COMMENT: Why PM Lee seems to be in a hurry
(Yahoo file photo)
By P N Balji
I had to scratch my head to find some stimulating and refreshing speeches in the last Parliamentary session.
Yes, the PM was solid, taking 90 minutes to put across his proposals for political changes. He was articulate, passionate and opportunistic as he listed proposed changes to the Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and Elected Presidency (EP) schemes.
It was when advocating for full voting rights to the best losers in the elections that you saw the PM in somewhat of a fighting mood.
“I will make the case that they should not only be allowed to speak, but to vote,” he said. Perhaps, he was expecting some kind of dissent from his own MPs, like what Tan Cheng Bock did when the NCMP was introduced in 1984. There hasn’t been any – not yet, at least.
I also liked what PAP MP Baey Yam Keng said about giving citizenship to permanent residents from Malaysia who have been living here for many, many years.
This group tends to have little or no education, are about 60 years old or older and have raised children who are Singapore citizens. He asked rather poignantly: Shouldn’t they be allowed to rest in peace in Singapore?
That is a question not just for the government to answer. It is something the people of Singapore should ponder. Although he didn’t present it that way, Baey’s speech goes to the heart of what Singaporeans want Singapore to be: A society embedded in everything economic or one that will empathise with with and act on the plight of the less fortunate, like these people who have planted their roots here.
The way in which the PM made his moves in the very first session of Parliament after the 2015 election offered a few clues as to what the next few years are going to be like.
He is a man in a hurry wanting to quickly tie up things, both politically and economically, for the new PM. Lee has already said he doesn’t want to stay on as the leader once he is 70, which is five years away.
The team-in-waiting is raw, most of them having entered politics just five years ago and in the case of Ong Ye Kung just five months ago. The PM must have also calculated that the timing is right with the PAP having achieved an unexpected resounding victory in the polls and the Opposition in a weaker position.
It was Lee’s proposals for the Presidential Election system that surprised those who were looking forward to a robust contest in 2017. Tightening the criteria for candidates and making sure that a Malay will be the head of state have raised political eyebrows. Would these have been proposed if the 2011 election had not resulted in such a razor thin victory for Tony Tan, many must have wondered.
Even former President S R Nathan seemed uncomfortable when he said in an interview with The Sunday Times that the government should be careful about giving “a special benefit” for a certain section of society.
The last Parliamentary session also showed that a resurgent PAP is not going to allow any wiggle room for the Opposition as the ruling party’s MPs pounced on everything members of the Opposition camp said.
The attack on WP leader Low Thia Khiang’s description of NCMPs as duck weed was timed with precision and aimed to hit where it hurt most. Having got the deer in the headlights, PAP went for the kill by proposing an amendment to reflect the WP’s public disdain for the NCMP post.
The deer hunt might just work against the ruling party if it continues to fix its rival every step of the way with sympathy for the underdog taking root. These are early days and political winds can change dramatically as the last two elections showed how voters can switch their loyalties like they change their clothes.
P N Balji is a veteran Singaporean journalist who is the former chief editor of TODAY newspaper, and a media consultant. The views expressed are his own.
