SINGAPORE - When Singaporeans go to the polls on May 3, they should judge candidates not just as individuals but also the party they stand for, said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Speaking at a press briefing on April 19 to unveil the PAP slate for Ang Mo Kio GRC, as well as three nearby single seats, SM Lee also took questions on the Workers’ Party manifesto and his political future.
The opposition parties, he said, have also been introducing new candidates, and it is important for Singaporeans to assess them not just on their own merits, but also the party they represent.
He said: “Singaporeans will have to judge them and decide what they will be able to do for Singapore. And judge them, not just as individuals, but also as the party they stand for.
“And also consider carefully that when you vote for an MP, you are not just voting for the person. You are voting for the party which stands behind her or him, and what the party needs by way of support and mandate in order to be able to serve Singapore.”
The PAP, SM Lee said, is putting forward a good team of people that, individually, are good men and women.
“But at the same time, we’re putting forward a slate whose purpose is to form the government in order to provide the best possible leadership for Singapore, and I hope that will have Singaporeans’ support,” he added.
The PAP is expected to unveil 32 new candidates for the polls – the largest batch of fresh faces in decades.
SM Lee said, when asked to comment on Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s team so far: “I think these are good people, diverse, committed, passionate, bringing many different backgrounds and experiences, personal histories and passions, and I have no doubt that they will do a good job for Singapore.”
He added that PM Wong has brought in candidates who might have the potential to be “more than backbenchers”.
And with Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen’s retirement, a new person will have to be appointed to fill his role, he added.
SM Lee said: “Singaporeans have got used to ministers being of a certain level, carrying a certain weight when they speak, they make sense... And Singaporeans expect that quality of our ministers.
“But to get that quality of our ministers, you must have that quality of MPs and that strength of the team in order to have people from whom the PM can appoint suitable ministers.”
With the candidates who have been brought into the team, SM Lee added that the hope is that in the long term, it will ensure Singapore continues to have a high-quality government.
“That depends on them getting elected, and winning the trust of Singaporeans, and then showing what they are able to do. But that’s something which we have to work on,” he said.
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He also spoke about the MPs who are stepping down, and said it is “always difficult”, especially for those who have not served quite so many terms.
He said: “Renewal is a necessary, absolutely essential process, and when you renew the team, you bring new people in. But, inevitably, and it has to be so, that as new people come in, some of the old people have to move on.
“And that’s the way it happens to all of us... One day, all of us will have to go”.
SM Lee also responded to questions about candidates who have lost previous elections and are being fielded elsewhere, such as Mr Victor Lye, who contested Aljunied GRC in the past.
When asked whether voters might see candidates who have lost being deployed to safer areas as a consolation prize, he said: “These are decisions which the party makes. We field them in one place, they gain experience. Sometimes, we put them there again.
“Sometimes we move them to another place. It depends on our overall political calculation. These are not consolation prizes.”
He added that when the party fields someone, it has to be convinced that the candidate will do his or her best and is right for that place.
And for those who might not get elected eventually, they can also be fielded elsewhere, if the party believes they can make a different contribution in the new place and bring something valuable.
SM Lee said: “I fully expect Mr Lye and Mr Ng Chee Meng to be full members of the team, and to bring to my team not only their experience working their ground, but also their experience having fought, not succeeded, and having the grit to come back and fight again.
“And I think that’s something valuable, which we treasure in our activists.”
SM Lee was also asked about the WP manifesto, and its assertion that many of the WP’s proposals were adopted by the Government, which ultimately benefited Singaporeans. He said: “Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas. The Government doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas. Neither does the opposition.
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“There are ideas which we all talk about. Some of them, the opposition doesn’t like, some of them, they do. Some of them, after we have done it, they claim credit for. And to be fair to them, along the way, they have pushed for it.”
He added that he is not surprised there are some ideas from the opposition that the Government has implemented.
SM Lee said: “I think it’s not possible for anybody to be wrong all the time. But I would say, taken as a whole, the PAP manifesto, programme and record is what Singaporeans can trust and go on...
“It makes promises that we will fulfil, and it will work for Singapore. I think that’s the most important thing.”
This is also SM Lee’s first election since he stepped down as prime minister in 2024. When asked about his role as senior minister, compared with being prime minister, he said: “My role in the general election is to help the PM to win the election well, however I can do that – from advice, from presence, from support, from winning votes on the ground – I will do that.
“It’s not as heavy a responsibility as being the PM by far. But whatever I can do to lighten the PM’s load, I will do.”
He also said he is happy PM Wong has settled in well.
SM Lee said: “He took over a year ago, he has settled in well, and he’s built his standing, and he’s consolidated his team, and Singaporeans have taken to him well.
“So, I go into this election with some sense of satisfaction. The journey is not quite complete for me, but a major milestone has successfully passed, and it’s a milestone, not just for me, but for Singapore.”
- Sue-Ann Tan is a business correspondent at The Straits Times covering capital markets and sustainable finance.
- Additional reporting by Chin Soo Fang and Gabrielle Chan
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