On party's 60th birthday, he reminds members to stay true to its roots
By Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times, 8 Nov 2014
By Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times, 8 Nov 2014
And providing this leadership is a responsibility he wants the People's Action Party (PAP) to shoulder for the country.
If it fails, Singapore will be in "deep trouble", he said at a celebration marked with symbols of the PAP's birth 60 years ago.
Partly encircled by the nation's current and past leaders, PM Lee told 700 PAP members gathered at Victoria Concert Hall that serving Singapore is a duty they cannot shirk or decline.
"No matter what the odds are and what circumstances we find ourselves in, the PAP will always be on Singapore's and Singaporeans' side. The PAP will always do its best for Singapore and Singaporeans," he said.
It was a call resounding with significance. Not only was last night's event held where the PAP was founded in 1954, but PM Lee also made the call on a stage recreated to look just like it did when the party was formed and spoke through the same microphone then party chief Lee Kuan Yew had used on that fateful day.
Sharing the night of commemoration were the senior Mr Lee, Singapore's first prime minister, and his successor Goh Chok Tong, as well as former MPs, branch leaders, party cadres and Cabinet members.
PM Lee urged the members to remember how the party got to where it is. It never gave up on the country, nor would it do so in the future, he indicated.
Whether in fighting for self-rule from the British, battling the communists or negotiating the merger and separation from Malaysia, the party never faltered, he added.
It also shifted gears and successfully took Singapore from Third World to First.
PM Lee noted many political movements elsewhere had failed at nation building because it was not the same as mobilising people or agitating for independence.
Since Singapore's independence, the PAP has led the country through various crises, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 and the 2008 global financial meltdown.
"We won the trust of the voters and the mandate to serve Singapore in every successive general election since then... and we will win the next one, too," PM Lee said to loud applause.
He urged PAP members to hold fast to the party's fundamental ideal of building a just and equal society. They must also serve with humility, he said.
Later, he paid special tribute to the party's pioneers, in particular Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He said the older Mr Lee not only founded the party and turned it into a national movement, but he also guided it to build modern Singapore.
He also thanked the party's activists for serving the ground, taking care of residents, mobilising support and keeping the PAP close to the people.
To commemorate the event, PM Lee launched the book PAP 60, Forward Together, which chronicles 60 defining moments in the party's history.
To commemorate the event, PM Lee launched the book PAP 60, Forward Together, which chronicles 60 defining moments in the party's history.
Calling on members to pledge themselves anew, PM Lee said: "We must develop new leaders, keep the party vigorous and strong, close to the people, continuing to win their support and enjoying their trust... (and) lead Singapore to greater success."
Lee Kuan Yew takes to stage where he founded PAP
Party members give standing ovation to pioneer activists
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 8 Nov 2014
Party members give standing ovation to pioneer activists
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 8 Nov 2014
They rose to their feet and applauded as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong paid tribute to the party's pioneer activists and leaders for their hard work throughout the party's 60-year history.
"Most of all, we are grateful to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, our first secretary-general who founded the party, made it a national movement, led it to build Singapore and continued building it beyond the founding generation of leaders," said PM Lee, who, as party chief, gave the address at the PAP's 60th anniversary celebration.
Taking to the same stage he stood on six decades ago at the founding of the PAP, the elder Mr Lee waved in acknowledgment.
The 91-year-old was flanked by the party's central executive committee members and others from the pioneer generation of MPs.
They included Singapore's first Home Affairs minister Ong Pang Boon, Mr Mahmud Awang, who co-founded the National Trades Union Congress, former senior parliamentary secretary Chan Chee Seng and former Ang Mo Kio MP Yeo Toon Chia.
PM Lee paid tribute to these party leaders and other "key lieutenants" of Mr Lee Kuan Yew such as Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr S. Rajaratnam, Mr Othman Wok, Dr Toh Chin Chye and Mr Devan Nair.
He also thanked the activists for serving on the ground, taking care of residents and keeping the party close to the people.
In another reference to the party's history, PM Lee said: "In July 1965, a crucial by-election was held in Hong Lim.
"Today, in Hong Lim Green Speakers' Corner, people make all kinds of speeches - the world will not change. But in those days, in Hong Lim Green, you have a rally, the place is filled, and everybody knew that Singapore's future depended on them."
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong, who chairs the organising committee for the PAP's 60th anniversary celebrations, also spoke on the importance of the party's past, which "holds lessons for the present and future".
Outside the hall, where photographs of the party's defining moments in history were exhibited, the atmosphere was one of celebration, happy reunions and nostalgia.
Former MP Wan Hussin Zoohri, 77, said: "The party has a new generation today. Tonight, they are being transported back to the 1950s when the party was first formed, to reflect that it is because of that inauguration that we are here today.
"It is good to return to that and let the young generation be conscious of the first generation of leaders, who were flag-bearers."
Said Sembawang assistant branch secretary Goh Peng Hong, 46, of the chance to meet the party's pioneers: "To see them in person is very meaningful for younger activists like myself.
"Their early years were one of struggling to make Singapore the safe, harmonious place it is today. I am inspired by their energy."
Party activists share hopes and thoughts
By Rachel Au-Yong, The Straits Times, 8 Nov 2014
By Rachel Au-Yong, The Straits Times, 8 Nov 2014
By the time the 2011 General Election rolled around, Kaki Bukit ward - absorbed into Aljunied GRC after being part of Eunos, East Coast and Marine Parade previously - had been untested for some 20 years, and the party lost the GRC to the Workers' Party.
Even as PAP activists redouble efforts on the ground, with community programmes and social assistance schemes, Ms Normah, an activist since 1980 and former chair of Kaki Bukit's Women's Wing, thinks winning back Aljunied GRC will not be easy.
"Realistically, it will be a very tough fight to dislodge the Workers' Party," she was quoted as saying in a 158-page book launched to mark the PAP's 60th anniversary.
Titled PAP 60, Forward Together, the book charts milestones in the party's journey since 1954.
It also features the quiet work of six activists, including Ms Normah, in working the ground. She said last night that the PAP must be more proactive in engaging residents as fewer instinctively turn to it for help.
Also featured is NTUC industrial relations officer Jagathishwaran Rajo, 27, a political science major at university, who says in the book that he was one of the few who spoke up for the Government in class:
"It has become glamorous nowadays to be anti-government, anti-PAP and anti-establishment. My honours year thesis title was 'End Of PAP dominance?'
"We do have to think about whether the days of very high percentage of votes are over. After all, in developed countries, it is very rare now to get a majority. So, this is maybe the new normal - more debate, more contest, but also more new ideas."
That is why the Young PAP branch chair in Zhenghua ward in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC thinks it is important for the young to take politics seriously: "It is normal for young people to care for their country, and indeed to play a large role in the party."
In the book, veteran activist Png Wee Chor, 74, agrees that young people have a part to play. Since 2011, he has seen more of them helping at his Kampong Chai Chee ward in East Coast GRC.
He, too, got involved at a young age. In 1956, at age 16, he was pushed through a window after a pro-independence rally went out of control. He needed 13 stitches on his leg. "Battles for a good cause attract the young - that was true when I was young, that is true now. In my time, the cause was freedom and anti-communism. But at the bottom of it all, it was the dream of a good life."
The book is not for sale to the public, but will be distributed to the 87 PAP branches. Copies signed by the three secretaries-general of the PAP - Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Goh Chok Tong and Mr Lee Hsien Loong - will be sold at $10,000 and $20,000, with proceeds going to charity.