MM Lee: The Member has not answered my point. Is he saying we are comparing apples with apples? Is he saying that the system of government in Finland, Denmark and Switzerland can bring (them) from First World to a superpower? Does he realise that...our external trade is 3.5 times that of our GDP, higher than Hong Kong at three times, and that if this economy ever falters, that's the end of Singapore and its First World status?
     Denmark, Switzerland and Finland are part of Europe. They can fail and you are still caught in a European situation. If you fail here, you go back to a South-east Asian situation. Just look around you.

Mr Low: Is the MM saying that without paying such a high salary, we are bound to fail? I don not think even if we pay top-earner salaries the present government can bring Singapore up to a superpower.

MM Lee: I am putting a simple question and asking for his clarification. He has compared Singapore as if it were a Denmark, a Switzerland or a Finland. Their system, their governments never produced the kind of transformation that we have, and their system and their government have a broader base. It can afford a mediocre government.
     The Singapore base is less than 700 sq km and when we started, it was less than 600. Could the system in Denmark, Switzerland or Finland produce a transformation as in Singapore?

Mr Low: On what basis does MM think that the same system in Denmark and Switzerland put in Singapore will not be able to transform Singapore into what we are today?
     I have no claim that it will happen, but I would like to know from the wisdom of MM, why he thinks that it will not.

MM Lee: I would like the Member to explain why he thinks Singapore is comparable to Denmark, Switzerland or Finland.
     Look at the size of the country, the location of the country, the resourcesof the country and the history of the people. Then look at Singapore, its size, its history and the nature of its population.
     To make the transformation from what we were in 1959 or 1965, whichever the starting point, to what we are requires an extraordinary government with extraordinary government officers to support it.
     If you go back to an ordinary system that exists around us, then you will go down to those levels. It is as simple as that. There is no guarantee that Singapore with less than 700 sq km can maintain this position.

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