16 Sep 2003
Singapore Government Press Release
Media Relations Division, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts
MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2nd Storey, Singapore 179369
Tel: 6837-9666
SPEECH BY PRIME MINISTER GOH CHOK TONG AT SENIOR MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW'S BIRTHDAY DINNER ON TUESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2003, AT 9.15 PM AT SHANGRI-LA HOTEL
My role tonight is straightforward. It is to announce two projects, and seek your support for them. The projects are to honour SM, a man whose name is synonymous with Singapore, on his 80th birthday.
To give you an illustration: when I was in Williams College, my class went on a field trip to Puerto Rico, a small state in the Caribbean. One Puerto Rican youth pointed me out to his friend, saying excitedly, "Cina, Cina." Obviously, he had not seen a Chinese before. I smiled at him and said, "Singapore." He smiled back and said, "Ah! Lee Kuan Yew." And that was in 1967.
Actually, the two projects are worth doing in themselves. So to be honest with you, we are, in a sense, borrowing this occasion and SM's name to anoint the projects and raise funds for them! After all, what better occasion than SM's birthday to tap your generosity?
First, I am pleased to announce that we will set up a school of public policy at the National University of Singapore. The school will be named the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Naming the School after SM is a fitting and lasting recognition of the role he has played in achieving First World status for Singapore. It is also a tribute to his deep insights on the issues and challenges facing Singapore, the region and the world. As Carnes Lord, Professor of Strategy at the US Naval War College and former staff of the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan, wrote in his book, "The Modern Prince: What Leaders Need to Know Now":
"... as Singapore's prime minister for some three decades... (Lee Kuan Yew) is the architect of the new nation's constitutional system and governing institutions, and developed the sophisticated economic strategy that was responsible for Singapore's rapid entry into the First World... Lee Kuan Yew created a nation where none existed or could have been predicted... (He also) undertook a sustained effort to create the institutions that would enable him to withdraw gracefully from power while preserving his larger political legacy of nation building and constitutional construction."
With the School, we aim to establish Singapore as a global point of reference for the study of public policy and administration. It will bring together policy makers, administrators and academia from around the world, to do research, learn from one another and impart their knowledge. Its students, who will come mainly from the region, will learn from international best practices. In this regard, Singapore offers a useful reservoir of experiences and ideas, having transformed itself from Third World to First.
We will not be starting the School from scratch. We will build on the ongoing NUS Masters programmes in Public Policy and in Public Management. These two programmes are run in collaboration with Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Over the years, they have attracted many up-and-coming public sector officials from around the region.
Next, I am also pleased to announce that we will launch a three-part documentary on the history of Singapore. The short video you saw earlier this evening was a teaser. The documentary will be co-produced by MediaCorp and a prestigious foreign partner. The aim is to tell the Singapore story in a way that will inspire Singaporeans to continue with the story. Then the Singapore story will never close. I have tasked Ambassador Tommy Koh, Chairman of our National Heritage Board, to lead the project. The NUS History Department will do the research. The materials the Department compiles will be useful references for the School.
Tonight's dinner launches the fund-raising efforts for the two projects. At the Tripartite Golf Tournament dinner last Sunday, Lim Boon Heng asked me what the Government would contribute. I told him that as the projects were to honour SM, the bulk of the funds must come from the public and not the Government. He agreed, and committed that for every dollar the Government gave, he and his committee would raise $1.50. Well, the Government will contribute $25 million. So Boon Heng, your committee will have to come up with $37.5 million. Let's round it up to $38 million, to make a total of $63 million for the School and the documentary.
Already, we have received pledges from donors amounting to $20 million.
That is not all. The Singapore Totalisator Board has also agreed to contribute $5 million per year for the next ten years to help meet the School's recurrent costs. Mind you, this does not let Boon Heng and his committee off the hook. It is not part of the $38 million they have to raise. It is in addition.
I thank the Singapore Totalisator Board and all the generous donors for their contributions.
Last but not least, let me wish SM good health, and many happy returns. There is so much more he can give Singapore. And as tonight's gathering has shown, like vintage wine, his drawing power gets better with age!
Thank you.