This is nothing new. Singaporeans cannot expect the pap to change. First after 50 years of power, they have lost their ability to change. Second, life has been so easy and confortable for the pap politicians, why would they want to change the status quo ?
The only way Singaporeans can bring about change is to force in onto the pap at the ballot box. If they chose to ignore the election result and bring in the military that is the pap problem.

LHL talks as if there is no PAP MP or Ministers who has been charged with corruption. PAP talks as if everybody subscribes to its ideology too. LHL is really detached from the people.

Change to me, means vote them OUT.

This is all along PAP’s propaganda message. LKY and GCT have also repeated it many times. It is called political survival 101.

If by now Singaporeans are still gullible enough to be fooled once aagin, I have nothing more to say and maybe hang in Sydney for the long run!

Fooled me once shame on you fooled me twice shame on me!

i think pap needs a stronger message.

they know “change” is the operative word for the political scene all over the world. just saying that they will “change” within the party, so that the party will continue to enjoy an iron-style one-country-one-party-ruling powers, doesn’t sound like change to us.

they need to be more specific: what is the CHANGE?

The key words in the sentence are; “…as long as …”.

Can we entrust the lives of millions into a sentence that begins with “as long as…?“.

a. As long as I am rich, i do not have think about being poor.
b As long as I am gainfully employed, I do not have to think about being jobless.
c. As long as I go for my regular check ups I do not have to think about falling sick.
d. As long as I tell you that I am good, clean and honest, you do not have to think about bad things, corruption and dishonesty.

Until they day the PM can GAURANTEE that his declared good, clean govt will always be there, how can one put all his eggs into one basket?

I do not trust for one moment, not at the blink of an eye, that the PM is wiser than wisdom.

NEVER ever put your eggs into the same basket. NEVER.

who’s kidding who? I cannot imagine that we are paying our so called “leaders” millions….and yet they are still living in the cave! An insult to our intelligence! Pui!

How patronising. He really fails to understand the concept of democracy and the point of a multi-party system.

He says:

““(McCain’s) personal sentiments will not alter the task of the Republican party over the next four years — and their job, as the Republicans in the opposition, will be to undermine the Democrat party and in the next elections … get back into power.”

Complete rubbish. The first point about being involved in public service is that you are PRO-COUNTRY, not pro-party. This idea that the opposition are simply there to make trouble and not be constructive permeates throughout Singapore and so people cannot appreciate the check-and-balance role multiple parties play.

But is the electorate smart enough to realise this? How long will Singaporeans keep falling for this cock-and-bull story that any alternative or change is bad?

If he has his ways, i think singaporeans can forget about 2 party system for a long time. 90% did not petition even when pocket hurt directly. This means never even tried. This means that signing it is more tough than losing life savings. Think about this.

Am in the process of quiting…. LTK and S Lim, thanks. but no…

Reading LHL’s Speech, I must point out that LHL did not guarantee that PAP will change for the better of Singapore. He only said PAP will change for the better of PAP.

All shit!!! Enough of his nosense!!! Show us results, till nw since becoming a PM, he show nothing!!! Vote the Lees OUT!!!

Apparently, the prime minister, after being in the job for 4 years, still cannot handle “15 or 20 opposition members” in Parliament.

And he compares Singapore with the US?

Come on. As I said before, in the US they say, “Yes, we can.”

In Singapore, when it comes to politics, it’s always, “No, we cannot.”

I’m, really tired of the negativity.

The only change I want to see is more opposition in the parliament, where else is the check and balance to come from when almost everyone is from the same party. The mantra: You should not bite the hand that feed you. That said, you think any of those PAP puppies dare to bite their own master? I think not.

Real change is when they stop being a hypocrite and accept that change has to come not from the inside but from the outside.

“Apparently, the prime minister, after being in the job for 4 years, still cannot handle “15 or 20 opposition members” in Parliament.”

Now, who is soft. The people or them.

They want us to face competition by opening a floodgate. As for themselves, they want to “close off” the floodgate.

Well, certain people just want to reserve the option to do something which they do not want it available to others.

Come to think of it, PM might be right.

Only thing is, the one-party he speaks of must always come from the opposition.

So my dear singaporeans, the true color is out now just as predicted. They know jolly well that the party is going to lose after continual strings of screwed ups from them, and knowing that there is no way they can hide nor admit their incompetency, they are now resorting to forced method to avoid any alternative party from arising to power against them in coming election. So, question here is whether the citizens of singapore allow this to take place?

