PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
says one year after the General Election in Singapore, the
government has changed its approach in many areas - particularly in
the process of engaging the electorate and in policy
outcomes.
Mr Lee said this was a necessary and helpful
change.
As Singapore enters a new phase, this two-way
process should result in both sides working together to make
Singapore succeed.
Mr Lee was speaking to the Singapore media in Phnom Penh at the end
of the 20th ASEAN Summit.
The 6th of May 2011 will be a year since Singapore had its last
General Election.
After the polls, Mr Lee had spoken of greater engagement with the
people, and he says the process has been helpful.
Mr Lee said: "It's a necessary change, I think it has been helpful.
But it is something that must work in a two-way process. It's not
just what the government does, it's also about how the electorate
sees its role in the new environment, and how it sees it can
contribute and what it thinks its responsibilities towards making
the system work in a different way.
"Because this is not about what more the government can do - of
course the government must do all it can, that is its
responsibility. But it's also how we can work together to make
Singapore succeed. And that calls for Singaporeans to not just
speak out, but also to participate and to feel the responsibility
to do their part to make things happen the right way."
As for how Singaporeans have done on this count, Mr Lee thinks the
process is still on-going.
Mr Lee said: "I believe that after a year there is a certain
stability which has been restored in terms of the mood and the
expectations. But it will take some time more and the balance
between speaking out and working together is something which still
needs to be worked upon."
He cited the example of the feedback on building studio apartments
at Toh Yi for the elderly as one where speaking out and working
together fell short.
Mr Lee said: "Look at the recent Toh Yi Drive case of the studio
apartments and other cases where we have had senior citizens, day
care centres, nursing homes that need to be built.
"People respond more articulately now, they organise together more
easily, the Internet has enabled this to happen much more readily
than before, and also people are much more educated and vocal. And
so we have to manage this.
"We must not go into a position where NIMBY (not in my backyard)
becomes a general attitude among Singaporeans because then we will
stymie ourselves.
"If we take this self-centred approach to problems, we will not be
able to do the best for ourselves as a community."
"It's one of our major strengths over the years, that we have been
able to take it overall, rough and smooth. So on a particular
project, one group may gain more than another, some groups may have
some adverse effect, because there are some consequences and side
effects that you live with - noise, dust, or inconvenience.
"But taken as a whole, because we have been able to go on this
broad approach, Singapore has made a lot more progress and you have
a much better Singapore than if we had stayed put and everything
had been "No".
"And we must make sure we don't end up a lot of things "No". We
have to consult, we have to adjust - you look at Bukit Brown, you
have to talk, you have to explain. But if at the end, we cannot
move at all, you will not only not have tomorrow's Singapore, we
wouldn't even have today's Singapore."
"You will be where you were in the 1960s, and I think it will be a
very unhappy state," said Mr Lee.
He said Singaporeans must also feel together ethnically so that
race, language and religion do not become sensitive issues,
especially in the Internet age where it is easy to get people upset
about such subjects."
He also addressed the furore over blog posts by NUS scholar Sun Xu,
who is from China.
Mr Lee said: "You look at the Sun Xu incident, he shouldn't have
made that blog post. He did. He has been chastised. He has been
disciplined. He has expressed his contrition. He's sorry about it.
And I think we should accept that. We should have been able to move
on from that and deal with it as one person who mis-spoke.
"We should not because of one incident make that into an issue -
that all immigrants are like that, or all Singaporeans should feel
like that towards not even immigrants, but towards non-Singaporeans
who are in Singapore, either studying or working here. That is
something we have to be conscious of."
- CNA/de
