An Ex-Politician on Today's Political Landscape | Inconvenient Questions

Summary

Highlights

• Singh suggests July-August as a likely period for a leadership handover to Lawrence Wong, anticipating a National Day Rally goodbye speech by PM Lee. 🎤
• He describes the PAP's challenges in reigniting trust with the public amid socio-economic issues like housing and cost of living. 💡
• Singh recalls his unique role in being candid and critical in parliament, supported by PM Lee Hsien Loong. 🤔
• He discusses Singapore's shifting political dynamics and the need for a balanced, effective approach to governmental leadership. 🔄
• The younger electorate may not resonate with past struggles, emphasizing a generational shift in political expectations. 👶

Key Takeaways

• Leadership styles shift over time: From Lee Kuan Yew's autocratic approach to the current distributed style, leadership dynamics play a critical role in governance. 🕴️
• Inderjit Singh's candidness in parliament was both a rarity and a necessity for robust political discourse. 📢
• Trust and connection with the public are crucial for political success, especially amidst changing socioeconomic challenges. 🏗️
• The potential handover to Lawrence Wong signals a new era, but challenges like cost of living and housing remain unsolved. 🌆
• The People's Action Party (PAP) must adapt to gaining and retaining trust from a younger, more discerning electorate. 🤝

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Election Speculations The chapter titled 'Introduction and Election Speculations' discusses the timing of a general election. It mentions speculations that the election might occur after Lawrence Wong's successful presentation of the budget, suggesting his readiness for leadership. There is a belief that Lawrence will take over before the next general election, with potential timings being July or August, or even as soon as the end of the year.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Photo Memory and Political Careers Indit Singh and V start the morning reminiscing about a photograph that brings back memories.
• 01:30 - 02:30: PAP Leadership Styles The chapter discusses the leadership styles within the PAP (People's Action Party), with a focus on personal experiences and notable figures in Parliament. It includes a mention of a prominent opposition Member of Parliament and reflections on the tenure of an individual serving four terms with the ruling party from 1996 onwards.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Critical Parliament Discussions In the chapter titled 'Critical Parliament Discussions,' the conversation revolves around the evolution of a political party's identity, particularly under different leaderships. The speakers discuss the transition and influence of leadership from figures like Leu to the current leadership. Leu, who was no longer the Prime Minister when the speaker entered the political scene, was still actively involved in politics. The discussion captures a reflection on the shifts within the party and the influences of its leaders.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Honest Discussions within PAP The chapter titled 'Honest Discussions within PAP' explores a dialogue about the transformation of political style and legacy within the People's Action Party (PAP) of Singapore. The focus is on the evolution of leadership approaches under different prime ministers. The narrator shares a personal anecdote about providing advice to Prime Minister Lee following a poor election performance in 2011. The email sent to the Prime Minister reflects on the need for changes in leadership style, contrasting it with the autocratic style of his father, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore. The chapter highlights the importance of adapting leadership techniques to meet contemporary political challenges.
• 04:30 - 05:30: Advisers in Opposition Wards The chapter discusses the varied leadership styles among advisers in opposition wards. It emphasizes the distinct approaches taken by different leaders, particularly focusing on the consultative and distributed styles. A particular leader is advised to modify their approach to incorporate both styles for effectiveness. This advice is conveyed verbally, suggesting the importance of clear communication and adaptability in leadership within political contexts.
• 05:30 - 06:30: PAP's Challenges and Strategy The chapter discusses the dynamics of working with a long-term colleague, emphasizing trust and the ability to be critical. The speaker shares personal experiences, highlighting moments of frankness and critique during their time in Parliament when dealing with leaders, particularly in financial matters.
• 06:30 - 07:30: Changing Political Dynamics In the chapter titled "Changing Political Dynamics," the speaker discusses their personal perspective on political issues, particularly focusing on economic and population policies. The speaker reflects on their own speeches and actions, emphasizing a notable 2013 speech addressing the 'population white paper,' where they critically evaluated the policies in place. Their stance suggests a history of challenging established norms and advocating for their viewpoint in the political arena.
