Lee Hsien Loong

"The Offending Words and Images, in their natural and ordinary meaning, mean and were understood to mean that I, as the Prime Minister of Singapore and Chairman of GIC, am guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid by Singaporeans to the CPF."

"Right now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong, Steve Chia. We can deal with them. Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I'm going to spend all my time thinking what's the right way to fix them, to buy my supporters votes, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?"

"I thanked the President [George W. Bush] for the steadfastness and resolve with which he's tackling the very complicated problems in the Middle East and Iraq, as well as the Israel-Palestinian issue....It's critical for us in Southeast Asia that America does that.... because it affects America's standing in Asia and the world, and also the security environment in Asia because extremists, the jihadists, watch carefully what's happening in the Middle East and take heart, or lose heart, depending on what's happening."

"And his course mate asked him, "Whom does the CPIB report to?" So, he thought this was an organisational question. So, he said, "Well, it is independent, it has got its own chain of command, it reports to the Prime Minister." And his course mate looked at him again and says, "Who does the CPIB report to?" Why did he ask that question? Because the question, at the root of it, is the age-old problem – who is to judge the people who judge the people who judge the judges? Who is in charge? Somebody has to be in charge. And in Singapore, the Prime Minister is in charge and if he is corrupt, you are sunk."

"As close neighbours, Singapore and Malaysia must expect issues to arise between us from time to time. But provided we can address them in a constructive spirit, we can manage the problems, contain the side-effects and work towards win-win outcomes. I would like to thank Prime Minister Mahathir again for his warm hospitality. This year Singapore is commemorating our Bicentennial. It is 200 years since Sir Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore and the history of modern Singapore began. We will be holding a special National Day Parade at the Padang. I am very glad that Tun Mahathir and Tun Siti Hasmah accepted my invitation to visit Singapore on the 9th of August for our National Day Parade."

"When it comes to corruption and wrongdoing, crimes, we have an independent process as CPIB investigation and referral to the Attorney-General's Chambers for an opinion. We are dealing with laws, with legality, and ultimately, the Courts are the arbiter of what is legal or illegal. But ethics and standards of propriety, those are the Prime Minister's responsibility. I have to set the standards of what is ethical, what is proper. I cannot outsource them. For example, to appoint an ethics advisor to tell me what is proper or not proper. I have to know what is proper or not. Otherwise, I should not be here."

"Ob es aus der Decke tropft, es eine Belästigung durch Mücken oder ein störender Nachbar ist: Normalerweise fragen die Leute zuerst: Was wird die Regierung dagegen tun? [...] Das Kindermädchen sollte sich nicht immer um alles kümmern."