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Lee Hsien Loong  

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is 李 (Lee).
This article is based on the Wikipedia article of the same name.

Lee Hsien Loong (born 1952) is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. As the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, his career has been shadowed by allegations of nepotism. The Lees have reacted strongly against such allegations by taking legal action, often winning large out-of-court settlements for defamation.

Lee Hsien Loong
PM Lee on freedom of speech (ND rally 2008)
(Video credit: jasonquek08)

2.   Born in Singapore, Lee joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1971 and rose quickly through the ranks, becoming the youngest Brigadier General in Singapore's history. In 1974, he graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a First Class Honours in Mathematics and a Diploma in Computer Science, and subsequently obtained a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1980.


3.   Lee retired from the military in 1984 to enter politics at the age of 32. After being elected as a Member of Parliament that year, he was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Defence in 1984 by his father, Lee Kuan Yew, who was then the Prime Minister. Lee was confirmed as full Minister for Trade and Industry in 1987, and was concurrently Second Minister for Defence. In 1990, he became the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, when Goh Chok Tong became the Prime Minister, concurrently serving as Minister for Trade and Industry until 1992 when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. He underwent a three-month period of chemotherapy and has since recovered. In 1998, Lee was appointed Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and in 2001, Minister for Finance.


4.   On August 12, 2004, Lee succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister, relinquishing his Chairmanship of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to the latter. Lee proposed the establishment of a China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone during his meeting with vice-premier Wu Yi in September 2005. Both agreed that relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should be elevated and Singapore's relations with China has improved significantly under Lee's administration. This development could have been inspired by the evident growth of bilateral trade with the United States, after the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement became effective on January 1, 2004.


5.   Lee's career, however, has also been dogged by allegations of nepotism and a reputation for being arrogant and autocratic. In April 2005, despite substantial oppositions expressed by the public, Lee announced the decision to build two Integrated Resorts (IRs), which are holiday resorts with casinos, in Marina Bay and Sentosa. His political career has been tainted by one particularly persistent rumour in which 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 during a pre-Cabinet meeting in 1990.[1] While those directly involved have never publicly mentioned the alleged incident, the then prime minister Goh Chok Tong dismissed the incident in 2003 when discussing the leadership transition to his successor.[1]   more... at Wikipedia

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