• 07:30 - 08:30: Potential Leadership Changes This chapter discusses potential leadership changes, with a focus on early education and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and SMMEs (Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises). It also recounts a personal story from 1997, highlighting the challenges faced in raising funds for a family semiconductor business started in 1997. The speaker, unable to secure funds in Singapore, successfully raised $138 million from investors in Taiwan for their company, Utch.
• 08:30 - 09:30: Election Forecasting The transcript revolves around an individual's experiences and goals in the context of political and entrepreneurial environments. It highlights their determination to alter the atmosphere in Parliament to promote a more supportive environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs). The individual also mentions their role on the board of Springs, reflecting on the importance of creating an entrepreneur-friendly landscape and recounts their sense of responsibility and critical reception upon being nominated.
• 09:30 - 10:30: Wicked Problems and Government Challenges The chapter discusses the challenges and dynamics within a governmental setting, especially focusing on the experiences and perspectives of a Member of Parliament in 2009-2010. The narrative reveals the MP's surprising candidness and critical stance in Parliament. Contrary to the expectation of aligning with the prevailing sentiments to ensure political survival, the MP was noted for their bluntness. Speculations arose about the MP's survival being due to their association with the prime minister and being within the same ward, implying political alliances might protect critical voices within the government.
• 10:30 - 11:30: PAP's Electoral Strategies The chapter discusses the electoral strategies of the People's Action Party (PAP). It includes a conversation suggesting that while there was open dialogue within the party, there was no pressure from the Prime Minister to conform to specific viewpoints, indicating a level of internal political freedom. The year 2013 is potentially noted as a significant point in this context.
• 11:30 - 12:30: Final Thoughts and Trust Issues The chapter titled 'Final Thoughts and Trust Issues' explores the speaker's reflections on past experiences, particularly with issues related to trust and political pressures. The speaker mentions being on their way out of a position in 2014, amidst certain pressures from ministers. However, the speaker reveals that the most intense discussions occurred behind closed doors, within the party and government, contrasting with what was visible in Parliament.

An Ex-Politician on Today's Political Landscape | Inconvenient Questions Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 when do you think uh the general election is going to be some people are saying the especially after the the the very successful presentation articulation of the budget uh you know by by Lawrence Wong he's kind of ready for sure Lawrence will take over before the next G I think he said that and so question is when I think the the best time would be July August period and G uh possibly uh quite soon actually end of this year end of this year
• 00:30 - 01:00 good morning indit Singh morning V how are you good good right so I'm going to start by showing you something a photograph that would bring us down memory lane okay remember this picture yeah yeah the end of that uh session 2011 2011 we in Parliament we took this picture together and at that point when we took this picture we had no idea it was going to be the last day in Parliament for Mr
• 01:00 - 01:30 chami Tong ah yes the legendary Member of Parliament for the opposition yeah we took nice pictures with him yeah and and in fact quite a few of the members of parliament here uh it was our last day it was my last day in Parliament you know but you stayed on for one more term and for someone like you you know who served four terms as a member of parliament for the papap you know the ruling party four years from 19 96 to to
• 01:30 - 02:00 20 2015 can you tell me candidly how has the DNA of the papap changed over the years so you see it all changes with the change of leadership isn't it yeah so there was Leu I was fortunate to have some interaction with him because when he came in he was still very active no longer the Prime Minister go was a prime minister when I came in but when you were an activist he was prime minister prime minister yeah and then go Chong
• 02:00 - 02:30 and then so the style changes and the DNA also changes uh down down down the line uh so would you be comfortable describing the three prime ministers well uh you know so um I give prime minister some advice after we did very badly in 2011 so I wrote him a long email and I told him this I say this the Prime Minister Le I told him that you know your father's style was autocratic one
