In an early-morning press conference today (12 Sep) after the final results were announced, which the PAP received a landslide 69.9% win, PM Lee said his government will continue to carry out the policies which they feel necessary.
“We carry out the policies which we feel necessary, and we will do that, whether the majority is one, 50 or 70,” said PM Lee.
He was asked whether the government will push out unpopular policies after attaining the current strong mandate of 69.9%, an increase of almost 10 percentage points from the results in 2011.
He added that the GE was an endorsement of the PAP Government and its policies.
At the conference, he also thanked Singaporeans for their strong support for the resounding PAP victory. He said he was “deeply humbled” by the “heavy responsibility” now entrusted to his team.
“I am happy with the outcome of the election. We won 83 seats and what was particularly satisfying was that we won back Punggol East,” said Mr Lee. “It’s a good result for the PAP, but it is an excellent result for Singapore.”
He told the media that he had called this election because Singapore was at a “turning point” and he needed a “fresh and clear mandate” to take the country forward, presumably with his current policies including the unpopular 6.9 million population policy.
He said the high figures the party received would not have been possible without support across all race and age groups – in particular, from the young, which showed that they understood what was at stake and how the Government was trying to secure their future, he added.
With the GE over, he said that it was time to “pull together to resume nation-building”.
4th generation leaders
Mr Lee reiterated that he wanted the fourth generation of PAP leaders to be put in place “in this term”.
As such, he hoped a Cabinet reshuffle could be done “perhaps in two weeks’ time”.
Mr Lee said the election results showed Singaporeans understood what was at stake and “that we need to get the best team assembled in order to serve Singapore”.
Diverse voices
One issue in this election has been the desire for diverse voices to be heard and given more weight, noted Mr Lee.
He said the PAP Government has already been engaging Singaporeans directly and enabling them to make constructive contributions.
“We will redouble these efforts – but we must do this in a way that maintains the unique strengths of our system,” he said.
These strengths include, for example, the ability to “contain populist pressures while being responsive to popular needs”, and to solve short-term issues while focusing on the long-term, he said.
He added that he looked forward to the contributions of the nine opposition MPs – six elected, three appointed NCMPs– in the next Parliament. All 9 would be from WP.
Happy with winning back Punggol East
He said he is particularly satisfied with the winning back of Punggol East SMC from WP. He said PAP Charles Chong did an “outstanding job” of getting 51.76 per cent of the vote.
He also added that he was similarly pleased with the results in Hougang SMC and Aljunied GRC.
Although the WP incumbents won in both cases, the party’s share of the vote in Hougang was reduced from 62.1 per cent to 57.69 per cent, and the margin in Aljunied was just 1.9 percentage points.
“Next time, we will get there (Hougang and Aljunied)!” said Mr Lee.
When asked what he thought had contributed to the landslide winning, Mr Lee pointed to policy improvements and to SG50 being “a time for reflection and for people to realise what is at stake”.
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/09/12/pm-this-ge-an-endorsement-of-pap-and-its-policies/
