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Published May 16, 2011

It looks to PM Lee forming fresh team but regrets loss of global connections

(SINGAPORE) The business community has greeted the decisions of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong to leave the Cabinet with a mixture of hope and concern.

Hope that the move will pave the way for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to form a fresh team to carry the country forward - as the two former prime ministers desire. And concern that the loss in experience and global connections built by SM Goh and MM Lee will set the country back.

'We hope that with their strong relationships and goodwill, they will continue for as long as they can to open doors to help Singapore companies in their efforts to grow their business overseas,' says Choo Chiau Beng, Keppel Corporation's chief executive.

Adds another local businessman who asks not to be named: 'The loss of George Yeo has resulted in a major loss of experience and competency. Now MM and SM have decided to leave the Cabinet - more and a bigger loss.

'Is this good for the country? Do any of the ministers today have the same level of recognition and authority as MM and SM in the international community. We live in a complex world today and MM and SM will be missed.'

Lamenting the decision of two old guards to quit Cabinet, CapitaLand's group chief executive Liew Mun Leong says it was thanks to Mr Lee that the government has acquired the discipline to achieve budget surplus virtually every year - an 'unparalleled performance'.

'Look at the budget fiasco the US and other Western countries have got themselves into,' he says.

Singapore's happy situation is the product of Mr Lee's 'high integrity government with hard-nose thinking, financial discipline, long-term progressive thinking and efficient execution', according to Mr Liew.

'Without financial health, a small country like Singapore cannot feel safe,' he says.

David Ang, executive director of Singapore Human Resources Institute, worries that a disproportionate concern with young voters may lead the new Cabinet - minus Mr Goh and Mr Lee - to focus on the younger generation and neglect the old.

'You need diversity in the Cabinet to ensure there's balance in policy-making,' he says.

But David Leong, managing director of PeopleWorld-Wide Consultancy, says there's no turning back.

'The new team must fight light with heavier responsibilities and the electorate is not forgiving and will push for changes if changes do not come from within the PAP,' he says.

Amy Khor, Minister of State for Environment and Water Resources, says in forming his new cabinet, PM Lee will probably bear in mind Singapore's vulnerability and the 'hard truths' spoken of especially by MM Lee.

'But hearing the voices of the people in the recent general election, greater attention will be paid to the visceral and emotional, and not just the intellectual aspects of policy making,' she says.

Which business will welcome, according to businessman Peter Tay.

'It will be good for business if the government takes heed of the undercurrents and feedback from the post-elections, which clearly show that the younger Singaporeans can think for themselves,' he says. 'If a more engaging political landscape has developed, reflecting the people's choice, we have progressed.'

S Kumar, managing partner of Huntington Communications, says it was a 'magnanimous move' on the part of Mr Goh and Mr Lee to quit, in the bigger scheme of succession planning.

'One of the biggest hindrance for any Cabinet or management is the overhang factor,' he says. 'Now we can truly say, 'Majulah Singapura'.'

Mr Kumar says leadership, stability and vision are the key considerations for business. And the message which the two former prime ministers' departure conveyed is that 'the leadership is serious about managing the country with a heart, listening to its constituency and ruling with a fair hand'.