• 02:30 - 03:00 man decided everyone follow and I told him that uh go Chong style was consultative he consults before he make the decision and I told the Prime Minister your style is distributed and I told him you need to pull it in the bit because not everyone is as good as you so you need to pull in the bid and have it a bit of of hybrid of go and Le you start if you really want to and so this is uh the how I'll describe the different styles how did you convey this to him verbally or I
• 03:00 - 03:30 started with because you know I wanted to be very careful so I send him an email then then we I was working with him for many years 24 years so you would be familiar enough and he would be familiar enough with you a certain level of trust for you to be critical yes how critical were you oh I was very critical I mean if let's say you look at my Parliament pictures I when he was Finance Minister frankly I thought it was Wang no no no no for me it was never
• 03:30 - 04:00 Wang there would have been some Wang along the way for other people but for me it was never Wang how can you say so clearly and no because I'm the i i my speeches I never sent my speeches for w thing uh I think the clearest was my uh you know uh 2013 population white paper speech that I gave I mean that I I took them to task on some of the things but even before that you know on the economic policies on the population policy
• 04:00 - 04:30 uh I had started talk about early streaming in schools so and also about of course your your pet topic smes and smmes yeah and and so when I uh so I started uh in ' 97 my family business 97 Utch my Semiconductor Company in 98 faced tremendous difficulties I could not raise funds in Singapore most of my funds for my company Utch came from Taiwan I raised $138 million mostly came from Taiwan yeah so I I saw the
• 04:30 - 05:00 difficulty and I made it my task in Parliament whatever time I'm going to spend down there to go and try to change environment so I do help other future smmes yes and uh and you were a member of the board of Springs spring yeah fact from P spring then then we took on that role and so on so so my you know that was my core focus on how to change environment so that we will be friendly and Entrepreneurship friendly so so going back to how critical you were you know I remember when I was nominated
• 05:00 - 05:30 Member of Parliament in 2009 20 20110 you know I was quite I mean we knew each other as friends but I was I must say I was quite surprised by how critical you were and how blunt you were in Parliament um many of us assumed that you survived because you were in the good books of prime minister Leen lung you in the same ward and therefore you could survive because honestly the sentiment was anyone who would say
• 05:30 - 06:00 things as bluntly as you did and you have been uh would not survive politically was there pressure on on you from other uh political office holders because you you spoke quite critically against some of them as well yeah so uh I mean uh prime minister encouraged me to speak my mind so you know it was never a pressure from him to to uh to never not even once well uh 2013
• 06:00 - 06:30 population white paper and 2014 you know uh you know there were issues but I was on my way out anyway I was planning to planning to leave so but no not not at all some of the Ministers of course you know tried to pressure but uh you know you will be surprised at the kind of uh um uh discussions we had we had in closed doors it was worse than in in Parliament actually close dos meaning you so for example within the party within the party or for uh government
• 06:30 - 07:00 gpcs you know so I was in a couple of GPC especially finan industry which I spent most of my time doing you you chairing the chairing for some time and you know and so so we had lots of so actually uh in Parliament was quite obvious but even Beyond uh uh in closed doors I was also very critical so the idea here was not to waste my time could you give us an example without going into specifics an example of one of those behind the scenes robust honest
• 07:00 - 07:30 discussions when we were doing upgrading programs uh and uh we were adding utility rooms to some of the three room Flats so we were having a utility room that was I think 4.5 M by 4.5 M nice to put one bit one study table become extra room the minister for National development thought that you know he could be smarter to do more make it into a smaller room and save some money and that room would have been a useless room yeah and I was ch of amoko Town Council
• 07:30 - 08:00 I'm going to reject them I'm not going to do in amoko unless you change your policy so they tried to explain to me why it's going to work of course he was not going to work too small a room I mean I'm on the ground I know and uh then you know few months later they revers the policy and went back to so in your view it is it is a fact that there is a lot of honest jostling debates in the best interest of the country and the people behind the scenes that there is within the party there is
• 08:00 - 08:30 within the party yes there is do you believe that over the years that has sort of tapered off yeah so it all depends on who uh are the MPS right so uh I think we have a mix of both types who basically rather keep it safe uh but we also have some good ones who are are questioning so so they do question in Parliament and I'm sure at the background there is also a lot of discussion so I I think you know we it's all going to be a function of who are the people involved and who the leaders
