PAP or SDP? The future according to LKY

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Monday, 23 March 2009

Singapore Democrats

Last Friday during a talk he gave at the National University of Singapore Society, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew told the audience: "If you get capable people forming the next government, people who know what they have to do to make Singapore work, then I'm not worried. I'm not worried whether it's PAP or SDP or whatever government." (see below)

Mr Lee was looking ahead into the future on the topic Singapore and Singaporeans – Quarter Century From Now.

On the surface, such a statesmen-like observation is beyond reproach: A set of capable leaders who have the vision and the drive to make things work for the country. Now who wouldn't want such leadership?

The question is, how do these leaders rise and come to the fore? This is where one needs to separate Mr Lee's rhetoric from Mr Lee's reality.

While he acknowledges that such leaders can come from his own party or from the Singapore Democrats, he continues to ensure that only those in the PAP are presented to the Singaporean public.

The media that he controls repeatedly extol the virtues of his own people and of those he thinks serve his grand design. Of course, the SDP does not fall into those categories which is why our news are censored.

But Mr Lee knows that as much as he tries to marginalise, and even get rid of, the Singapore Democrats we are not going to go quietly into the night and hand Singapore's future on a plate to people who show utter contempt for public debate and the democratic process.

The incestuous praising of their own kind will yield a political gene pool that will prove to be anaemic and result in dysfunctionality in the long run.

If it needs to be said, capable people don't always agree. The disagreements are often vehement and sometimes even irreconcilable. But these disagreements need not be destructive for the country. In fact, history shows that great ideas and progress have often come from a clash of minds.

But society can only benefit from the contestation of political thought when the ideas of competing parties are allowed to clash in full public debate.

Mr Lee is right, however, on one score. The SDP is currently attracting capable people who will, in time, form the government.

To be certain, many of these people are presently reluctant to openly declare their support and come forward to work with us because of the oppressive nature of politics in this country. They help out behind the scenes.

But many, despite the threats they face, have openly declared their support for the Singapore Democrats and are courageously standing up to be counted.

They do so because they know where we stand and what we want for this country. We have laid out our vision clearly. We have articulated unambiguously our alternative policies and ideas. We have not been diffident about subjecting our views to public debate. We have taken on board criticisms when we have gone wrong and stoutly defended what we believe to be right.

Because of this we have been able to draw Singaporeans of substance and integrity, guided by their sense of justice and urged on by their conscience – even if it means having to endure whatever political nonsense the Government dishes out.

Money and the lure of the false prestige is not a motivator. Opportunism within the SDP is not the in-thing.

Perhaps it is this knowledge of the Singapore Democrats that prompted Mr Lee, consciously or otherwise, to acknowledge the SDP's role in Singapore's future.

MM Lee describes Singapore's future at NUSS lecture
Asha Popatlal & Cheryl Lim Meiling
Channel NewsAsia

In 25 years' time, Singapore will be a country that reflects the state of the major powers and its Asian neighbours.

While the look and colour of its society might change, its major resource - talent - will remain a predominant issue, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Friday.

He was speaking to an audience of about 500 students, alumni and invited guests at a National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) lecture on the topic of "Singapore and Singaporeans – Quarter Century From Now".

The evening started with Mr Lee officially opening the Alumni Complex at the university – the largest graduate club in the country.

During the dialogue, he said Singapore's future might have a different ethnic and demographic composition as many immigrants become new citizens and permanent residents.

But the main ethnic groups would still be the Chinese, Malays and Indians. The population would also be more educated.

Mr Lee said: "We are caught in a bind – we've got to decide this is our country, our society and we must remain the majority. Yes, we will take immigrants; yes, we will take talented people, but we must be the majority.

"Otherwise, they will change us if they are the majority. So I think 25 years from now, Singapore will be more cosmopolitan because we've got many people from China, India, Malaysia and from the region. We have European children doing National Service."

The minister mentor also painted "optimistic and pessimistic scenarios" of where the world and ASEAN would be. But he said the more likely outcome would be "somewhere in between".

On top of that, Mr Lee spoke about where Singapore's economy could go from here.

"I cannot tell you what's going to happen. I can say the optimistic scenario is in two or three years, we're out of this (crisis). At the worst, four, five or six years. As the IMF said, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are going to be hit. Why? Because we are export dependent.

