PM Lee asks S'poreans to judge candidates on what they can do for Singapore

[zujjkiol]

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said an election candidate should be judged not by his academic ability but what he can do for Singapore and he asked Singaporeans to scrutinise opposition candidates as closely as they do People's Action Party candidates.

He was responding to a question at the Singapore Perspectives Forum, on recent reports about ex-government scholars joining the opposition.

PM Lee said: "For the opposition it's a change - one scholar or two you think "wow" this is a luminous transformation. Well it is a significant development we will look, but finally let's look at the person. Not what degrees he has, but what he is he able to do for Singapore.

“I can tell you we interview many scholars and each time we field a few of them. And we interview other people too and we often field people who are not scholars. It is good to see it in perspective.

“We hope that anybody who enters politics is somebody of not just ability but integrity and commitment. These are young people who have got good records academically and been in the civil service. We wish them well but we hope Singaporeans will judge individuals like that as rigorously as they would judge individuals who join the PAP side.

“In other words, it’s not just what degree you have but what sort of person are you and what can you do. That is a matter you can scrutinise before they come in and the PAP scrutinise very hard before they can come in. But it has to be scrutinised by the voters after they have come in and make a wise choice whom to commit." - CNA/vm

 

[kingrant]

Whoa! Who's not talking abt academic ability now?

Has this chap even asked his father before he opened his mouth?

 

[po2wq]

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said an election candidate should be judged not by his academic ability but what he can do for Singapore ...

wa lan eh! ...

he was so sloow ...

ppl in potong pasir oredi noe dat 20+ yrs ago ... wen his daddy tried 2 sel koyok abt ah tan! ...

now oni it occur 2 him! ...

he is @ least 20+ yrs behind ppl in potong pasir ...

n he tok as if he has made a damn intelligent discovery! ...

 

[sinren67]

Last time cab drivers and hawkers stood as opp candidates, MIWs say opp camps got no standard and doubt whether they can run the constituency and town council.

Now opps enable to attract scholars liao, PM says we shouldn't judged not by their academic ability but what they can do for Singapore.

MIWs pressed the panic button. That's all i can say.

 

[batman1]

Last time cab drivers and hawkers stood as opp candidates, MIWs say opp camps got no standard and doubt whether they can run the constituency and town council.

Now opps enable to attract scholars liao, PM says we shouldn't judged not by their academic ability but what they can do for Singapore.

MIWs pressed the panic button. That's all i can say.

MIW ? what can u say ? cannot afford to lose.Lose I seat ,cry like a baby with red eyes.Lose a GRC,maybe have to jump down form HDB or jump into MRT tracks ! Ask yourself : Do u want this type of leaders who cannot take defeats and failures and only everday know how to count gold bars ??????

 

[jw5]

It sounded like he was talking about his own ministars and mps.

 

[kingrant]

The right question should be What the candidate can do for Singapore.

The PAP in wanting you to craft the question around what the candidate can do for you is simply taking the advantage for PAP because as the long ruling incumbent, it has all the means to engage in pork barrel politics. That is why it doesnt want you think further than yr HDB upgrading, etc.

What Singaporeans really should be wanting are people who can and will challenge the fundamental system and direction of where Singapore is heading, what values we should have, whether Ministers must be paid obscenely, whether we can be more liberalised, whether their half-baked policies shld still be kept etc.

There was infinitely more political plurality in the 50s-60s under British rule. Ironically, after independence, the road to freedom and democracy ended up in cul-de-sacs where thuggish old men wield knuckledusters, hatchets and stilettos.

 

[IR123]

For me, i believe that PM Lee is right when he asked the question 'what can the candidate do for singapore?'

But that is an extremely vague statement.

And it carries a presumption, one that implies politicians are altruistic, country-serving. Perhaps in the same way one believes that doctors abide by the principle of the Hippocratic Oath and not the size of their mortgage, that all politicians take their cue from Abraham Lincoln and not from the South-East Asian leaders.

But let's assume he is right.

So first apply it to the likes of Mah Bow Tan, Wong Kan Seng and others to see 'what they had done for singapore'.

And then ask ourselves if the oppositions can go one step better.

 

[kingrant]

MBT has screwed up the lives of countless aspiring young couples who wish to buy affordable HDB flats. Thereby, he has sabotaged his own govt's aims to get Singaporeans to have more babies. He should be charged for subversion.

WKS allowed MSK to escape and in its wake, caused untold losses to businesses, inconvenienced visitors and Singaporeans due to the tightened security at JB customs checkpoints. He also caused thousands of police and army personnel to be deployed unnecessarily causing a huge waste of public funds.

So first apply it to the likes of Mah Bow Tan, Wong Kan Seng and others to see 'what they had done for singapore'.
quote]

 

[popdod]

It sounded like he was talking about his own ministars and mps.

For Happiness, Prosperity, and Longevity .....




what to do??
we need them for our country.

:o :o

 

[theDoors]

Despite SARs and what not, Singapore was in relatively good shape when GCT handed over to LHL. Under LHL stewardship, his hand-picked team really screwed it up big time.