• 08:30 - 09:00 who the and and of course you know if you look at the trend the 2020 election Bel lost one more GRC the vot come comes out MPS are working very hard on the ground and I'm sure they want to see Improvement for the sake of the party and you know for Singapore and uh I'm quite sure many of them you know some of them has a few not many but you know expressing frustrations about some of the changes that need to happen and I'm sure they also raising it with the
• 09:00 - 09:30 leader so I actually I think there is back uh backro dialogue that goes on that is useful for Singapore not just in Parliament I have a lot of regard for the people section party don't get me wrong but one of the things I can't get my head around is why is it that in opposition Wards like aljunid hang you know senang the losing candidate of the people section party is the adviser of the Grassroots organization ations see it's it's things like this
• 09:30 - 10:00 that actually can grate on the ground you know and I guess people on the ground especially the younger people for whom Justice and fers means a lot I think some of these things if it's not changed it may be hard for the people's Action Party to continue to Garner the kind of ground support you know because they don't they have not the younger generation I'm talking about
• 10:00 - 10:30 40 and Below they have not really experienced the tough years of the 1960s '70s like you and I so even when we are upset with the government when we cast our minds back to the 60s and 70s the overarching emotion is gratitude right but the younger generation have not had the the experience of that so how would you respond to this I I would say that this is one of the key Achilles heel of the Bap yeah and uh it shows in the
• 10:30 - 11:00 results right so declining work show and uh so I think uh if you look at it from the perspective of the party not from government right so whoever is the ruling party uh will want to strengthen their position and they will use whatever agencies tools that they have to gain advantage over the opposition and the one lesson I learned from theu was that if you're on a firm government you need to win elections first M so we have to focus on winning winning
• 11:00 - 11:30 elections now so whether uh being in control of PA is going to help us win more votes or less I think this is something may change over time but I think in the pap the belief probably still is that that's an important Avenue to reach out to Residents and therefore you know opportunity for their potential candidates to uh to get support so but there is a premium for this adage free and fair election yeah so so the question is if had Workers Party or any
• 11:30 - 12:00 other party been government what would they do so I would my my my message to the opposition parties here is this that form your own Grassroots organizations they have enough support in each of the conses where they are form your own organizations and uh and this is not worth fighting this because it's not going to change it's not going to change it's not going to change and uh and if you look at it from The Logical perspective which they use to explain is that uh it's a opportunity is uh organization that helps to explain and
• 12:00 - 12:30 and and Implement government policies so it's a government thing and not it's not a party thing and they want to have someone in charge who they actually can work with and so that is the official explanation uh but I don't think I don't think it's it's being it's going down too well on the ground so so it may be changing and I think this is something they have to address if the if again if you go to the prim to form government we need to win votes then if you're going to lose vote over this thing then I think they have to think rethink about
• 12:30 - 13:00 it but I think at this point of time they probably still believe that it's still going to help them with more words and lose more words so it's not just PA it's going to be about the rest of the things that they the conduct of office holders in Parliament that's one and also uh some of the things that they are doing uh say the rasakan case the long interviews and so on so I think U you're talking about uh the your privileges select committee that's right yeah so
• 13:00 - 13:30 the way that that thing so I think people felt bullying down there too okay although the idea was to uncover truth but you know it was perceived that way so this kind of kind of shows to me a signal that uh they may feel that you know we need to bring this back a bit to the old style instill a bit of fear so that people will be cautious about joining the opposition
• 13:30 - 14:00 my assessment by the way I must qualify this that you know I no longer an Insider I don't get involved in anything so this my assessment so they and if let's say the the leaders believe that this is going to be an important style for them to be stronger and and then they they will do more of this which I think you know they okay that that's interesting right because the the sense I get and and some other observers get is that the 4G leaders you know let by Lawrence Wong
