Mr Peter Heng, a public relations specialist, is perplexed by Mr Lee Hsien Loong's image problem. That was not the impression he had in his early encounter witht he future Prime Minister. Back in the mid-1970s, Mr Heng was a manpower clerk in an artillery unit in Taman Jurong, and Mr Lee was one of his senior officers.

'One day, he gave me a lengthy document to type,' he recalls. 'He asked me politely, when as an officer he could just have ordered me to do so. If you talk about the perception of him being brusque and rude, he wasn't. He was gentlemanly.'

Opposition MP Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir) recalls how Mr Lee invited him to join a government delegation to China 1992.

'During the three weeks I was in China, DPM Lee treated all MPs in the delegation as equals, regardless whether he or she belonged to the ruling party,' he told Lianhe Zaobao. 'His sincere attitude left a lasting impression on me.'

The growing popularityof "the horse races at Sanlucar de Barrameda beach" is due mainly to the special charm of the places where the races are held; the natural , improvised race track is the strip of wet sand left bare with the evening low tide. The unusual setting (Spain's longest linearrace track), together with the beauty of its golden sunsets, is the scene of what has come to be called "the greatest show on the southern beaches".