박수쳐줄만 하다...
더 늦기전에....
’싱가포르 국부’ 리콴유 선임장관이 지난 토요일 내각에서 사퇴했다. 1965년 이래 계속 자리를 지켜오던 리콴유 선임장관은 그의 정당이 선거에서 낮은 지지율을 얻은 이후 젊은 세대에게 지휘권을 넘겨주기로 결심한 것으로 보인다. 한편 리콴유와 함께 내각에서 물러난 2대 총리 고촉동은 리콴유와 함께 발표한 성명에서 "저번 총선 이후 내각에서 물러나야겠다고 결심했다. 싱가포르의 미래를 위하여 젊은 지도자들이 새로운 내각을 구성해야 할 것"이라고 말했다.
Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew resigned from the Cabinet on Saturday, ceding leadership to a younger generation after his party’s worst election result since independence in 1965.
Lee and fellow former prime minister Goh Chok Tong said in their joint resignation statement they wanted to leave a clean path for younger leaders.
"After a watershed general election, we have decided to leave the cabinet and have a completely younger team of ministers to connect to and engage with this young generation in shaping the future of our Singapore," Goh and Lee said in a joint statement.
Lee Kuan Yew was the prime minister of Singapore starting from its independence in 1965 till 1990, when Goh Chok Tong took over as prime minister and appointed him senior minister in the cabinet.
After Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took over in 2004, he appointed Goh senior minister and created the advisory post of minister mentor for Lee Kuan Yew.
Goh and Lee said that they have studied the new political situation and thought how it can affect the future, and that the time has come for a younger generation to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation.
"A younger generation, besides having a non-corrupt and meritocratic government and a high standard of living, wants to be more engaged in the decisions which affect them," said the statement.
"But the younger team must always have in mind the interests of the older generation. This generation who has contributed to Singapore must be well-looked after," it added.
The People’s Action Party (PAP) has been the ruling party since the independence of Singapore in 1965 and has had an absolute majority in the parliament. It lost a five-seat group representation constituency for the first time in the general election last week to the opposition Workers’ Party.
The share of the popular vote won the ruling PAP also dipped to 60.14 percent, down from 66.6 percent in the last general election in 2006 and lower than the 61 percent in the 1991 general election.
Yeo has said that the political development in Singapore has entered a new phase.
The prime minister has yet to announce the line-up for his new cabinet but it is certain that Foreign Minister George Yeo and Minister in Prime Minister’s Office Lee Hwee Hwa, both in the team for the lost multi-seat constituency, will have to go. Both have announced that they would not be contesting the next general election.
Goh said in a post on his constituency Facebook page on Saturday that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong can then refresh his cabinet to forge a new Singapore consensus by rethinking policies and reshaping Singapore with fresh ideas.
Goh said he will not be in the cabinet but will remain a lawmaker.
"(I) will have more time to spend with residents, something I have always enjoyed doing," he said.
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