I am of the view we need an opposition to check the ruling party. I am willing to accomodate the proposal that the checks can come from the ruling party, but I am not convinced that the checks are solid enough.
I hold the view that healthy opposition is what we should strive for. Again, I can accomodate the proposal that the country is much better off with one dominant, strong, clean, good party. However, I am not convinced that all members are strong, clean and good at the same time now.

As an American residing here, I refrain from commenting on the politics of Singapore but Mr Lee’s remarks are the last straw. He said: “The opposition party campaigns on the message of ‘change’: Change, change, change. Never mind change to what — just change … The new government comes in on that message and then they start to think change to what.” He cited not just the elections in the United States — which saw the Democrats recapture the White House from the Republicans after eight years — but also recent polls in Australia and New Zealand, in which long-running incumbents were booted out after the electorate got “tired” of them.

This remark is a backhand insult to the people of these democratic countries and to Americans, in particular. We Americans have at least the political maturity to select the best man for the job, regardless of race, religion or political convictions. Here in Singapore if you vote for the opposition, you are practically condemned and convicted and denied a part of the public largesse to upgrading.

Moreover, all Amercians get to vote unless they opt out. Here everyone seem to be automatically opt out not to vote unless someone opt-in to challenge the PAP.

Another difference: during the American election, a lot of bad words were exchanged between candidates but this stopped once the campaign ended with no exorbitant lawsuits disguised as a attempt to protect reputation. Mr Lee said that John McCain is gracious in defeat. Maybe he and his father and his party could take a leave from Mr McCain and not like what his father once said, will call in the army if the election results is a “fluke”, meaning that the PAP is not returned to power.

Mr Lee and his father also chided the Western government and media for intervening into their domestic politics. His remarks show that this does not seem to apply to him. If Americans take offense at his remarks on their politics and abide by his rule of defending reputation at all legal costs, he will be slapped with a heavy defamation suit for defaming the integrity of the American electorate and questioning their ability to choose their own president.

Fortunately, we Americans are politically mature enough not to do that. But is is sad that this place with all the trappings of a modern cosmopolitan still have a ruling elite with a political mindset begetting of a Chinese authoritarian and imperialism.

“Moreover, all Amercians get to vote unless they opt out. Here everyone seem to be automatically opt out not to vote unless someone opt-in to challenge the PAP. ”

Hey, this presumed consent on automatically opting-in unless instructed to the contrary is quite a unique creation which meets more of the purpose on expediency.

Why not I go to your house and take things from you which are presumed mine (automatic opting-in) and if you want it back, you come to show me your intention.

Moreover, all Amercians get to vote unless they opt out. Here everyone seem to be automatically opt out not to vote unless someone opt-in to challenge the PAP. – quietAmerican

That is the effect of GRC walkovers.

whatever they said loh

The best change that Singapore can have is that voters in AMK GRC vote out LHL in the next GE. With that, Singaporeans’ message to PAP is clearest and loudest. That’s the change that we need.

At the same time, that’s also a fitting reward for LKY despite all his ingenuity of installing LHL to the wrong seat.

[...] wrong that change must come to Singapore and that it should be from within the ruling party. The PAP must change fast if they wish to retain their glamour over Singaporeans. Speakers’ Corner turning into a [...]

17) kf I am not convinced that all members are strong, clean and good at the same time now

When we consider politics in the sense of a country being ruled by one party, one must not only look at the present but also to the future.

PAP can broach about being clean, honest and good and majority of Singaporeans will believe them. This is now. This is where the danger lies. Can the PM guarantee the same 10, 20, 30 or 50 years down the line?

Can we exhumed him and the current PAP govt 50 years from now and hold them to their words?

They are asking Singaporeans to sign our lives to them. Which democracy does this? What kind of a democracy is this? Or, do they have a new governing model in the pipeline? Tell us about it, don’t play, play with us.

18) quietAmerican If Americans take offense at his remarks on their politics and abide by his rule of defending reputation at all legal costs, he will be slapped with a heavy defamation suit for defaming the integrity of the American electorate and questioning their ability to choose their own president.

Any lawyers out there to see if we can do this to the PAP govt? Also, if we can do this outside of our Kangaroo courts?

