SINGAPORE cannot go on autopilot and the nation needs capable leaders to steer it, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
"Do not believe that the Singapore flight can be on auto-pilot. You run into a storm. You run into all kinds of emergencies, (so) you must have good pilots on board," he said.
Mr Lee raised the issue when he was addressing residents in Tanglin Halt during a constituency event last night. He also promised more upgrading programmes and a better living environment for residents of the Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
Mr Lee said: "Today, the Singapore port authority has mechanised; no longer do people carry sacks of rice - they use forklift trucks, computers, cranes, so as a result salaries have gone up, productivity has gone up.
"That is the way Singapore has to go and the only way we can increase standards of living, increase our skills and our capabilities. 2011 has seen a generation that does not remember from when we came.
"But that is to be expected, but I do and those among you over 50 will remember." Mr Lee and his People's Action Party (PAP) team, which includes Ms Indranee Rajah, Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Dr Lily Neo and Major-General (NS) Chan Chun Sing, had earlier gone on a thank-you parade around the constituency in a Hippo bus. Mr Sam Tan, MP for Radin Mas Single-Member Constituency, also joined them in thanking the residents.
Tanjong Pagar GRC is the only constituency which had a walkover in the General Election. As for Mr Tan, he won 67.1 per cent in Radin Mas, a new ward carved out of Tanjong Pagar GRC.
After his speech, Mr Lee told reporters at a press conference that Singapore has lost a "valuable" minister.
He was referring to Foreign Minister George Yeo, who led the Aljunied GRC team that was defeated by the team from Workers' Party.
"But that's the way the cards have fallen and we have to live with it," he said.
As for the PAP garnering a historic low of 60.1 per cent of the total votes since the country's independence, Mr Lee said: "I'm sure that the Prime Minister and his team will sit down and analyse the reasons and adapt our policies. I can't say more. I'm not the Prime Minister."