THE LEE HSIEN LOONG YEARS: 2004-2024 Keeping Singapore special

PM Lee’s focus on growing the economy helped create more social safety nets, steered Singapore through crises and reimagined the city.

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Lee Hsien Loong struck all the right notes at his first major appearance as prime minister in 2004.

In his three-hour speech at the National Day Rally, he was by turns candid and convincing, self-deprecating and inspiring, as he rallied his audience to get behind his leadership.

He seemed to be aware that he had a reputation for being tough, for he said at one point: I know that some Singaporeans worry that new PM, maybe very fierce and may push Singaporeans to run even faster.”

But his demeanour eyes twinkling behind his glasses and a face that lit up easily with smiles signalled that maybe he wasn’t going to be that stern a prime minister after all.

Observers who had expected a cautious maiden speech were surprised when he broached controversial topics like the proposal to have a casino, as he heralded a more open Singapore.

“This is not just a change of the PMs. It’s a generational change to the post-independence generation,” he declared.

He gamely poked fun at past policies. Recounting how he had seen young people outside the Esplanade drawing pictures on the pavements with chalk, he said, laughing: I thought to myself 15 years ago, we might have caned them, but today, we have... Mica Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts). So, I think that we have changed.”

Mr Lee, 72, the elder son of Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, entered politics in 1984 when he was 32. He came with a reputation for being formidably clever, but also demanding and impatient.

Quickly, he rose to helm the tough ministries of Defence, Trade and Industry, and Finance, becoming deputy prime minister in 1990.

The story goes that civil servants devised a way to gauge his mood in his early years in government.