Jokes aside, I think this is a very valid point. We, the people, do we know how we are viewed by people from abroad? What kind of people are we? I can hear the silent refrains like, “Timid, Spineless, Stupid, Scared, No B**ls” etc.

And I attribute this to the way we have been governed, which means the PAP is at fault. Now, is there a case for the people to sue the PAP govt for ‘defaming’ the good name of the people?

Dare to use the 1 man 1 vote system this coming GE and you people will see another similar tsunami like the one in Malaysia happening in singapore and all the MIW will be out of job, not even thinking of maintaining that 66.6%. Anyway, politics is a very dirty thing and yet it can be done legally here. Reason is you people have no choice, I call the shot here, end of story. . . .

Instead of winning the people’s trust to them for another term, now they just go ahead and renew it themselves whether you like it or not, in this way even should there be any intended new party or parties being formed, the result is as good as “It’s All Mine Now” you can form as many parties as you like now but the door is already closed.

Very tired of the same old story.. can tell me something new PM Lie?
MM told us we are better off compared to our neighbouring countries, now PM tells us we are better off with one dominant, strong, clean, good party.

No matter what, we are always better off.. erm tell this to my ah ma, ah gong, mother father & ask them if they are better off?

Even if PAP changes from within, legal corruption (million $$$ salaries) won’t change, nepotism won’t change, kangaroo judicial system won’t change…so what if you change a few cats / dogs? They have no power or influence over the 3 Gods sitting on top of the ivory tower.

What we need is an overhaul of the whole political system. Is PAP up to that?
I think they too kiasu…scared alternatives will win.
Then please don;t talk about change when your so-called change is only lip service.

They have no power or influence over the 3 Gods sitting on top of the ivory tower.?

Hahaha…The fudder, Son and the hole-ly Goh?

hello…give me S$1million per year i also can cum out wf they so called policies…and i can be vy minister and i vow i will never corrupt!!!

first impression for me was LHL trying rather failingly to imitate barack obama’s message of change.

unfortunately he didn’t realise that hopes and ideals of change cannot be diluted and bent as one likes. at least, not so transparently.

He said : ‘as the Republicans in the opposition, will be to undermine the Democrat party and in the next elections … get back into power”

First, there are many ideological differences between the 2 parties. As such, one would expect a lot more partisan voting patterns for bills that touched upon those differences. However, they have also shown many instances of bipartisanship if it is for the good of the country. There are also many instances where democrats/republicans senators/congressmans breaking from party ranks if they believe their party is taking the wrong position.

Second, it is not necessarily a bad thing. At least, every legislation is subjected to rigorous debates and not just a rubber-stamping process. Of course, sometimes there is a downside in that things will move a lot slower than desired, but it is a small price to pay to ensure check and balances.

Have we ever seen any PAP MPs voted against any govt legislation despite speaking out against the bill ? Rarely and never when the party whip is imposed. Anyway, if they do, they are just committing political suicide because they will find themselves “retired to make way for new blood” in the next GE.

MPs here are selected for GEs by the party leadership. So our MPs here are beholden to the party leadership and have to toe the party line to ensure political survival. Unlike the US system where all congressmans have to campaign and voted upon in the primaries just to be nominated as candidates.

Besides, they are lots of in-breeding within the PAP. The CEC members are elected by the party cadres (about 1000) who are actually selected by the CEC. You scratch my back, I scratch yours.

If the PAP party leadership stays clean, then everything will be fine. But no one can guarantee that or will it remains clean forever. But once, it turn bad, their system will perpetuate and it will be extremely difficult to turn around. With their more than 2/3 majority in parliament, they can amend the constitution anytime to preserve their power.

The fundamental question to ask: Does the country belong to the people or a party?

No one, even the PAP die-hards, can argue against the notion that the country belongs to the people.

If so, let the people decide what they want in a national referendum: single party or mutliple parties for the country!! If they want multiple, split the RP into 2. Sound crazy? They have done it on PUB to split it into multiple generation companies. In telecom, they curtailed the power of Singtel and encouraged M1 and Starhub. If that can be done in business, why can’t it be done in politics? After all, our mini-stars are all CEO calibre commanding CEO salaries. They sure know how to compete in a mutli-party system.

Instead, the party is now talking down on the people that they need a single party system.

if an individual can be charged for contempt of court or the justice system, can LHL be charged for contempt of democracy?
How dare he make such comments! It is up to the people to decide who we want as representatives, not LHL, not anybody. He might as well scrap elections, scrap the constitution, and rule by decree. Oops he’s doing exactly that.

