Andrew Loh

Straits Times, 2009. Picture from Singapore Mind (click to enlarge)

In 2006, after the General Elections, PM Lee Hsien Loong warned that Singapore society would be “destroyed” if S’poreans were divided between the haves and have-nots:

We must also not allow ourselves to be divided between haves and have-nots, or winners and losers. We have built a society where every Singaporean has access to good housing, education, healthcare, and much more. This is the result of the deliberate policy of the PAP government, and the efforts of our MPs, grassroots leaders and other volunteers on the ground. If we let the politics of envy drive a wedge between us, our society will be destroyed, and all will suffer. That must never happen. (Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his swearing-in speech in 2006.)

Now that MM Lee has said a social divide is “inevitable”, will Singapore society be “destroyed”, as PM Lee warned in 2006? Apparently, the “deliberate policy” of the PAP government has resulted in this “inevitable social divide”.

What must the government now do about this? Or will it simply put the blame on “globalisation”, as MM Lee did in the Straits Times report?

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