Singapore’s prosperity ‘threatened by flaw’

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 6

Singapore’s prosperity ‘threatened by flaw’

NZPA-Reuter Singapore The British-style system of Government in Singapore had a fatal flaw because it allowed a change of Government, said a potential Prime Minister of the island, Mr Goh Chok Tong.

This “structural weakness” could endanger Singapore’s political stability, said the First Deputy Premier, Mr Goh, in a speech to university students which was officially released yesterday. Singapore’s prosperity could be assured only if it had a “mainstream” party, like the ruling People’s Action Party, returned at every election, he said. Mr Goh, who heads a newly-emerging party leadership and is regarded as potential successor to the Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, said the Britishstyle system had a “fatal flaw” because it allowed changes of Government.

“The country (Britain) rolled from Left to Right, from Right to Left every few years. No political stability, no fixed directives for people to plan their lives ahead,” he said.

An ideal system for Singapore would be to retain a mainstream party representing a broad range of the population while a few other parties with sectional interests remained on the periphery. “I would not apologise if we end up in a situation where the P.A.P. is the mainstream party and is returned for the next 25 years, better still for the next 50 years,” Mr Goh said. This would allow Singaporeans and foreign investors to plan their future because, “they know tlje parameters of the P.A.P. and what we stand for.”

Mr Lee suggested immediately after the last General Elections, in

December, that Singapore might find it difficult to retain the one-man, one-vote parliamentary system. His suggestion stirred a public controversy. The party failed to make a clean sweep in the General Election for the first time since independence and suffered a drastic reduction in its share of popular votes.

He also said that Singapore was facing an economic crisis with its growth rate falling alarmingly in the last 18 months.

“If we cannot open our parachute in time, it will be a hard landing. Then we will not need a doctor. We will need a mortician, or an undertaker.”

Mr Goh warned Singaporeans that full employment might be coming to an end. “I’m afraid this year the jobs will not be chasing you. You will have to search for jobs,” he said.