Ah, PM Lee has put context to former minister Goh Chok Tong's directionless remarks (yesterday's posting). They have to do with investors watching Singapore closely since the PAP lost a record six seats in Parliament to the opposition (actually, just one party, the Workers' Party) at the 7 May general elections.
As reported in today's ST (page A8), the PM -- in his National Day Rally speech -- said investors had "asked us (the PAP?) directly whether Singapore is changing course fundamentally, because our society is changing, our economy is changing, our politics is changing".
He added: "But what new Singapore will it be? Will we respond to the pressures of the day and become like so many other countries, short-term and reactive, or will we maintain our strengths? As [GCT] put it, will our politics remain pragmatic or will we become populist?
"... If I were them (the investors), I would also wait to see what Singapore does. So make sure we do the right thing so they continue to invest, we continue to have good jobs and Singapore continues to prosper."
ST also quoted, in the same story, remarks by Singapore International Chamber of Commerce chief Phillip Overmyer that Mr Lee's comments were "helpful to reassure people (ie the investors?)" as companies are more concerned today about govenment policies than they were three to four years ago.
"Nobody is coming to me saying, 'Oh no, it is over, we should leave'. They are waiting to see where the argument goes."
To return to Mr Lee's speech, he said Singaporeans have a choice at what he called a turning point.
"What sort of Singapore do we want to be 20 years from now? Do we want to be still an exceptional country, one which is unique and which people look up to around the world? Or are we content for Singapore to be an ordinary country, getting by, but no different from many cities all over Asia?"
To be exceptional requires a special effort to anticipate problems and opportunities, to build for the long term and to keep "politics pragmatic and constructive", he said, adding: "I believe to keep Singapore exceptional is a goal well worth striving for."
So, there's the nub, as outlined by PM Lee. Singapore has no choice but to be exceptional, and this requires its politics to be pragmatic and constructive. The investors are watching. The policies that flow from this template cannot pander to populism. Yet, "new" Singapore's society, economics, and politics, are changing!
Meanwhile, there is a coming testing of Singapore's resilience -- and resistance to populism -- in the unfolding and looming global fiscal and economic drama.
PM Lee stopped short of saying that only the PAP can deliver, and that the new politics will also require an Elected President who can serve both as a unifying figure and as a bukwark against populism. Look out for all these "new" buzz words in the days ahead, as the presidential election approaches.
The way I see it, all these buzz words remain woolly. The PAP government has to articulate precisely what it means by its use of these terms, and everyone else -- from the other political parties to the presidential wannabes to the ordinary folk -- will have to engage it. But how many ordinary folk in Singapore -- apart from boisterous netizens -- see politics as "cheng hoo eh tai chi" (it's only the government's business)?
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