Change within the party itself is absolutely no change at all- just like a shaken bottled liquid which settles itself after awhile- but uncapping it and adding into it foreign elements to be reckoned with- then you will clearly see the change .

Inevitably, change is unavoidable, just like the lives of Singaporeans – are they for the better or the worse- we need to seek empathy at the various levels to find out.

34) Enigmatic on November 17th, 2008 7.11 pm Change within the party itself is absolutely no change at all- just like a shaken bottled liquid which settles itself after awhile- but uncapping it and adding into it foreign elements to be reckoned with- then you will clearly see the change .

They have no other choice because by now they aleady knew that their party will lose next coming GE, so before situation gets worse, they resort to strike you first before any new party can be formed to take over them. This is not about the people anymore, its about the party alone to protect their own wealth building with no one to report to even when things have gone incredibly wrong as there won’t be any check and balance nor accountability of the peoples monies being held ransom by them.

If a country such as New Zealand which has a population about the same as us can have more than one party and still not doing badly. I don’t see the rationale why a ’small’ country like us can’t tolerate a 2 party system.

Power corrupts, absolute power absolutely corrupts.

If we don’t make the transition to a 2 party system while the PAP is still not rotten,we will face tremendous difficulties in doing that when PAP becomes rotten in the future because who knows what tricks they would pull up the sleeves when faced with nore dissent?

Anyway, in his speech, PM LHL referred to Taiwan as a country. He will be screwed by Beijing over this. Beijing was already very vocal about the Taiwan issue when Singapore was negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Taiwan few months ago.

36) cy on November 17th, 2008 8.26 pm If a country such as New Zealand which has a population about the same as us can have more than one party and still not doing badly. I don’t see the rationale why a ’small’ country like us can’t tolerate a 2 party system.

Power corrupts, absolute power absolutely corrupts.

I don’t see the rationale why a ’small’ country like us can’t tolerate a 2 party system.

Its not about tolerating, its about getting total rid of all those check and balance so no one can stop them and they can help themselves with more $billions to god knows where the monies would end up. With already so many $billions of losses down the drain, one just can’t help wondering how much more $billions of the peoples’ trapped cpf monies would be gone in no time.

Yes.. change.. by first willingly lower your pay so that we have more surplus to spend on more meaningful movement to help people?

Same old fascist propaganda a la Nazi party after WW1 in which Hitler argued himself into absolute power through the ballot box. After becoming Chancellor, he systematically eliminated his opponents and consolidated his power and led the nation to WW2. LKY did much the same way except lead us to war, altho he led us into Merger and M’sia and then got kicked out of M’sia for becoming too hasty and greedy in his grab for power to be the PM of M’sia. UMNO wasnt going to stand for his tricks. Now once again, his son takes over and becomes his mouthpiece to hold on to absolute power. Only in Singapore can such arrogance be tolerated and rewarded. Singaporeans have only themselves to blame! The PAP should have been thrown out long ago. They were once only a one man show in 1955. Alas! Apathetic and easily cowed Singaporeans deserve the dictatorship they created.

Dear Lan Jiao Long:

Other than PAPPY white outfit, there is nothing about the PAPPY that is clean. Please change a new underwear and stop flipping here and there until the stinky smell start to be obvious.

One day when the opposition became the ruling party, I be the first one to request a total check of what is left of our CPF and where it went and how much your father Tan-Li-bie-Si holding actually blown them away? I believe there are many people behind me wanted to know too!

Not forgetting, how much a HDB unit costed and what is HDB profits? Finally, where do they go?? Enjoy better sleep if you can and if your PAPPY dare a early election, you only bring your nightmare come faster. Go ahead and prove to every Singaporean how out of touch the PAPPY really is.

32) Anonymous
The fundamental question to ask: Does the country belong to the people or a party?/i>

Dare the PAP make this into an election issue? Let the people decide.

so goodluck to all you papees voters, they are creating a system to do all you people in now, too late to regret now, you are all being trapped into believing all the golden years ahead and now kenna pay and pay till you go to your coffin . . . . maybe no money to buy coffin by then, must borrow from bank, DBS maybe offering coffin loans soon as the population aged.

Oppressive and Suppressive!!!!!!!!!!!

Let us not be misled and deceived again & again! The change I believe in lies on the hands of the people, NOT THE GOVT!