Goh Chok Tong acknowledges that reserved PE is unpopular but claims it’s necessary for race relations in view of terrorist threats

Speaking at a dialogue in the LKY School of Public Policy’s, ESM Goh Chok Tong yesterday acknowledged that the reserved presidential election for minority community this year is “quite unpopular with a large proportion of the population because it goes against the principle of meritocracy”. But he said Singaporeans should understand why the PAP Govt is doing this. He said that reserving PE for minority community is part of Singapore’s multi-racialism policy. In the dialogue, he also mentioned that preserving race relations is important in Singapore, especially in view of potential terrorist threats.

“The big worry for us in reaction is not the bomb per se, it’s the aftermath (of terrorist attacks). What would that mean for race relations? If race relations become fragile, broken, collapsed, then the terrorists would have achieved their purpose,” he said.

Many Singaporeans, however, remain unconvinced with PAP’s argument about the need for a reserve PE. Many think that the new reserve PE is a ploy to keep Dr Tan Cheng Bock out of PE race. Given his results from the last PE, Dr Tan certainly stands a very good chance of winning in the upcoming PE should he be allowed to contest.

Lim Tean, an opposition politician, echoed the sentiments of many Singaporeans on the topic in his Facebook.

“We heard yesterday from PAP Ministers and the ESM a full rehash of their tired and by now totally discredited arguments for a reserved Presidential Election,” he wrote. “For good measure, terrorism was also thrown in as part of the PAP’s staple of fear-mongering.”

“Despite all the political sophistry, it is not difficult to penetrate the PAP’s fog of propaganda,” he said.

“Fair-minded Singaporeans know that this dastardly election is all about denying one man, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, the Presidency,” Lim Tean pointed out. “The entire Establishment has connived in this dishonorable venture. History will not be kind to them.”

Lim Tean asked how can PAP compare the reserve PE to the Ethnic Integration Policy in Public Housing designed to promote racial integration?

“Multi-racialism and multiculturalism are all about inclusion and not exclusion, which is what the reserved election amounts to,” he explained.

It is interesting to note that while CNA mentioned about ESM Goh’s acknowledgement that large number of Singaporeans are unhappy with the reserve PE, Straits Times, the main mouthpiece of the govt chose not to report it.

Source: WWMGFTR