TWO WHITE ELEPHANTS STEPPING DOWN, SEVERAL MORE TO GO - Jayakumar and Abdullah

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TWO WHITE ELEPHANTS STEEPING DOWN, SEVERAL MORE TO GO

Veterans Jayakumar and Abdullah stepping down

Labour chief Swee Say to anchor PAP team in East Coast GRC
By Zakir Hussain, Political Correspondent
SM Jayakumar, 71, is currently the most experienced member of the Cabinet, after MM Lee and SM Goh. He is the first serving minister to announce he will not contest the coming polls. --ST PHOTOS: DESMOND WEE
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SENIOR Minister S. Jayakumar and Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi yesterday announced they would retire from politics at the coming polls as the ruling party pushed ahead with self renewal.

The two veterans, who have 58 years of political experience between them, are both Members of Parliament for East Coast GRC.

Labour chief Lim Swee Say has been moved in to lead the People's Action Party (PAP) team in the five-member GRC.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development Mohamad Maliki Osman will also join the East Coast team, whose other members are Transport Minister Raymond Lim, Minister of State for Manpower and Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan and Ms Jessica Tan.

Separately, Deputy Speaker and MP for MacPherson Matthias Yao also confirmed his retirement to The Straits Times yesterday.

Speaking to the media last night after he announced the changes to the GRC's senior party activists, Professor Jayakumar said he had been discussing his retirement with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for some time.

'He and I strongly believe in self-renewal and we have a very good batch of new candidates. In fact, I've been involved in the committee which interviews these candidates,' he said.

'And because we have a good batch of candidates, PM is now able to redeploy some of your existing ministers to succeed Speaker and me in East Coast GRC.'

PAP leaders have said they will field more than 20 new candidates at the coming General Election.

Prof Jayakumar, 71, entered politics in 1980. He is the most experienced member of the Cabinet, after Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who fought their first polls in 1955 and 1976 respectively.

A lawyer by training, Prof Jayakumar helmed four ministries, Labour, Home Affairs, Law and Foreign Affairs.

He was Deputy Prime Minister from 2004 to 2009, before being appointed Senior Minister. He also served as Co-ordinating Minister for National Security from 2005 till last October.

Mr Abdullah, 66, was elected in the Siglap seat in the 1984 GE and became Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs in 1993 when he also became Minister of State for the Environment. He became Acting Minister for Community Development in 1994 and a full minister in 1996. He was then appointed Speaker in 2002.

Both said they were confident they were leaving East Coast GRC in good hands. Prof Jayakumar described the new team as 'a very strong team' with four seasoned office-holders.

He thanked residents of Bedok and East Coast GRC for their support over the years, and his grassroots leaders.

Prof Jayakumar and Mr Abdullah also pledged to work closely with the new team to ensure a good win for the PAP.

Said Prof Jayakumar: 'I think I owe it to the people of Bedok and to the new team to assist them in whatever way possible, and so also Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, to ensure that we have a resounding victory in the coming elections.'

He declined to talk about other aspects of his career, saying: 'My priority now is to work with the team, help it win a good victory.'

In 2006, the PAP team won 63.9 per cent of the vote in East Coast, beating off a challenge from the Workers' Party, which is set to contest the GRC again this round.

Mr Lim Swee Say said his posting to East Coast GRC was 'formalised' only last night but said he was confident that he left his Buona Vista ward in good hands.

He pledged to push ahead with efforts to revitalise ageing East Coast GRC, in particular Bedok Town Centre.

As for the team that the WP plans to field in East Coast GRC, he said: 'It really doesn't matter to me which opposition team may be coming here, how active they are, because at the end of the day, I have to get my focus right.

'My focus must be to understand the needs, the anxiety, the aspirations of my residents and do my best to serve them.'

Dr Maliki said Prof Jayakumar and Mr Abdullah left 'very big shoes to fill'.

Mr Raymond Lim welcomed the addition of Mr Lim Swee Say and Dr Maliki to the East Coast GRC team.

He described the NTUC chief as 'a gifted communicator' and Dr Maliki as 'tireless in helping the less fortunate'.

Asked why he was not helming the GRC team, he said: 'We choose the best team possible, and I think that Swee Say is... someone we all know, a union chief, who I think would lead the team very well and look after our residents.

'So we're very pleased that Swee Say is not only joining us here but is leading the team.'

He also paid tribute to the two retiring veterans: 'We owe a big debt of gratitude to Professor Jayakumar and Speaker Abdullah Tarmugi.

'They have dedicated many years of their lives to helping the residents of East Coast and I think the best tribute that we can give to them is to continue their good work to serve our residents to the best of our abilities.'

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Jaya's legacy 'everywhere' in Foreign Affairs Ministry
As minister, he had to deal with many tough incidents
By Rachel Chang
Professor S. Jayakumar (second from the right) campaigning house-to-house for the PAP during the 1980 General Election, where he faced a three-cornered fight in Bedok against PKMS chairman Haji Abdul Rahman Zin and Mr Thomas Anthony Tay, of the United People's Front. --ST FILE PHOTO

SENIOR Minister S. Jayakumar's imminent retirement from politics caps a storied three decades in Government, during which he had a hand in domestic policy and foreign affairs, and played a key role in issues from religious harmony to climate change.

