On Sunday evening (28 July), Mr Lee Hsien Yang (LHY), son of late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) and brother to the current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, took to Facebook to voice his support for the newly formed Progress Singapore Party (PSP) headed by former People’s Action Party Member of Parliament, Dr Tan Cheng Bock and back Dr Tan’s criticism of the current ruling party by stating that it has “lost its way”.
“I wholeheartedly support the principles and values of the Progress Singapore Party.
Today’s PAP is no longer the PAP of my father. It has lost its way.”
– LHY
At the time of writing, the post – which is relatively short and contains less than 30 words – has garnered over 450 comments and 1,800 shares. Perhaps it is the status of LHY and his credibility that brought him such sum of engagement from the people with just a few words.
Commenting on the post, netizens thanked and praised Mr Lee for voicing out against the People’s Action Party (PAP). They agreed that the current ruling party is not the same party as it once was under LKY during the pioneer generation, and that it has “lost its way” and “stop progressing” because the people in the party now are “overcome by greed and selfishness” and are just “too corrupted to the core without caring for the people”.
A bunch of them highlighted the everyday struggle of living in Singapore to exhibit how much “Singaporeans are suffering” in this day and age. A few of them brought up the issue of unemployment because “jobs are being taken away from the citizens”. Meanwhile, user Johnny Koh spoke about the lack of progress and misplaced priorities in the education sector as well as the government not taking accountability during times of crisis, such as the HIV data breach. Additionally, user Pestanus Rob pointed out that the foreigners in Singapore are benefiting more than the locals and the people are left to bear with the high cost of living while the government is earning billions.
Despite Mr Lee admitting that he “wholeheartedly support the principles and values of the PSP”, it is unsure whether Mr Lee will be joining Dr Tan’s party in the near future. Nonetheless, many netizens commented in support of Mr Lee joining the opposition party, urging him to “step out to fight for Singaporean people’s future”.
However, on the contrary to the majority of the comments in support of Mr Lee entering into politics, a handful of them hold the view that Mr Lee should not enter politics. User Calvin Ho said that Singapore does not “want or need another Lee to enter” into the political scene, noting that “Singapore is bigger than just extending a Lee dynasty”.
In fact, Calvin’s comment coincides with PM Lee Hsien Loong’s remark towards his siblings’ allegation of him abusing his power and wanting to establish a ‘Lee’ dynasty, to which he said is “completely untrue”. Hence, it does seem unlikely for Mr Lee Hsien Yang to end up in politics given the family feud regarding the nature of politics, power, and inheritance.