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Sep 20, 2010
MM's take on a 'fantastical' scenario
By Jeremy Au Yong
MOSCOW: Imagine two Russian presidents, one young and one old, came to you and sought your advice on the next decade. What would you tell them?
This was the scenario put to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew last Saturday by Russian business school student Sergei Koltovich at a dialogue in Moscow.
Mr Lee, while stating that the situation was fantastical, said he would give both leaders similar advice: Get out.
'I would say to the older leader, get out of the communist system, shed it. Forget your empire. If you think you can re-create your empire, you are wasting your time and resources,' he said.
[COLOR=_______]To the younger one, his message would be 'to get out of business' and not have the state run all major enterprises.
Mr Lee said that it has been proven time and again that private companies are always more profitable and more efficient than state-run ones.
He said: 'If a man is hired by the state to run the company, his career is not at stake, the company succeeds or fails, his salary may go up and down slightly or he may get the sack. So if there's a crisis, he can go home at 12 o'clock and he's asleep. [/COLOR]
'But if he has a 30 per cent shareholding, that night he'll be working frantically... he must solve the problem or lose his fortune.'
The need to encourage private enterprise was a message Mr Lee would dwell on during his dialogue with the MBA students of the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management. He is a member of the school's international advisory board.
Throughout the hour-long session, he was asked numerous times for his take on Russian issues.
He told the students that the two reasons for his faith in the future of Russia's economy were the enormous amount of natural resources the country had, and the calibre of its people.
But the people were being held back by a system that did not allow private enterprise to bloom and be supported by the government, he said.
'If you discover an oil field, the government comes over and Lukoil says we will look after it. In that way, you control everything, that holds them back,' he said, referring to the Russian oil giant.
Elaborating on the example, Mr Lee said that if the country was more open to letting foreign oil companies in, it could benefit from their expertise. American oil companies, in particular, were very good at drilling, he said.
'If you open up the market, American oil companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, they come exploring. Yes, they make some money but they discover new fields for you and ways to reach it.
'I think it's not in the Russian mindset, it's something that has to change if they want to grow faster,' he said.
Mr Lee attended the meeting of the school's international advisory board yesterday as he wrapped up his visit to Moscow.
He is in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev today and is due to meet Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
MM's take on a 'fantastical' scenario
By Jeremy Au Yong
MOSCOW: Imagine two Russian presidents, one young and one old, came to you and sought your advice on the next decade. What would you tell them?
This was the scenario put to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew last Saturday by Russian business school student Sergei Koltovich at a dialogue in Moscow.
Mr Lee, while stating that the situation was fantastical, said he would give both leaders similar advice: Get out.
'I would say to the older leader, get out of the communist system, shed it. Forget your empire. If you think you can re-create your empire, you are wasting your time and resources,' he said.
[COLOR=_______]To the younger one, his message would be 'to get out of business' and not have the state run all major enterprises.
Mr Lee said that it has been proven time and again that private companies are always more profitable and more efficient than state-run ones.
He said: 'If a man is hired by the state to run the company, his career is not at stake, the company succeeds or fails, his salary may go up and down slightly or he may get the sack. So if there's a crisis, he can go home at 12 o'clock and he's asleep. [/COLOR]
'But if he has a 30 per cent shareholding, that night he'll be working frantically... he must solve the problem or lose his fortune.'
The need to encourage private enterprise was a message Mr Lee would dwell on during his dialogue with the MBA students of the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management. He is a member of the school's international advisory board.
Throughout the hour-long session, he was asked numerous times for his take on Russian issues.
He told the students that the two reasons for his faith in the future of Russia's economy were the enormous amount of natural resources the country had, and the calibre of its people.
But the people were being held back by a system that did not allow private enterprise to bloom and be supported by the government, he said.
'If you discover an oil field, the government comes over and Lukoil says we will look after it. In that way, you control everything, that holds them back,' he said, referring to the Russian oil giant.
Elaborating on the example, Mr Lee said that if the country was more open to letting foreign oil companies in, it could benefit from their expertise. American oil companies, in particular, were very good at drilling, he said.
'If you open up the market, American oil companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, they come exploring. Yes, they make some money but they discover new fields for you and ways to reach it.
'I think it's not in the Russian mindset, it's something that has to change if they want to grow faster,' he said.
Mr Lee attended the meeting of the school's international advisory board yesterday as he wrapped up his visit to Moscow.
He is in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev today and is due to meet Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
