PAP policies must look after all S’poreans for society to stay united: PM Lee

SINGAPORE — With societies, including Singapore’s, becoming more diverse, the People’s Action Party (PAP) needs to be close to all segments of society, its secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong told party members and activists yesterday.

Speaking at the biennial PAP Conference, Mr Lee said the ruling party must be a strong national party able to represent and look after a broad mass of Singaporeans, and pursue policies that benefit many across the board.

“If the PAP Government pursues policies that benefit many Singaporeans across the board, bringing Singaporeans closer together, then our society can remain united,” he said. “But it’s not going to be easy to do this, because if you look all around the world, the trend is in the opposite direction.”

Societies are fragmenting and splitting into narrow groups because of issues of immigration, religion, gender, conservative and liberal values, he said. The result: Traditional, mainstream political parties such as the Labour party in the United Kingdom and the Democratic Party in the United States are weakening, the extreme groups are strengthening and pressure groups are growing, Mr Lee noted. This leads to dysfunctional politics, gridlocked legislatures and paralysed governments, he said.

Singapore’s diversity in the form of groups championing the environment, arts, people with disabilities and different stands on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues can be a strength — if it does not divide society, he said.

Working the ground and knocking on doors are key to understanding changes in society, PAP activists told TODAY. “We have to just keep visiting our residents, (meet them) face-to-face. It’s not just about reaching them but really engaging them,” said PAP Siglap branch member Jeremy Netto. “It’s easy to (reach out) to people but getting the correct message to them is going to be essential for the party.”

Punggol North branch member S Sreenath said it is important for the party to identify and go to families in need, because the families may not always come forward to ask for help.

Looking ahead to the next General Election due by 2021, Mr Lee said it would not be like the one last year because of global uncertainties. The party must therefore prepare itself by understanding global changes and improving the lives of Singaporeans in a “difficult environment”, he said.

On the subject of leadership renewal, Mr Lee said Singapore must not only have a capable PAP team for today, but a deep bench for tomorrow.

He added that he was glad that the leadership team was strengthened in the last two General Elections. “The younger leaders have been very active. They’ve taken on more responsibilities in the ministries, they’re running most party activities and I’m very happy that several were elected in the last Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections two years ago. And I hope this time more will be elected into the CEC.”

Yesterday’s CEC election saw Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob and 11 Cabinet Ministers — including two earmarked as fourth-generation leaders, Mr Chan Chun Sing and Mr Heng Swee Keat voted into the 2017-2018 PAP CEC. Mr Heng, who is recovering from a stroke in May, was in August given the green light by doctors to resume work but with minimal interaction with people. He was not present at yesterday’s conference.

Two other ministers, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin and Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, were co-opted at the event into the CEC after they received the 13th and 14th highest number of votes among cadre members. Up to four more members can be co-opted to form an 18-member CEC.