Strong mandate good for S'pore: MM

Result will mean more jobs, better life for S'poreans

By Peh Shing Huei and Lynn Lee
May 8, 2006
The Straits Times

THE strong mandate given to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will mean more jobs and a better life for Singaporeans as it sent a clear signal to foreign investors that they are firmly behind their government, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.

Big businesses, he said, were watching the May 6 polls to see if Singaporeans continued to back a government that was rational, pro-business and could think long term.

'I would say internationally, your big investors like ExxonMobil, Shell, the big pharmaceutical companies will say, this looks a stable place with a government that's going to last some time.

'And a rational government with policies which will be business-friendly and make sure that their enterprises will flourish and you will have jobs. That's my assessment,' he said.

Like PM Lee, he declared the 66.6 per cent vote given to the PAP a 'strong mandate'.

'It's a strong mandate, considering how strongly the people wanted an opposition, some young people, and how strongly many journalists rooted for the opposition. It's not bad,' he said yesterday at a press conference before a victory parade in his Tanjong Pagar GRC ward.

Both Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who held separate victory parades yesterday, agreed that the mandate was a 'resounding' one.

Mr Goh went so far as to say it was a 'beautiful election', in which 'Singaporeans won big'.

Just as the PAP had won, so too did the two incumbent opposition MPs Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong, who held on to their seats with increased majorities, he noted.

Voters too had showed their maturity, by sticking loyally with long-serving MPs rather than opting for the $180 million in electoral goodies offered to them by the PAP, he said, noting that this was a 'very good characteristic' of voters here.

'So this is an election where everybody should feel happy, because everybody won,' he said.

In his speech to residents to mark his Tanjong Pagar GRC team's walkover victory, MM Lee also argued that without a strong government, Singapore would not be able to face up to external challenges, such as the rise of China and India, or a sudden spike in oil prices sparked by a crisis over Iran.

Singapore's strength, he added, was also in having a system in which ministers and MPs were honest and capable, and respected by the people.

Another unique feature of the political culture here was that prime ministers handed power to younger men, staying on to help them succeed, as he had done with Mr Goh Chok Tong.

'We are not fighting for power, we are fighting to keep a clean government with more people, able people in charge to carry on the work,' he said, noting that the third generation of PAP leaders was now inducting a fourth.

This was unlike the situation in other countries, where leaders who stepped down set out to damage their successors, causing confusion in the country, he added.

Turning to the opposition Workers' Party, which won 38.4 per cent of the votes, he said that five years in politics was a long time and the world would change before the next election, possibly in 2010.

'You can't project that because Workers' Party produced a presentable lot, increased their votes to 38-something per cent, you project that in five years they become 48 per cent, you project that 15 years they get 58 per cent, they become the government. That's not the way politics evolves.'

On Hougang and Potong Pasir, he added: 'The residents decided to dig their toes in because they liked their MP. And they said, 'Okay, I'm not going to buy your goodies.' So be it.'

Yesterday, Mr Lee and his team toured the constituency in a lorry for 90 minutes. Along the way, cars slowed down and passengers rolled down windows to wave at Mr Lee.

Summing up his impressions of the ward, with is greenery and covered walkways, he added: 'It's much better than five years ago. You stay with a good, clean, capable government, five years from now, you have a better life.'