Only the best need apply

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 18

Only the best need apply

Singapore’s governing party has started a search for scholars and successful professionals to stand as its candidates in general elections later this year. Indeed, the party’s suitability check-list reads like an advertisement for a corporate manager. They must be “graduates and professionals successful in their careers, analytical, realistic, imaginative, and natural lea-

ders.” P.A.P.’s organising secretary and defence minister, Goh Chok Tong, says the new breed must be people of integrity willing to dedicate themselves to the state and people, “even if it means financial loss and a loss of personal privacy.” “They must not be men who feel dizzy when they have to think hard. They must not crave publicity.” Under the leadership of Lee

Kuan Yew, the P.A.P. has been in power for 25 years with no serious opposition in sight. It holds all but one seat in the 75-member Britishstyle parliament. Goh and his colleagues acknowledge the increasing difficulty in finding election candidates, but the Minister says there will be no compromise on the tough standards set by the party. —N.Z.P.A.-Reuter.