In response to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s 2019 thoughts on the balance in Parliament, Workers’ Party (WP) politician Leon Perera has urged Singaporeans not to create a monopoly of Singapore’s politics in the 2020 General Elections.
In a Facebook post published on Tuesday (July 7), WP’s Leon Perera shared a 2019 article by straitstimes.com, which covered Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s thoughts on Singapore’s political system.
“It is not whether you have got the right numerical balance in Parliament, between the opposition and the government,” said Mr Lee to Fareed Zakaria, from CNN. Mr Lee said that instead, what matters is whether or not the system that is put in place exhibits good governance.
Mr Zakaria then brought up the issue of how some people think that the political system in Singapore is biased towards the nation’s ruling party, the People’s Action Party, and asked Mr Lee whether or not in 10 years’ time, Singapore would shift to having a two-party system that is more balanced. He also asked, “Can you have a real democracy where one party wins 80 per cent of the seats for 50, 60 or 70 years?”
In response to this, Mr Lee answered, “If that is how the population votes and that is the will of the people, why should that not be a real democracy?”
As Singapore is in the midst of the 2020 General Elections, Mr Perera shared this article and left a few comments on it. Citing Mr Lee’s statement on the “numerical balance” of Parliament, he wrote in his post, “That’s like saying that I’m healthy today, so I don’t need to adopt a healthy lifestyle or buy health insurance for the future.”
Mr Perera reminded Singaporeans that the balance in Parliament is important saying, “Don’t use your vote to make Singapore politics a monopoly. Don’t sign a blank cheque to the PAP.”
Mr Perera is contesting Aljunied GRC.