LHY could have stayed out of politics altogether. Let his father’s political legacy continue uninterrupted in the party that he and others have founded. But, yesterday, he chose otherwise.
LHY said: “I joined the (PSP) because I think that Dr Tan is committed to doing the right thing for Singapore and Singaporeans and he loves the country. And he has brought together a group of people who share his vision, and it is a vision which I believe will build a better Singapore.”
In fact, the signs were all there before yesterday. He was PSP’s hidden trump or wild card. The many coffeeshop talks planted for media teasings were little bread crumbs strewn along the way for political-crumb pickers to speculate wildly.
Although unlikely to be fielded as a candidate in the coming election, Dr TCB said: “He is not just an ordinary person. His father is the founder of Singapore, you know, (yes, we know), so that’s very important. And the fact (that) he has decided to join us is a clear indication that the current (Government) didn’t follow what his dad wanted.”
Well, to be objective, Idk whether that is a “clear indication” because since that fateful morning in mid-2017 when the two siblings released onto the internet damning information about their eldest brother‘s conduct on a largely private family matter - and not to forget the fierce domestic exchanges between them over the allegation of the abuses of power, and the Parliamentary whitewashing for party members to toe the line - the relationship between LHY (and LWL) and his brother, PM LHL, has been hitting one rock after another in the stormy domestic seas.
Mind you, the personal trail is clear enough. First, we have the hotly contested father’s will and Oxley. Second, we have the non-invitation to CNY dinner. Third, we have the internet truce, which didn’t last long. Fourth, we have the AGC prosecution of his wife and son. Then, we have the open donation to Leong Sze Hian in the defamation suit his brother took out.
Alas, what is therefore clear is indicative of not so much that “the current (Government) didn’t follow what his dad wanted,” but it appears to be about the non-compliance of current leader/brother to follow their father’s testamentary wishes and possibly the distressing fate of his brother’s wife and son.
Here, I recall an interview of LKY that went like this: -
“Q: You did not need a cane to discipline them?
A) No, I didn’t need a cane and didn’t have one. My wife’s cane was not used very often but she has caned them. The children knew that there are certain things you must not do...I have my wife full support. I would back her. On the whole, I would say it’s a harmonious family.”
Indeed, when harmony reigns within the family, sacrifices come naturally. It becomes others-driven. It becomes love embodied. But when disharmony reigns, especially when it concerns a political founder’s family, the spillover to public life can turn ugly, to say the least.
Anyway, like Dr Tan said, “he is not just an ordinary person. His father is the founder of Singapore, you know, so that’s very important.”
And with that background, this is what LHY has to say: “The PAP has lost its way. My sister Wei Ling shares this view too. In fact, she said so in a Facebook post in August 2016 before Oxleygate...”
And here is the clincher: “It’s possible to be loyal Singaporeans, to be proud of what has been accomplished in the past, to recite with pride “we the citizens of Singapore”, to love Singapore and yet to not vote PAP.””
At this point, I really don’t know whether LHY risks throwing the baby out together with the bathwater, but there is definitely something brewing (or lurking) deep in the domestic waters that, for him (and his sister), need to be cast out in one swift action.
LKY was once asked “What is your greatest worry for Singapore?” He rightly said that he has no worries. “I have done my job. I found a successor and handed over to another generation. I can do no more. I cannot life forever as a young, vigorous 40- or 50-year-old.”
As to the future, he said that he is “resigned to what will happen.” He added: “There is no need to be sad. It depends upon the generation that is growing up now, what they will do. Do they share the values of their parents’ generation?”
It is true that each generation will be called upon to confront their own demons, first, private, and second, public. But I trust even LKY would not have foreseen or imagined that the politics or leadership he had spent his whole life on would come back to his own home to threaten or haunt his legacy.
Alas, the sibling spat has come full circle, and ironically when LHY said that he “wholeheartedly support the principles and values of the Progress Singapore Party”, I feel that he would be hardpressed to deny that that was the same principles/values that undergirds the current government, I mean, to a large extent, and the same ones his father’s leadership was based on, with flaws and all, of course.
(Well, I don’t need to tell you my beloved readers that in politics, one’s objectivity always runs the high risk of bending towards one’s allegiance. No one is immune).
And whether his brother has lost his way against the backdrop of his father’s Will, Oxleygate, the Parliamentary debates, the Elected Presidency, the defamation and contempt suits, and the prosecution of his brother’s wife, is a truth or reality that is still out there for historian’s interpretation.
Let me however end with one conversation that LKY had with ST which seems prophetic enough for me.
“Q) Is it possible for us to reach an equilibrium that is neither the overwhelming PAP domination of the past nor a two-party system, but somewhere in between? Perhaps, one-third to the opposition, two-third to the ruling party...
A) Do you think that is possible? If you have three children, can you persuade two of them to vote for the PAP and one for the opposition?”
Well, now it is possible. In fact, I can think of two of them who will vote for the opposition. So, in politics, I guess nothing is impossible Cheerz.
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