• 14:00 - 14:30 you know would like to see a softer gentler approach a more democratic approach more tolerant of um dissenting views okay that's the sense one gets so that there there's a sense that you you we may see a kind of a balance in having someone like Minister shanmugam move up to be Deputy Prime Minister perhaps overseeing uh National Security coordinating Minister
• 14:30 - 15:00 and so on uh with Minister chanun saying perhaps as another DPM is that an accurate prognosis I I mean let's say we look at how are we going to uh be able to run it efficiently the government the balance so you you really need to do that balance so so let's say there was too much of distribution you need to pull it back which is happened uh and so uh uh when when 4G leadership take over I
• 15:00 - 15:30 think they will need to have some of the strong uh strong men men and strong points where they will have to manage it a bit more uh rigorously and strongly also would you say that the people on the ground also would like would have greater confidence if there's one all experienced hand over there you know in a critical area like defense and and and security I think you'll have more than one old old experienced man in the next
• 15:30 - 16:00 uh cabinet I don't think so Le needs to completely retire so he will probably be around and he's likely to be a SM SM or mm up to him to what what title he want what are the chances of of Minister Shan mum becoming D I think he is a solid person in terms from the party perspective even stability of government and uh uh you know when uh when he has to defend government position internally externally he does a good job at it he's
• 16:00 - 16:30 good at it so uh it makes a lot of sense to have someone like that supporting uh uh do you think the ground would want that who do you think the ground the populist so there will be we must look at the sections of the ground uh I think maybe the younger generation may want to see a more friendly uh leadership uh for those maybe they may not like it but I think there will be a group of people maybe in the middle round middle age 40s and
• 16:30 - 17:00 above above who actually prefer stability uh and then you know um someone who can help to do that uh and the reason why some of them may want this is because I think the 4G has got a very short Runway like you mentioned earlier on so it will be quite risky to put everything into 4G and it's not fair on them and not fair too and so it's good to have that you know someone directly involved in cabinet minister Mentor is one thing but even directly involved so it makes sense of someone like Shan uh to to Trump from the
• 17:00 - 17:30 party's perspective and I think it makes sense as far as they are concerned to create that stability and Lawrence may want it also so that he can focus on building the the ground support So Indigent um to shift gears because we're coming to the end of the interview I'd like to see uh hear your predictions when do you think the Handover of the Prime ministership to Lawrence Wong is going to be and when do you think uh the general election is going to be some people are saying the especially after
• 17:30 - 18:00 the the the very successful presentation articulation of the budget uh you know by by Lawrence Wong he's kind of ready the people are ready to to accept him why delay it could the Handover could be even as early as July this year so that he then gives the national day rally speech with PM saying a goodbye segment something like that people are talking about that and GE end of this year you know what's your prediction yeah so I
• 18:00 - 18:30 think the for sure Lawrence will take over before the next G I think he said that and so question is when uh I think the the best time would be July August period this year this year mhm uh WEA pre or post uh National rally I'm not so sure how they the two of them may still be involved yeah may be involved and and G uh possibly uh quite soon actually end of this year end of this year even earlier October we've got uh I would say um uh budget that looks like an election
• 18:30 - 19:00 budget to goodies all around and uh so they may actually use that as uh opportunity uh otherwise you wait another budget uh National Day rally you can give a few more good things and then you can go soon after that so I think this is how it may it may uh play out but there's a huge risk uh because the big problems that concerns many Singaporean are not going to be solved by this election correct because the cost of living housing and so on and so
• 19:00 - 19:30 forth so this will take some time and uh and I don't know uh that whether all the handouts that we got are going to going to solve the the big it won't solve the big problem the wicked problems yeah and and people probably uh are thinking that you know we did not really solve the problem and we just trying to win votes so this is a risk that they going they're taking my own personal opinion is that the budget will have limited impact the bigger issues are the one that are going to be important if if singaporeans don't see a sense of hope
