'Swee Say can't go unless I say so'
By Lynn Lee
IT IS not up to labour chief Lim Swee Say to decide on his own whether he retires as an MP or minister, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.
The decision would depend on the Prime Minister, whether it is Mr Lee himself or his successor.
'I think he (Mr Lim) knows that anyway,' said Mr Lee with a smile.
'It depends on me and I haven't agreed to let him go, or whoever is the PM.'
Mr Lee was responding to a question on whether anyone else besides Mr Lim, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, had indicated their desire to step down after this General Election and how this would affect the People's Action Party's (PAP) plans for renewal.
Mr Lim, 57, had said at a dialogue on Monday that if he had to stand in the next election five years later at the age of 62, then he would have 'failed in his duty to groom a successor'.
He was elected as secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) by the labour movement in 2007, and is tasked with tackling workers' issues and maintaining the symbiotic relationship between the PAP and the NTUC.
Mr Lee said he had not heard of any other MP saying this election would be his or her last.
On the topic of renewal, he said that when Mr Lim retired as secretary-general of the NTUC, it would be because he needed to find a successor, 'just as I want to retire as PM because I need to find a successor'.
'And therefore I need to find a successor. That is absolutely necessary,' Mr Lee stressed.
Mr Lee, who is the PAP's secretary-general and leading his second election as party chief, had previously said that leadership renewal was crucial to keep the PAP young and to ensure that its senior MPs do not all retire at the same time.
At the recent Young PAP 25th anniversary rally, he said that the new PAP leadership would have to be ready to step up and take over by 2020.
By Lynn Lee
IT IS not up to labour chief Lim Swee Say to decide on his own whether he retires as an MP or minister, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.
The decision would depend on the Prime Minister, whether it is Mr Lee himself or his successor.
'I think he (Mr Lim) knows that anyway,' said Mr Lee with a smile.
'It depends on me and I haven't agreed to let him go, or whoever is the PM.'
Mr Lee was responding to a question on whether anyone else besides Mr Lim, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, had indicated their desire to step down after this General Election and how this would affect the People's Action Party's (PAP) plans for renewal.
Mr Lim, 57, had said at a dialogue on Monday that if he had to stand in the next election five years later at the age of 62, then he would have 'failed in his duty to groom a successor'.
He was elected as secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) by the labour movement in 2007, and is tasked with tackling workers' issues and maintaining the symbiotic relationship between the PAP and the NTUC.
Mr Lee said he had not heard of any other MP saying this election would be his or her last.
On the topic of renewal, he said that when Mr Lim retired as secretary-general of the NTUC, it would be because he needed to find a successor, 'just as I want to retire as PM because I need to find a successor'.
'And therefore I need to find a successor. That is absolutely necessary,' Mr Lee stressed.
Mr Lee, who is the PAP's secretary-general and leading his second election as party chief, had previously said that leadership renewal was crucial to keep the PAP young and to ensure that its senior MPs do not all retire at the same time.
At the recent Young PAP 25th anniversary rally, he said that the new PAP leadership would have to be ready to step up and take over by 2020.
