MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal last week on a range of issues, including the May 7 general election. The interview was carried on Tuesday. Here is an edited excerpt of his comments on the polls:
Wall Street Journal (WSJ): What do you think will be the key issues?
MM Lee: I think we will remain the strongest party. There may be a few seats for the opposition either as constituency or non-constituency members because we have introduced new rules so that up to nine of the best losers from the opposition will be in Parliament, so the opposition's voice is heard.
At the moment, there are two Members of Parliament from the opposition and only one non-constituency member, but the law has been changed to increase the number of opposition members to at least nine in the next Parliament.
WSJ: What do you think the main issues will be for voters in Singapore?
MM Lee: Cost of living, cost of housing for young couples. We are building many new HDB homes but they cost more because they are better designed and more elegant.
But Singaporeans do not like waiting. They blame the immigrants for pushing up prices of the homes. The immigrants who are not citizens cannot buy new flats directly from the government, but they can buy off the open market from owners who want to sell their HDB flats.
So there is some discomfort on this issue. We have got new permanent residents who have entered the market. But our birthrate or fertility rate is 1.16.
We need 2.1 to replace the existing population. 1.16 means we are halving our population. If we do not accept migrants, we will be an ageing and a declining population. It is a trade-off.
But our people feel discomforted seeing about one million foreign workers in our total population of 5.1 million. But most of these are people on two-year work permits, that can be extended but they have to go home eventually. They do the construction and the heavy work.
If we do not have them seen in the trains and on the buses, how are they going to get to their work? If they are not here, who will do this work? They are mostly from China, India and the region.
Our citizens want the best of all worlds. But in real life, we have to make trade-offs.
WSJ: You know politicians want the best for all citizens.
MM Lee: That is our job.
WSJ: Any other issues that you think will be defining in this particular campaign?
MM Lee: Not really. The economy is doing well, we have raised living standards, employment prospects, education for their children; schools, institutions, tertiary institutions. We have catered for both the top end and the lower end for those not academically inclined. We formed and created institutes of technical education.
