MM Lee defends PAP's record on helping S'poreans cope
with cost of living
GE: By Imelda Saad | Posted:
30 April 2011 2049 hrs
SINGAPORE: Minister Mentor
Lee Kuan Yew has come out strongly to defend his party's record on
helping Singaporeans cope with the cost of living.
Meeting the media after a visit to Radin Mas on Saturday, he said
it is because of a capable government that the benefits of growth
can be shared with citizens.
Turning to the election battle, he told reporters "it's not the end
of the world if the PAP loses a GRC".
The cost of living is an issue for all Singaporeans, and Mr Lee
said the government has introduced a slew of measures to help
citizens.
These include the Grow and Share Bonus, Workfare and utilities
rebates.
But he stressed this was possible only because Singapore had good
growth last year.
He said opposition's economic proposals may be detrimental to
Singapore in the long run.
Mr Lee commented on a plan by Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP)
candidate Tan Jee Say to move Singapore's economy away from
manufacturing and focus on mainly services.
Mr Lee said: "He has no qualifications to say that and it's wrong.
If you don't have manufacturing, you're going to have trouble with
jobs. An economy that just depends on services is volatile and you
always have high unemployment when services go down. Manufacturing
is more steady."
When asked about the battle for Aljunied GRC, Mr Lee questioned the
Workers' Party's real intentions.
"It's not just to win one
GRC. Let's have no hypocrisy about this, every political party sets
out to win and win a majority and they are setting out from a
single constituency to a GRC and then expand to more GRCs and then
take over. It's up to you to decide whether they are capable of
running Singapore," said Mr Lee.
"The only hot seat is Aljunied and if Aljunied decides to go that
way then Aljunied has five years to live and repent," he
said.
"Losing one GRC does not mean the end of the world and we will try
to regain it after five years, but they would have made an inroad
into a GRC and they would try to make more inroads."
Amid criticisms that the GRC system allows untested candidates to
ride on the coat-tails of Ministers, Mr Lee said the primary role
of GRCs is to ensure minority representation.
He said that Mr Michael Palmer, the first PAP minority candidate to
stand in a single-member constituency, is a "trial run" for the
party.
He wants to see if Mr Palmer can carry the ground after serving
residents for five years.
As for Dr Chia Shi Lu, who became an instant MP after the walkover
in Tanjong Pagar GRC on Nomination Day, Mr Lee said the party
didn't just pull someone like a rabbit out of a hat.
"He's not an untested person, we have interviewed him, we have gone
through, he's a President's scholar, he scored straight A's. We had
him on the top of our reserve list. Because he lacked
people-to-people experience, so immediately (after Nomination Day)
he went around shaking hands to get that experience, he knows his
shortcomings, he's not a fool," said Mr Lee.
When asked about whether his recent remarks on the integration of
Malays in Singapore will cost the PAP votes, Mr Lee said he meant
no harm; he simply wants Malays to totally integrate.
He added that just like other communities, Malay Muslims in
Singapore should support the PAP if they want a good
government.
"You want a government that's incompetent, incapable, that can talk
a lot but cannot produce, cannot bring results? We have never
discriminated against the Malays. In fact we have many affirmative
actions for the Malays," said Mr Lee.
He added that the Malay vote would be "sufficiently substantial" to
carry the PAP through because it "makes no sense for the Malays to
go and vote for an opposition that cannot form the government and
cannot look after you".
Minister Mentor Lee described the younger generation of voters as a
footloose generation that simply wants to try their luck.
He said as Minister Mentor, his role is to weigh in, provide the
benefit of experience and speak about the consequences should
citizens vote against a good team.
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