But while there is a disparity of income, he noted that there is no disparity when it comes to homes and schools.

Responding to a question on how the gap can be reduced at an Institute of Policy Studies conference on Friday, MM Lee said the ministers have noted the growing income gap over the last five years and have taken steps to get people to be more employable by upgrading their skills, or reconfiguring low-end jobs.

He pointed to the Workfare scheme and other income supplements as examples.

'But crucial in all this is from the very beginning, we decided that we could not have too great a disparity between the successful and the less successful, because if we have that, then we'll have a disproportionate number of the unsuccessful who are minorities,' said Mr Lee.

'So we set out to make quite sure everybody has a home,' he said, adding that newly-weds got grants of up to $40,000 to $50,000 to start off, and HDB flats had risen in value over the years.

'The disparity is in current income. Disparity is not in the homes they have, the schools their children go to,' he said.

'And we're topping up by giving them subsidies for the conservancy, the power, water, many different ways where expenditure is necessary and cannot be avoided.'

'But I'm not in favour of subsidising transport because then you will unnecessarily travel,' he said.

'In this way we impose on every individual the responsibility for his life,' he added.

The biggest single problem - and the most difficult one - is to get people to understand that they are responsible for their own medical problems, including taking care of their weight and diet, Mr Lee said.

'I'm not in favour of saying, I will subsidise you for this, for that or the other. I say I give you this lump sum, I top up your Medisave,' he said.

'You keep yourself healthy, that Medisave can go on to your children. That's an incentive to keep healthy. And we got to think up all these ways to make sure that whatever the divergences, the people at the bottom, the less successful, do not feel deprived.'