AP - Thursday, September
3
SINGAPORE - Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan
Yew said Wednesday that he expects his People's Action Party to win
the next two elections to extend its grip on power by as much as 10
more years.
"I don't see any problem in the next election or probably in the
next one after that," Lee, 85, said at a dinner to mark the fifth
anniversary of a college named after him.
"But if we don't find a good team in the election after that,
and the opposition gets a good team together, we are at risk."
Lee, who founded the PAP and was Singapore's first prime
minister from 1959 to 1990, remains a powerful figure in the
Cabinet and in the party. The PAP is the only party to have ruled
Singapore.
The current government was elected in 2006. The next elections
are set for 2011.
Lee, who now has the title of mentor minister, said even if the
opposition took power by a "freak result," it won't be allowed to
fire top police, army and other officials without the approval of
the president, who is appointed by a committee of government
officials.
Lee, who is the father of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said
an opposition government would by law also need the president's
approval to tap international reserves, indicating it would not be
given.
Otherwise "all our hard-earned savings could go in five years,"
he said. "I spent 15 years thinking up these safeguards."
