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‘Speak up. Join us, convince us and make it happen’: SM Lee urges youth to join the PAP to drive Singapore forward
24/02/2025Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong has called on young Singaporeans to join the People’s Action Party (PAP) to drive the change they want to see happen. If they feel their government is not addressing important problems, he wants them to join the party and speak up.
“Because you want to make a difference. You want to make things happen. Work from inside. Make the change,” he said at a youth dialogue on February 23. “Speak up. Join us, convince us and make it happen.”
SM Lee encouraged young people to work within the PAP, which has always fought for the wellbeing of Singaporeans.
“I say join the party which is trying to make it work. [The party] doesn’t always get it right, it sometimes miscalculates when making policies. But our heart is in the right place, and generally we haven’t done badly”, said SM Lee.
“If you have a choice between making that party succeed, and trying to replace the party and do even better, starting from scratch, I think you’re much better off making that party succeed.”
SM Lee was addressing around 180 young Singaporeans at a dialogue session organised by the Young PAP (YP), the party’s youth wing.
Members of YP, Young NTUC and Friends of YP raised diverse questions during the 90-minute session. Topics ranged from getting good people into politics to supporting persons with disabilities, helping local businesses, and tackling misinformation.
One participant asked about difficult decisions in politics. SM Lee recounted the dilemma the government faced in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis, when there were signs of rapid economic recovery.
He explained, “I decided to take it when conditions were good, to grow as fast as we could. Because we don’t know. Tomorrow, we may have another recession, some other crisis may come. If I don’t take the growth now, I would have missed the opportunity.”
Singapore rebounded swiftly after 2009 and 2010, with strong and sustained job opportunities for Singaporeans. But the rapid economic growth strained infrastructure and the large influx of migrant workers caused unease among the population.
SM Lee acknowledged, “When we went into 2011, the mood in the election was not so good because people felt the world was changing too fast, and it hurt us.”
In retrospect, he said, “Knowing that the conditions were good for a few years, I think I would have moderated the economy, slowed things down at least six months, maybe a year earlier than we did. That might have eased the pressure, the number of foreign workers coming in, the pressure on our trains and housing. Then Singaporeans wouldn’t have felt too much anxiety, and we could have taken it better. But things done, you can never undo it.”
Reflecting the speed of misinformation in today’s world, audience members also asked how they could combat lies and untruths in politics.
SM Lee reminded the audience of the core principles of leadership.
“One, integrity. You have to do the right thing. Two, you’ve got to tell the truth. Three, remember you are working on behalf of Singaporeans, not on behalf of yourself. Do what is in their interest.”
“It may or may not always lead you to success, or political success, because you may do the right thing, and then the population may say, ‘Not good enough. Sorry, I don’t have confidence in you.’ But whatever the result, you should do the right thing.”
Concluding the dialogue session, SM Lee reiterated his call for Singaporeans to join the PAP.
“Why join? Well, we are doing something which we think is the right thing for Singapore. And it is a job which needs to be done, because I think, if the PAP doesn’t do this, nobody else is in a position to do this.” said SM Lee.
“And we need people who believe in this, who want to help us.”