"I've got economists saying you've got to change your system. Wall Street Journal has said, 'Oh, this won't work, consume yourself'. Four million people to consume and keep an industry that supplies the world with top-end goods - it's rubbish," he said.

On the political front, when asked what would happen to the country if there was a major shift of power, Mr Lee said he was not concerned as to which political party was in charge.

He said: "If you get capable people forming the next government, people who know what they have to do to make Singapore work, then I'm not worried. I'm not worried whether it's PAP or SDP or whatever government.

"But I am worried about the quality of people who get into power. Integrity (is) crucial, (and) ability, experience and a willingness to do what is necessary for the people, and not for yourself."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/416698/1/.html

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Comments (12)

Tue 24 Mar 2009 6:29 AM | | Muhammad Shamin - Only one thing in mind...

No matter he tries to downplay the significance of SDP, the party is always at the back of his mind.

It just haunts him day and night "....SDP....SDP....SDP...."

Tue 24 Mar 2009 11:19 AM | Seelan Palay

From my [url=http://seelanpalay.blogspot.com/2009/03/lee-kuan-yew-mentions-pap-sdp-in-same.html]previous blogpost[/url] on this issue:

Notice that he put only PAP & SDP on par. Even if he doesn't mean it well, it at least means that the SDP is the party that is on his mind enough to mention it offhand. Perhaps he himself sees (or someone has told him) that the SDP has the capability to become the party of the future.

Dr Chee, your efforts and sacrifices will be rewarded. I will stand by you till that day comes, and even if it doesn't, I will take pride in knowing that the days of my life here in Singapore were spent standing with you.

Tue 24 Mar 2009 4:53 PM | Tan Tai Wei

That seemingly statesmanlike reference to the SDP must be only meant for PR and the press.

Remember his seemingly playing his MM role, when in court, praising Chee Chee for his "eloquence" and how he should "clear himself from bankruptcy and contest creditably, like Chiam, as he would stand a better chance to be voted in"?

But, whilst so advising Chee, and appearing for the press as a worthy senior statesman, he was in the very process of making it all the more impossible for Chee to "get out of bankruptcy"!

Tue 24 Mar 2009 7:01 PM | Robox - To Tan Tai Wei

Re: [color=red]"But, whilst so advising Chee, and appearing for the press as a worthy senior statesman, he was in the very process of making it all the more impossible for Chee to "get out of bankruptcy"!"[/color]

I think that's what they mean by people who are able to speak from both corners of their mouth; another variant is people who speak with a forked tongue.

Did someone say something about snakes who cannot be trusted?

Tue 24 Mar 2009 7:22 PM | Robox

Re: [color=red]"While [Lee Kuan Yew] acknowledges that [capable] leaders can come from his own party or from the Singapore Democrats, he continues to ensure that only those in the PAP are presented to the Singaporean public."[/color]

Yes, and that's called [b]nepotism[/b], a form of [b]corruption[/b] that Lee Skunk Yew extols as a Confucianist value that Singaporeans - regardless if they are from a Confucianist cultural heritage - must strive to preserve for nothing less noble than for the sake of the continued survival of the Singapore nation.

No wonder Lee Skunk Yew deserves the accolade of Singapore's Father of Corruption.

Tue 24 Mar 2009 7:21 PM | Robox

Re: [color=red]"But [vehement and sometimes even irreconcilable] disagreements need not be destructive for the country."[/color]

Definitely not destructive for the country; in fact, they can be very constructive for a well rounded and wholistic formation of views that can in turn result in well rounded and wholistic formulation of law, policy and action that benefit the people.

However, vehement and sometimes even irreconcilable disagrements can absolutely annihilate the very being of those who are incapable of withstanding scrutiny of their views and actions.

They can annihilate the very being of the emotionally immature 14-year-old schoolboys in the PAP who nevertheless believe themselves to be full grown adults who can handle disagreements by another adult.

Tue 24 Mar 2009 8:16 PM | leesjuanpat

LKY is shrewd old fox. Do not believe his rhetorics. If he is not afraid of opposition or SDP to come in or for that matter any opposition party to rule S'pore, Lky will not scheme and sue the oppositions into bankruptcy. JBJ and Dr Chee was the victims of judicial injustice which Lky controls.
Mr MM. pls. speak with a true conscience, your agenda and your true self, only you can answer.

