Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed Singapore's exclusivity deal with U.S. popstar Taylor Swift, defending the arrangement.

In a press conference in Melbourne, Australia on March 5, 2024, PM Lee was asked how he responds to criticism received from some politicians in other Southeast Asian nations about the "exclusive arrangement".

Singapore is the only Southeast Asian stop on Swift's The Eras Tour.

Successful arrangement

In the previous week, Filipino lawmaker Joey Salceda said that the move is "not what good neighbours do".

“I give it to them that the policy worked,” he said, as reported by SCMP.

“But it was at the expense of neighbouring countries, which could not attract their foreign concertgoers, and whose fans had to go to Singapore.

I don’t think we should just let things like this pass. We should still officially register our opposition. It also runs contrary to the principle of consensus-based relations and solidarity on which Asean was founded."

PM Lee confirmed that Singapore's Tourism Development Fund provided incentives to Swift in what he called a "successful arrangement".

He added that the fund is a "post-Covid" effort to boost tourism after the pandemic.

"If that's what's needed to be done to get an outcome which is mutually beneficial and which, from Singapore's point of view, serves not just to grow the economy, but also to bring in visitors and goodwill from all over the region, I don't see why not."

PM Lee suggested if Singapore had not made the deal, another of the 10 Asean countries might have done so.

"I don't see that as being unfriendly. Sometimes one country makes a deal, sometimes another country does. I don't explicitly say you will come here, only on condition that you will go other places."

He then speculated that a similar arrangement had been made between Swift and Australia, where she performed seven shows before the Singapore leg of her tour.

The sum paid to Swift is estimated to be between S$2 million and S$4 million, according to CNA.

PM Lee is currently in Australia to attend the Asean Leaders Summit.

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Top image from Prime Minister's Office/Facebook and @taylorswift13/X