From his ward in Bedok, the academic turned politician anchored East Coast GRC and always relished a contest even when his grassroots activists hoped for a walkover.

Last night, on hearing news of his retirement, long-standing Bedok grassroots leader Kenneth Vaithilingam, 62, summed up the reactions of many activists when he said:

'You will not find anyone in Bedok who is pleased that he is stepping down.'

Professor Jayakumar began his career teaching at the then-University of Singapore's Law Faculty in 1964.

He was the faculty's dean from 1974 to 1980, during which time he was approached by the People's Action Party to enter politics.

As Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh, who was Prof Jayakumar's predecessor as law dean, recalled:

'He asked for my advice on whether he should agree. I advised him to go ahead and do it for the sake of the country.

'Singapore is a very small place. We are often called upon to serve the country in ways which are not our first preference. The two of us would have been happy to be allowed to continue as legal scholars. That's all we wanted to be.'

Prof Jayakumar's subsequent contribution to Singapore spanned four ministries from 1984 to 2004: Labour, Home Affairs, Law and Foreign Affairs.

From 2004 to 2009, he was Deputy Prime Minister, as well as Co-ordinating Minister for National Security from 2005 to 2009.

An international law expert, he helmed an inter-agency team which presented Singapore's case for Pedra Branca against Malaysia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2007.

Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, who succeeded Prof Jayakumar in 2004, said last night that 'his legacy is everywhere in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs'.

'He has a clear mind, an eye for detail and an ability to express himself in words precisely.'

This scholarly care was also remembered by others, like former Asean secretary-general Ong Keng Yong, who is the current head of the Institute of Policy Studies.

In 1995, when Prof Jayakumar was Foreign Affairs Minister, the infamous Flor Contemplacion case - that of a Filipina domestic helper here who was accused of killing another - erupted.

Protests against her death sentence were mounted in front of the Singapore Embassy in Manila, and relations with the Philippines became strained.

'He was very determined not to let this case become a cause for the rupture of Singapore-Philippines relations,' recalled Mr Ong.

'He spent a lot of time working on it personally. Because he is a lawyer by training, he was able to apply his legal training as well as his meticulous disposition to this case. He managed the whole case in a very clinical and effective way.'

Although Prof Jayakumar's even temperament has sometimes been regarded as sternness by some residents, grassroots leaders said he grew close to veteran activists. They attended his daughter's wedding, went fishing with him, and arranged regular golf outings.

'Over the years, most of us moved out of Bedok,' said Mr Vaithilingam, who has been volunteering in the ward since 1976, four years before Prof Jaya was fielded there in 1980.

'But we never left the branch. That is a reflection of the man.'

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[kingrant]

Don't see the need for the prostitute press to play up his 'legacy'. Can't believe he has done even a shade of what Raja had done.

Every Ah Neh in latter day Singapore has had his day. To respect their 'senility', the PAP masters promoted him to become SM to save his face. So what now? Back to the University to jiak liao bee? After all, wasnt he colelcting his professorial pay while on Sabbatical to the PAP?

 

[Narong Wongwan]

U call them white elephants, both going to contest president elections. either one will get the job and you get ready to pay more.

 

[saratogas]

As long as non-Chinese both got chance to run for President...

If I were them, I would quit too to run for President... More $$$ less work to do!

 

[uncleyap]

http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?...ition-Hard-Truth-for-WKS-Harder-Truth-for-LKy

http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?...re-LEEgime-s-Constipation-in-party-metabolism

I refer to points posted in 2 above threads, and to add here that, regardless how many old pappy dogs they removed their political party metabolism is still very very sick, and the constipation is still very very hopeless because the oldest piece of shit (LKy) is still permanently stuck in LEEgime's rectum.

They removed many of the not-so-old doggies, but the oldest old dog thief is actually the one that need the most to be removed. But NEVER DONE!:oIo:
Thus constipation is very very serious.


Whatever and however many WHITE ELEPHANTS the got rid off, will never have the necessary effect needed by Singapore, which is removal of OLD WHITE DOG - LKy.

The sad fact is the more they removed these not-so-old WHITE ELEPHANT, the more firmly would the OLD WHITE DOG - LKy be painfully stuck inside LEEgime's ass.

 

[kitelover3112]

Been hearing rumours about the next President being a non-Chinese? Got hidden rule saying it's an inevitability is it?

 

[tanwahtiu]

that is to retire gracefully from politic.

 

[commoner]

rumors has it that

Tamaguchi will be the one receiving the $4mil + paycheck,,,,

Prata Man had enough and leave him some time for him to eat to death,,,,,

 

[yellowarse]

Been hearing rumours about the next President being a non-Chinese? Got hidden rule saying it's an inevitability is it?

Tarmugi's the man.