Liberate the newspaper, do not curtail
peace demonstrations and this is a challenge, stop sue-ing opposition candidates after elections. I remember vividly the last election you accused
James Gomez as a liar. You should be sued. But who dared sue you, the grand dictator of the courts.

So we can see all the happenings of life unfolding and many of us are no fools anymore. You have overstepped you boundary in human fairness.

Dr Chee, please work well on the ground
and expose more to be loved by the common folks and heartlanders.

LKY, history will change in the political scenario in S'pore with your
self passing into infamous eternity.
Please exit gracefully for a living memory not when the shadow tinges your eyebrows.

Tue 24 Mar 2009 9:13 PM | nusundergrad - voting for the opposition

Dear SDP,

many of my friends, myself included, are sick and tired of the lies of the PAP.

Not only is their lies offensive to our sense of morality and truth, it seems that God himself is punishing us for being so stupid as to put the PAP on a pedestal as idols, when we live as slaves working in a meaningless existence for them.

We are willing to vote in the opposition the next election. We need the SDP to work together with the other opposition parties to form a new government.

Please don't do stupid things anymore. All the opposition parties should work together instead of working against each other.

We are risking our voting record to vote in the opposition. Everyone knows that our vote is not secret. We risk losing government jobs by voting for the opposition.

We as undergrads wish to see responsibility in the SDP. We wish to see unity in the opposition. We wish to see the lies of PAP torn down.

We wish to see this in the next election. Let us work together to bring down this blasphemy to all that is good and true, let us send them and their worship of money out of our law-making chambers, let us stand up as brave people against these ridiculous liars.

Wed 25 Mar 2009 3:48 AM | quantum

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_354024.html

March 24, 2009
Asean human rights body
Evolutionary approach
By Jeremy Au Yong
ASEAN will take an evolutionary approach to human rights, said Foreign Minister George Yeo, as he made clear that the regional human rights body due to be set up later this year will not mark the end of the journey.

In a written answer to a Parliamentary question from Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong on Monday, Mr Yeo stressed that the current terms of reference for the human rights body was not meant to 'exhaustively determine every single detail of Asean's approach to human rights in advance'.

He said: 'Over time, the body will have to build up its own practices and positions in a way analogous to case law. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the Asean human rights body will depend, not just on the terms of reference but on our evolution as an Asean Community and our growing sense of a common destiny.'

Mr Siew had asked for Singapore's position on the terms of reference, a document which, among other things, outlines the purpose, structure and scope of the body. He also asked for an update on the work of the High Level Panel tasked with hammering out those details.

In his reply, Mr Yeo said the panel had submitted the first draft of the terms of reference to foreign ministers during the Asean Summit in Thailand in February.

There the foreign ministers agreed that the human rights body should be launched at the next Asean Summit, to be held in October.

If that target is met, it would mark the culmination of a process that started more than 15 years ago when Asean leaders first agreed to work on a common approach to human rights. Progress has been slow due to disagreements among Asean member states.

Mr Yeo stressed that the path ahead would be no easier, as views among the 10 Asean countries are still polarised.

'This diversity is a political reality that cannot be wished away. Some Asean member States preferred a body which is less intrusive because they believe that Western countries and NGOs might manipulate it to interfere in their domestic politics. Others made the opposite argument, that a robust and credible human rights body will help us address this issue on our own terms,' he explained.

But the Foreign Minister stressed that he was 'not pessimistic' about the prospects of the human rights body.

He said: 'I hope the High Level Panel will be able to improve the terms of reference. We will certainly try. But we should not forget that this is a very delicate negotiation where every word and every comma has been and will continue to be carefully scrutinised and debated before being agreed.'

'The final document will be a political compromise. So it will not be a perfect document, but a document that reflects the current state of consensus on human rights in Asean at a particular time,' he added.

Wed 25 Mar 2009 3:54 AM | quantum

Public Order Act to be revised

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdFaKTRbZUc

Wed 25 Mar 2009 7:10 PM | tan - shut up already.

Hey shithead, cut the stupid talk. You are full of shit.

Fri 27 Mar 2009 8:22 AM | Aung - The picture of Dorian Gray???

The old man tried to sound magnanimous. In reality, he hates SDP and all other freedom lovers.

By the way, kudos to SDP for your excellent choice of the old man’s photo! It reminds me of “The picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. ;-)