January 25, 2010 by admin
Filed under Columnists, Opinion,
Yoong Siew Wah
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By Yoong Siew Wah
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen can hardly be classified as a PAP
heavyweight and so his political views on MM Lee Kuan Yew should be
taken with a certain amount of circumspection. He is probably
overawed by the intimidating reputation of MM Lee. Which
lightweight minister is not? MM Lee is after all the father of the
prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and is probably the power behind the
throne.
So when Dr. Ng Eng Hen was popped the question as to why MM Lee
was not stepping down by Mr. Dennis Tan, a workplace safety and
health trainer and member of the National University of Singapore
Society (NUSS) at a dialogue following Dr. Ng’s speech to members
of the NUSS and NUS alumni and staff on Friday night (22-1-10), to
his credit he appeared not flustered and was able to give a
dipolmatic answer. Dr. Ng replied: “The question is, does MM add
value to Singapore? I’m not talking about in history, I’m talking
about now. That’s the question that should be asked, not whether he
should retire or not. Singaporeans must decide. MM spots pitfalls,
he tells you what to avoid. He pushed for F1, for the IRs. So you
decide. At the end of the day, it’s the vote. If his constituents
at Tanjong Pagar feel he’s not adding value, they are free to
vote.”
Very diplomatic except that this is the stock answer any
minister, or for the matter the prime minister himelf, will give
any inquisitive or well-meaning individuals who have the well-being
of the political future of Singapore at heart. The PAP leadership
has anticipated that the stepping down of MM Lee will be a hot
topic, especially among the young electorate who wonder why this
old scrooge is still drawing a whopping salary of over $3 million a
year doing nothing but “forecasting”. So all the ministers are
primed to give the stock reply, maybe varying in style in giving it
in some cases so as not to give the impression of
regimentation.
There are very widespread dissensions among the public, PAP
supporters notwithstanding, that MM Lee should be removed from his
Minister Mentor’s post. If the PAP leadership is still ignorant
about this, it shows that their feedback unit is malfunctioning or
their ground is feeding them only information that the leadership
wants to hear. Whether MM Lee is adding value to Singapore is a
moot point but he himself confesses that he does nothing but
“forecasting”. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong may find himself in
an untenable position if he acts alone to remove MM Lee. who is
after all his father. But it will be different if the ministers
show some backbone and initiate action which would absolve the
prime minister from the onerous responsibility of having to do the
task himself and incur the infamy of being unfilial.
Does the PAP leadership sincerely believe that leaving the
constituents at Tanjong Pagar to decide is the right course to
resolve this matter. There are so many imponderables, one of which,
very crucial, is whether the opposition is able to put up a team of
credible candidates to face M M Lee’s slate of candidates. Another
is MM Lee is in a GRC and it will be impracticable to expect
electors to vote against MM Lee without affecting his
fellow-candidates. He still has his admirers among the electors,
who are either blind to or condone his kinks. The million-dollar
question is: Is the PAP leadership heeding the call of the public
and sincere in wanting to resolve the problem of the removal of MM
Lee ? The ball is in the PAP court.
About the Author:
Mr Yoong is the former director of Singapore’s Internal
Security Department from 1971 – 1974. He blogs here
