KEEPING SINGAPORE “EXCEPTIONAL”
At the Punggol GRC rally, Mr Wong said Singapore’s best chapters lie ahead.
“That’s what I have tried so hard to do, and worked so hard to do over the past year – to bring Singaporeans together and to chart our new way forward as one people,” he said.
Mr Wong then said it has only been a year since he took over as prime minister.
“In the course of this campaign, I heard one of the opposition parties said Lawrence Wong is nowhere like Lee Kuan Yew. So different, standards have dropped. And I kind of laughed, because who in Singapore is like Lee Kuan Yew?
“There is only one Lee Kuan Yew. No other. I don’t compare myself to him. I am my own person,” said Mr Wong.
Together with his team, Mr Wong said he has been charting the outlines of a new vision for Singapore.
“A Singapore that is more caring; more fair and more just. Where every child has a good start; every worker gets a fair shot. Where families feel supported, not stressed,” he said.
“Where our seniors live with dignity and peace of mind. Where progress is measured not just in dollars and cents; but in lives uplifted; dreams fulfilled; and a sense of purpose shared by every Singaporean.”
Mr Wong said “these are not just words”, pointing to changes the PAP government has made in the past year, in areas like costs of living, education, housing, healthcare and support for families.
“But with your trust and with your support, we can go further. We can make this vision real for every Singaporean,” he said.
Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who spoke at the PAP’s rally for Tampines GRC, also sought voters’ help to keep the government and Singapore “exceptional”.
“Not to reward the PAP for anything which it may have done, but for your own sake,” he said.
“Because to deal with this world, to succeed in this world, you need an exceptional team and an exceptional quality of government. And the PAP will do our best to provide you with that.”
Mr Lee said the opposition is asking Singaporeans to vote in more alternative voices in parliament, just like “most other democracies in the world”.
While Mr Lee said the PAP accepts that opposition parties have a role to play in the country’s democracy, and that it listens closely to all views and adopts all proposals that make sense, he cautioned against becoming an “ordinary democracy”.
“If we become an ordinary country, an ordinary democracy, then our performance, I can tell you, will become ordinary and you have to be prepared for that,” he said.
“And if our performance is ordinary, many of the things we have gotten used to, the quality of education, the quality of housing, the quality of healthcare, the quality of government, the standing in the world, your red passport, will not be the same as before.”
The world has “no lack of examples” of how things can go wrong in democracies, Mr Lee said, citing issues like a lack of consensus, constant turnover of leaders, no policy continuity, and inability to carry out long-term plans.
“If big countries do this well, maybe they muddle along, one day they come out from the troubles,” said Mr Lee.
“If Singapore does this, we go into these troubles, we will never come out. It would have been very different the last 60 years, and we would not have made it here today.”
