GE: Look at the fundamentals, says MM Lee
By S Ramesh | Posted: 25 April 2011 1754 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has a simple message for voters in the heat, dust and clamour of the election campaign - he has urged them to look at the fundamentals.
In a statement issued just two days before Nomination Day, he reminded Singaporeans not to risk their assets, property values, and job opportunities.
He said the People's Action Party is fielding 24 new candidates of proven character, of high calibre, and with a track record of performance that showed they will not fail in taking on responsibilities.
This, after the Party combed the whole of Singapore to select those with the highest integrity and ability to chart the way forward for the country. Amongst them are at least five heavyweights, people with proven strength of character and capabilities who will form the fourth generation leadership to take Singapore forward into the 2030s.
Mr Lee explained that the PAP got Singapore to where it is by the careful and painstaking selection of their successors, men and women of integrity and quality. They have filled the top positions in Parliament, the administration, the Police and Armed Forces.
Mr Lee stressed that the secret of Singapore's success has been selection by merit, the candidates' capabilities and strength of character. And he added that his generation of leaders laid the foundations that created today's Singapore during the period 1959 to 1990.
Furthermore, his successors and their teams built on the foundations and they too had Ministers of integrity and high quality.
Highlighting Singapore's achievements, Mr Lee reminded voters that no country in the world has housed 85 per cent of its population in public housing of high quality with the remaining 15 per cent able to afford to buy condominiums and landed properties.
Mr Lee said: "We decided in 1965 that Singapore must become a property-owning democracy. So at the bottom of the market in 1965, when investors thought that Singapore would not survive after our separation from Malaysia, we acquired and bought up all vacant lands and all fire sites. I also removed the right of seaside owners for compensation for loss of their foreshores so that the government could reclaim land without the high cost of compensating the owners of seaside properties.
"But without your hard work, and the willingness of that first generation of you, our citizens, to put up with hardships, we would not have succeeded."
Mr Lee said young couples are impatient waiting for their homes. And nowhere else in the world can a couple getting married, look forward to a home well below market price and after five years of occupation, sell their homes at a significant premium.
The Central Provident Fund was also expanded and this has enabled people to buy homes, co-pay for medical and dental expenses, and still have an adequate balance for retirement.
Mr Lee said his team planned for this and laid the foundations for long-term stability and growth.
Also, schools, hospitals, universities, the Police Force, the Armed Forces, and the Air Force were all built from scratch, from ground zero.
So Mr Lee's message to voters: Do not rock the foundation and remember where Singapore came from, and how difficult it was that the country has got to where it is.
He said there is always a risk when one generation passed on the baton as the next team may unthinkingly toss out what they have inherited. That is why he feels Singapore will never reach a point where we it can be on auto-pilot, so that any team can just take over.
The Minister Mentor reminded Singaporeans they are not living in Disney World.
He acknowledged that the cost of living is a current problem and inflation is higher this year, because petrol and electricity prices have gone up, and so too have some food prices. Mr Lee noted that the govern_ment is helping households to cope with this, especially with the Grow & Share package.
He said: "But remember that we import all our energy and food, and our standards of living have also gone up. We are not buying the same basket of food and daily necessities we were five or 10 years ago. We are eating out more, and buying much more costly goods like air conditioners, flat-screen TVs, iPhones, etc. All the technical and new technology gadgets of the advanced world are within the reach of average Singaporeans."
So his message to the electorate - vote for men and women of proven character and track records of high performance and make the right choice, to secure the future of their children and grandchildren.
-CNA/ac
By S Ramesh | Posted: 25 April 2011 1754 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has a simple message for voters in the heat, dust and clamour of the election campaign - he has urged them to look at the fundamentals.
In a statement issued just two days before Nomination Day, he reminded Singaporeans not to risk their assets, property values, and job opportunities.
He said the People's Action Party is fielding 24 new candidates of proven character, of high calibre, and with a track record of performance that showed they will not fail in taking on responsibilities.
This, after the Party combed the whole of Singapore to select those with the highest integrity and ability to chart the way forward for the country. Amongst them are at least five heavyweights, people with proven strength of character and capabilities who will form the fourth generation leadership to take Singapore forward into the 2030s.
Mr Lee explained that the PAP got Singapore to where it is by the careful and painstaking selection of their successors, men and women of integrity and quality. They have filled the top positions in Parliament, the administration, the Police and Armed Forces.
Mr Lee stressed that the secret of Singapore's success has been selection by merit, the candidates' capabilities and strength of character. And he added that his generation of leaders laid the foundations that created today's Singapore during the period 1959 to 1990.
Furthermore, his successors and their teams built on the foundations and they too had Ministers of integrity and high quality.
Highlighting Singapore's achievements, Mr Lee reminded voters that no country in the world has housed 85 per cent of its population in public housing of high quality with the remaining 15 per cent able to afford to buy condominiums and landed properties.
Mr Lee said: "We decided in 1965 that Singapore must become a property-owning democracy. So at the bottom of the market in 1965, when investors thought that Singapore would not survive after our separation from Malaysia, we acquired and bought up all vacant lands and all fire sites. I also removed the right of seaside owners for compensation for loss of their foreshores so that the government could reclaim land without the high cost of compensating the owners of seaside properties.
"But without your hard work, and the willingness of that first generation of you, our citizens, to put up with hardships, we would not have succeeded."
Mr Lee said young couples are impatient waiting for their homes. And nowhere else in the world can a couple getting married, look forward to a home well below market price and after five years of occupation, sell their homes at a significant premium.
The Central Provident Fund was also expanded and this has enabled people to buy homes, co-pay for medical and dental expenses, and still have an adequate balance for retirement.
Mr Lee said his team planned for this and laid the foundations for long-term stability and growth.
Also, schools, hospitals, universities, the Police Force, the Armed Forces, and the Air Force were all built from scratch, from ground zero.
So Mr Lee's message to voters: Do not rock the foundation and remember where Singapore came from, and how difficult it was that the country has got to where it is.
He said there is always a risk when one generation passed on the baton as the next team may unthinkingly toss out what they have inherited. That is why he feels Singapore will never reach a point where we it can be on auto-pilot, so that any team can just take over.
The Minister Mentor reminded Singaporeans they are not living in Disney World.
He acknowledged that the cost of living is a current problem and inflation is higher this year, because petrol and electricity prices have gone up, and so too have some food prices. Mr Lee noted that the govern_ment is helping households to cope with this, especially with the Grow & Share package.
He said: "But remember that we import all our energy and food, and our standards of living have also gone up. We are not buying the same basket of food and daily necessities we were five or 10 years ago. We are eating out more, and buying much more costly goods like air conditioners, flat-screen TVs, iPhones, etc. All the technical and new technology gadgets of the advanced world are within the reach of average Singaporeans."
So his message to the electorate - vote for men and women of proven character and track records of high performance and make the right choice, to secure the future of their children and grandchildren.
-CNA/ac
Last edited:
