Provided that there is a clear distinction between national and Familee's interests, and a free press to educate the people on this distinction.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Oct 11, 2008
GLOBAL INDIAN DIASPORA CONFERENCE
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>National interests must trump party politics: MM
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jeremy Au Yong
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Britain's opposition leader David Cameron gave vital support to the government during the financial crisis.
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MR DAVID Cameron may be the leader of the opposition in Britain, but when it came to the global financial crisis, he repeatedly voiced support for the British government.
By doing so, he gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown the confidence to take bold measures to deal with the crisis, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday. He brought up the British example to make a point: Even in a liberal democracy, the major parties have to put national interests above party politics.
He was replying to a question at the Global Indian Diaspora conference.
A self-confessed 'MM Lee aficionado', Mr S. Adikesavan, a manager at State Bank of India, had asked how the practice of liberal democracy in his country relates to the need for economic growth.
In his reply, Mr Lee first gave credit to India's form of government for keeping the multi-ethnic country together. The downside, however, was that opposition parties were determined to take the government down regardless of what was right or wrong.
He used the example of the recent nuclear cooperation pact between India and the United States, a treaty that gives India access to American nuclear fuel, reactors and technology.
'I have not the slightest doubt that if the BJP (India's opposition party) were the government, they would take the deal. They are not the government, so they oppose the deal,' he said.
Mr Lee recommended they take a leaf out of Mr Cameron's book.
He also referred to an article the opposition leader wrote in the British Financial Times newspaper, voicing support for the government. Said Mr Lee: 'He's the opposition, he could blame Gordon Brown for this financial crisis and make sure he's out, but he knows that he will be landed with a huge problem.
'So he wrote this piece where he argued eloquently in a statesman-like way why it is in Britain's best interest to restore liquidity and credit and he would support the government in whatever measures necessary.'
And it was because the British government did not fear an opposition backlash, Mr Lee said, that Britain was able to take bold steps that went beyond even what the Americans did.
The bottom line for Mr Lee was that the two major parties in Britain understood there must be common ground where national interests prevail. 'You can expect your minor parties to play this maverick role but the major parties must share a certain view, a certain vision of what national interests are,' he said.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Oct 11, 2008
GLOBAL INDIAN DIASPORA CONFERENCE
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>National interests must trump party politics: MM
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jeremy Au Yong
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Britain's opposition leader David Cameron gave vital support to the government during the financial crisis.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MR DAVID Cameron may be the leader of the opposition in Britain, but when it came to the global financial crisis, he repeatedly voiced support for the British government.
By doing so, he gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown the confidence to take bold measures to deal with the crisis, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday. He brought up the British example to make a point: Even in a liberal democracy, the major parties have to put national interests above party politics.
He was replying to a question at the Global Indian Diaspora conference.
A self-confessed 'MM Lee aficionado', Mr S. Adikesavan, a manager at State Bank of India, had asked how the practice of liberal democracy in his country relates to the need for economic growth.
In his reply, Mr Lee first gave credit to India's form of government for keeping the multi-ethnic country together. The downside, however, was that opposition parties were determined to take the government down regardless of what was right or wrong.
He used the example of the recent nuclear cooperation pact between India and the United States, a treaty that gives India access to American nuclear fuel, reactors and technology.
'I have not the slightest doubt that if the BJP (India's opposition party) were the government, they would take the deal. They are not the government, so they oppose the deal,' he said.
Mr Lee recommended they take a leaf out of Mr Cameron's book.
He also referred to an article the opposition leader wrote in the British Financial Times newspaper, voicing support for the government. Said Mr Lee: 'He's the opposition, he could blame Gordon Brown for this financial crisis and make sure he's out, but he knows that he will be landed with a huge problem.
'So he wrote this piece where he argued eloquently in a statesman-like way why it is in Britain's best interest to restore liquidity and credit and he would support the government in whatever measures necessary.'
And it was because the British government did not fear an opposition backlash, Mr Lee said, that Britain was able to take bold steps that went beyond even what the Americans did.
The bottom line for Mr Lee was that the two major parties in Britain understood there must be common ground where national interests prevail. 'You can expect your minor parties to play this maverick role but the major parties must share a certain view, a certain vision of what national interests are,' he said.
