Theory: GY was meant to lose Aljunied, to prevent leadership tussle post-LKY

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Geoff Wade opines that Lee’s successor might be George Yeo. Malay Mail:

At a time not too far distant, Lee Kuan Yew, the font of all authority, legitimacy, orthodoxy and indeed fear in Singapore for over 50 years will no longer be with us. It is thus perhaps appropriate to begin discussing what the absence of Lee Kuan Yew will mean for the Singaporean republic. …

Amazingly little has been written on what might happen to Singapore after Lee Kuan Yew passes on, as if even expression of this possibility is sacrilegious. Whither, then, Singapore after the demise of Mr Lee? Little change can be expected in administrative superstructures within the Republic or even in foreign policy directions. …

There is no likelihood of the PAP losing power in any foreseeable election, but the death of Lee Kuan Yew will greatly diminish the authority and likely the legitimacy of Lee Hsien Loong both as leader of the party and as Prime Minister. Are there other leaders in waiting? Lee Kuan Yew has long done his utmost to eliminate potential rivals to his own leadership and then rivals to his selected successors as party leaders. The former foreign minister George Yeo had been recognised by Lee as a likely potential challenger to his son in the event of his own death. It was thus that we observed, prior to the 2011 election, the remarkable threats made to the voters of Aljunied Constituency by Lee senior. Repeatedly telling the electorate that they would have five years to ‘repent’ if they chose the Workers’ Party, Lee brought about the result he intended. The electorate voted for the opposition and thereby drove George Yeo out of Parliament and beyond capacity to challenge for the party leadership. No other credible challengers now exist within the cabinet. …

Today, the PAP is obviously frightened. Both the results of the 2011 election and the impending death of the man who has held the party together for more than half a century are bringing to the surface insecurities about the directions which the party has long pursued and its future leadership. Social and welfare policies unthinkable in the past are now being discussed and inviolable shibboleths, such as meritocracy and mandatory death sentences, are being questioned. As the PAP is inevitably pushed by its competitors toward a locus more aligned to social justice, and having necessarily to address some of the injustices perpetrated during the Lee Kuan Yew era, it will be seeking a leader less affiliated with the man and that period. It is at that time that the preparations which George Yeo is now making will position him to contest the leadership of the PAP, a party which he has already declared ripe for reform.

- http://www.themalaymailonline.com/wh...yew-geoff-wade


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