Minister's privileges

jas3406@cyberway.com.sg (Jason) wrote:
SM Lee could have done things for himself and his family. With a
double honours he could have got a very comfortable job and provided
for himself and his family.

But he did not. He championed Singapore's cause for the people of
Singapore and sacrificed all his time, efforts and resources to make
Singapore what it is today.



Business Times (Singapore)      May 22, 1996

HEADLINE: Be realistic about level playing field: SM Lee

    (SINGAPORE) Senior Minister  Lee Kuan Yew yesterday told young
Singaporeans that the government cannot force the private sector to level the
playing field for them.

   Addressing the allegation that ministers had an "inside track" on things
like property purchases, Mr Lee said: "There is no way, and I say this with some 
sympathy for the young and aspiring professionals or young executives, for
them to have the same value to a seller of a product as a well-known figure or
sports star or a TV star."

  In a robust, one-and-a-half-hour speech in Parliament, he said: "Let us be
realistic and not expect that the government can force the private sector to
give you, the professionals, a level playing field. No. It's their business.
They want to get the best customer that will help them sell their product,
add value."

   It was a fact of life that businessmen would favour some customers over
others and give them special treatment because of who they are.

   "I ask all of you to be honest, including Mr Chiam (See Tong). All ministers 
who carry weight, all MPs who are popular, you go to a hawker centre. If they
gave the other customer one egg, they'll give you two.  Count on it."

   Mr Lee was speaking in a debate on the four condominiums he and Deputy
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong purchased from Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL). The
two ministers gave their accounts of how they came to buy the condos at Nassim
Jade and Scotts 28.   
   Except for BG Lee's Nassim Jade unit, they both got the same discounts
given to all early buyers under the common practice of discounting adopted by 
developers to test-market their projects.

   Mr Lee made the point about fair play after two newspaper editors told him
that the fuss over the condo purchases was over equity, not legality. The
common grouse was that ministers, senior civil servants and MPs on the "inside
track" were invited to soft launches, while ordinary folk had to queue.

   Mr Lee said while the government could ensure equal treatment for buyers
of  HDB flats and executive condominiums, it could not level the private
sector playing field.

   He told the House how over the years, people he dealt with -from his
tailor  to his shoemaker to multinational Johnson & Johnson which provided
him with a stent for his recent heart operation -had let him get "the inside
track and special treatment". 

   "It is a fact of life. There is no way of me having to join a queue to buy
a house, or my wife. All I need do, which I have not done, is to tell my
secretary to ring up Mr Ng Teng Fong or Kwek Leng Joo and say, "I like that
development'. "Even if all the units were sold, they will find one unit for
me, surely. And they will compensate that man with a special price the next best
building that they put up. Or Mr Ng Teng Fong wouldn't be Mr Ng Teng Fong. 
So too Mr Ong Beng Seng.