek put its weight? Temasek put 32 percent of its investments in Singapore, while the rest of Asia, excluding Japan, constituted 46 percent of its portfolio. OECD and other countries made up the remaining 22 percent.
Temasek does not give more detail than those broad strokes, but a look at the major companies in Temasek's portfolio shows no significant exposure to either Korea or Thailand.
It appears that MM Lee's views still hold weight in Singapore.
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