Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday reached out to apologise to all Singaporeans about mistakes in the last five years under the watch of the People's Action Party and pledged to make adjustments to the system to make it better.
No government is perfect, he said and, in the first lunchtime rally this hustings, Mr Lee listed how his government fell short.
"We made a mistake when we let Mas Selamat run away. We made a mistake when Orchard Road got flooded. And there are other mistakes which we've made from time to time and, I'm sure, occasionally will happen again. I hope, not too often," PM Lee said.
"But when it happens, then we should acknowledge it; we should apologise, take responsibility, put things right.
"If we have to discipline somebody, we'll do that, and we must learn from the lessons and never make the same mistake again," he said.
The remarks drew a round of applause from the thousands gathered at UOB Plaza.
Mr Lee, the PAP's Secretary-General, said the world was undergoing "very rapid and massive changes ... and, very often, we have to add to incomplete information or under uncertain conditions", as he cited two examples where "things didn't turn out" as the government had expected.
The first was the spike in housing demand, which pushed up resale prices in 2009 after the sharp economic downturn.
"If we could have predicted this, I think we would have ramped up our building plan earlier, built more flats earlier, and I think we would have saved many Singaporeans some angst," Mr Lee said.
Similarly, in public transport, high economic growth led to more foreign workers entering Singapore, which caused trains to be more crowded.
"If we'd known that we were going to do so well, then even in the middle of the downturn in 2009 when things looked very, very gloomy, we should have moved aggressively and expanded our MRT networks," he said.
"Then today, we would have more networks, more capacity and, I think, Singaporeans would have a more comfortable ride."
Mr Lee said he appreciated and sympathised that Singaporeans are impacted by these issues:
"We're sorry we didn't get it exactly right, but I hope you understand and bear with us, because we're trying our best to solve the problems."
He noted that 22,000 public housing flats will be launched this year and a new MRT line will open every year for the next seven years.
Mr Lee also acknowledged that the influx of foreign workers and the social implications of building two casinos "are real problems", which the Government will do its best to tackle.
But, overall, the PAP government has "been right more often than it has been wrong", said Mr Lee.
"Otherwise, we wouldn't be here today. Singapore wouldn't be here today. We could easily have become like Iceland or Ireland or Greece in the financial crisis."
Make mistakes also must explain hor PM Lee, this is what you asked from Gomez in last election too!!! :oIo::oIo:
No government is perfect, he said and, in the first lunchtime rally this hustings, Mr Lee listed how his government fell short.
"We made a mistake when we let Mas Selamat run away. We made a mistake when Orchard Road got flooded. And there are other mistakes which we've made from time to time and, I'm sure, occasionally will happen again. I hope, not too often," PM Lee said.
"But when it happens, then we should acknowledge it; we should apologise, take responsibility, put things right.
"If we have to discipline somebody, we'll do that, and we must learn from the lessons and never make the same mistake again," he said.
The remarks drew a round of applause from the thousands gathered at UOB Plaza.
Mr Lee, the PAP's Secretary-General, said the world was undergoing "very rapid and massive changes ... and, very often, we have to add to incomplete information or under uncertain conditions", as he cited two examples where "things didn't turn out" as the government had expected.
The first was the spike in housing demand, which pushed up resale prices in 2009 after the sharp economic downturn.
"If we could have predicted this, I think we would have ramped up our building plan earlier, built more flats earlier, and I think we would have saved many Singaporeans some angst," Mr Lee said.
Similarly, in public transport, high economic growth led to more foreign workers entering Singapore, which caused trains to be more crowded.
"If we'd known that we were going to do so well, then even in the middle of the downturn in 2009 when things looked very, very gloomy, we should have moved aggressively and expanded our MRT networks," he said.
"Then today, we would have more networks, more capacity and, I think, Singaporeans would have a more comfortable ride."
Mr Lee said he appreciated and sympathised that Singaporeans are impacted by these issues:
"We're sorry we didn't get it exactly right, but I hope you understand and bear with us, because we're trying our best to solve the problems."
He noted that 22,000 public housing flats will be launched this year and a new MRT line will open every year for the next seven years.
Mr Lee also acknowledged that the influx of foreign workers and the social implications of building two casinos "are real problems", which the Government will do its best to tackle.
But, overall, the PAP government has "been right more often than it has been wrong", said Mr Lee.
"Otherwise, we wouldn't be here today. Singapore wouldn't be here today. We could easily have become like Iceland or Ireland or Greece in the financial crisis."
Make mistakes also must explain hor PM Lee, this is what you asked from Gomez in last election too!!! :oIo::oIo:
