LHL - Sammyboy's forummers on the right track, with engagement, aware of happenings

Confuseous

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By Chua Lee Hoong
SINGAPORE'S political landscape is in a new situation, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says more political openness should not be the only response.

Singaporeans themselves have a part to play by paying more attention to what is happening in their country and to themselves as citizens.
This is because effort is required on the part of both government and people to ensure that the country plots its direction correctly.

'We are in a new situation and we must govern in a new way, but we can't do it by just going with the tide,' Mr Lee said in an interview here on Thursday with CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria.

Singapore must find its own way, he stressed, adding that it is not so simple as saying that 'if we have more political parties, we will have more functioning government'.

Mr Zakaria had asked for his take on the results of the general election in May last year when, despite rising prosperity, the ruling People's Action Party obtained its worst electoral result since Independence, losing six seats and garnering just 60.1 per cent of the vote. That prompted talk of a 'new normal' in Singapore politics.

Referring to the election results, Mr Zakaria said: 'People say the system is too closed, you need more political openness.'

Mr Lee replied: 'If only it were so simple.'

He argued that changes in Singapore society in recent years had caused 'a certain unease and disquiet among certain segments of the population', exacerbated by social media and what he called the 'global mood of dissatisfaction with the status quo'.
Alluding to rising income inequality as a source of dissatisfaction, he said: 'Every society changes, new generations have new experiences. In an earlier stage, the economy grew very rapidly and very evenly, everyone could see their salaries going up... effortlessly almost. Now, it's slower and less even.

'In the last five years before the election, we went through a crisis, we came out better than most others, but nevertheless it was a bumpy ride... and the rapid changes in our society caused a certain unease and disquiet among certain segments of the population.' Usual bogeyman tactics, yet again!

On whether more political openness is needed, he said: 'You need more openness, you need more engagement, but at the same time you need people to pay more attention to what is happening in their lives and think about what is happening to their country and to us as Singaporeans.'
 
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