Unfair to blame grassroots leaders: PM Lee
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday dismissed criticisms that grassroots leaders had not been providing sufficiently candid feedback from the ground to Members of Parliament of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), resulting in a misreading of sentiment among the electorate.
Speaking at a dinner on Saturday to thank PAP volunteers, PM Lee emphasised that it would be "unfair" to put the blame on grassroots leaders as the feedback received from them had been "honest".
"Unfortunately, we may not have picked up and interpreted it correctly, and acted on it the way we should have done, but it's not for lack of trying on the part of the activists," PM Lee said as quoted by The Straits Times.
PM Lee was responding to criticisms that the grassroots leaders had been shielding the PAP MPs from negative sentiments on the ground. He urged the leaders and activists not to be discouraged by such talk.
He added that there were problems that the PAP might have missed, and that there were areas where the party can and must improve .
PM Lee also urged both MPs and activists to do better in the way they work and encouraged them to seek new methods of reaching out to residents.
The party, he added, can also analyse the process of this recent election, remedy the shortcomings and perform better next time.
At the dinner, he also thanked PAP volunteers across the island, noting that many of them had taken personal leave during the campaign period.
"So I'm very grateful for all you have done," he said, adding that all PAP candidates across the island rely on activists.
In the General Election on 7 May, the PAP suffered its worst performance in an election since independence, losing Aljunied GRC to the Workers' Party and seeing its national vote share drop to 60.1 percent from 66.6 percent in 2006.
In a report on Friday, ST quoted an activist, procurement manager Beni Ong, as saying "the grassroots are often feeding (PAP politicians) false information, because they are always very positive."
