SINGAPORE: Like many in Singapore, Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh marked the 10-year anniversary since the passing of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who died on Mar 23, 2015. However, unlike others, Mr Singh mentioned Mr Lee in a very specific context, the importance of Singapore’s opposition.
In a Facebook post, the Workers’ Party chief quoted from a book by Thomas Bellows, Peoples Action Party of Singapore: Emergence of a Dominant Party System. The author had written about the “collapse of an organized opposition” in 1968, which “distressed a majority of the PAP Central Executive Committee (CEC).”
The author went on to say that “serious thought” had been given to a loyal opposition (LO) emerging from within the party, with at least one Minister approached by then PM Lee “to begin considering such an alternative.”
Mr Singh noted that even his harshest critics would have agreed that Mr Lee had been an incredible leader and Prime Minister for Singapore, pointing out that during the 1G days, he directed a Minister “to see how a parliamentary opposition could be engineered.”
To the LO, this “spoke volumes about his views of the national importance of a more balanced political system in Singapore.”
Furthermore, with the majority of a PAP CEC back then having felt “distressed” by the absence of an LO, Mr Singh wrote that this showed “how fairness, equality, and justice are fundamentally shared values of many Singaporeans, regardless our party colours.”
He acknowledged, however, that expecting this to happen today would be “foolish,” as the ruling party would desire to win all the seats in the upcoming GE and should not be expected to “campaign for ‘checks and balances’”.
“Only Singaporeans can deliver checks and balances,” Mr Singh wrote, pledging that he and his fellow WP colleagues will campaign for a responsible and LO, as they believe this is for the good of Singapore.
“There are many aspects and traits that people admire in Lee Kuan Yew. For me, that he campaigned for a multi-racial Singapore in a region dealing with its own painful decolonization journey is a high watermark… A loyal opposition, whatever their differences with the ruling party, will have to campaign for the same multiracial society. It is the best legacy we can bequeath to the next generation. The Workers’ Party must and certainly will,” Mr Singh wrote.
His post appears to have struck a chord with numerous netizens, as it has been shared many times.
Many agreed that the opposition is needed for checks and balances, and one even praised Mr Singh for remembering the late Mr Lee’s “best qualities.”
One wrote, “Any progressive society requires a diversity of strong, discerning, logical voices in parliament. That is the only way to raise issues for healthy debate. That is the only way to keep power in check. That is the only way to improve. You and the party are the ones providing that, risking it all for the genuine intent of (the) progress of the nation. We thank you for that.” /TISG
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