• 19:30 - 20:00 and opportunity in the future then I think our cause a loss so so this sounds like deja vu because I want to quote you in 2013 you said this and 2014 right 2013 you said this I feel the time has come for us to find a better balance between economic growth and social cohesion I remember this yes there will be trade-offs but I would rather see a cohesive United Nation where people feel taken care of you said that in
• 20:00 - 20:30 2013 2014 a decade ago um you said if every Singaporean can feel their life has become better than yesterday then this government would have done its job well and you also said you worry for the middleaged and middle class now these are wicked problems they're not going to go away overnight I don't think any government can just you
• 20:30 - 21:00 know swing the wand and see this miraculously go away but has the needle in your view moved enough in the past decade for it to translate into votes for the pap uh so I I think uh it's not moved significantly uh is it because of factors beyond the control of the government the ruling party so I think the cost of living issues the
• 21:00 - 21:30 housing problems were all within control of the government just job not well done okay and so we are seeing the ills of it so if they had done a better job I don't think so we needed to face so serious problem so it would have been in the control of of the government so they could have done something they could have done something but now to solve this will take very long longterm uh you know uh view of things before we see it and if you don't feel the impact uh in the next GE actually it could translate to the other thing is that uh we need uh
• 21:30 - 22:00 we typically I mean I've done four elections and we target different sections of uh Society on where we think we can win the Ws one assumption that has been for a long time uh there are two assumptions one is uh we do a GE in times of a crisis votes will look for a part safer so the incumbent incumbent safe proven and uh and second one is that uh F uh
• 22:00 - 22:30 young ELD outs with family members will not risk uh an opposition what we failed in in in both yeah all right and so we meaning the p p so the clearest one was the last election in in we lost sang sang population was young Elders with families they got houses down there and they should have been the one who really supported us and he was in a crisis in a covid environment and we we did we did this in
• 22:30 - 23:00 2001 September 11 Jama islamia yes people panicked and we won very well people vote conservatively conservatively so this I think the P need to re examine this assumptions uh and and I'm sure they are doing it because they have to win votes and whether it's going to work my own opinion is that I don't this election I don't think so the needle will shift a lot towards the pap the heartlanders who have got a lot of
• 23:00 - 23:30 support in this budget probably will be very happy so that's also very important segment so I think they can expect to get good support on on that the middle group I think they worry about the future and then the elderly very old I think they are also very happy the young they want to look at who are the candidate the personality personality and so I analyzed the last election results as I did all the past ones uh if you look at it uh in the past long time
• 23:30 - 24:00 ago you just need to have a Pap logo and can be anyone we used to get 50% easily and then it's the party it's a party uh and you put work Workers Party and you put I'm talking about a long time ago you know you get maybe 20 25% but in the last election uh the Workers Party logo itself is capable of 40% 40% and I analyze the weather where I'm staying in Pim parade good can Cates from the P relatively unknown from
• 24:00 - 24:30 Workers Party and they scor 40% so my analysis is that you know just Workers Party the brand the brand is there and if they can bring good qualified candidate as good or better than the P then the risk is a lot more higher for the pap so this coming election is a very important one for the pap because it's a Handover election and also mandate and they have to think about how they're going to at least not be worse than the last one so so in the interest of time we need to wrap as a
• 24:30 - 25:00 final statement very succinctly what is your advice to the leadership of the papap for the upcoming election I think they really need to get in touch and understand the real issues on the ground they're trying their best with all the Tik toks funny things that they do I think that only is going to address a small section you really need to have a Singaporean feel that I understand your problem I cannot solve it today but believe me I can solve it in the future whether they believe you or not is very
• 25:00 - 25:30 important and I mentioned many times in articles I wrote post GE analysis trust do they trust you and I think we are losing ground on that portion and we have to regain that trust we can do that then I think maybe we'll be okay Mr indit Singh thank you very much for joining me pleasure thank you