'Ridiculous argument': SM Lee dismisses Pritam's claim that losing ministers will not weaken govt

Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on April 29 that it is a "ridiculous argument" to suggest that the People's Action Party (PAP) can lose ministers without weakening the government.

This was in response to Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh's earlier statement on Monday (April 28) that even if all 26 WP candidates are voted into Parliament this year, the Government have "enough space, enough leeway, enough focus to deal with the issues of today and tomorrow".

Speaking to reporters at 630 Bedok Reservoir Road Market and Food Centre in Aljunied GRC today, the 73-year-old Lee countered: "It's a ridiculous argument.

"Every team has got a range of members some more critical, some playing complementary roles. If it doesn't matter who is in the team, then there should be no difficulty making a good government with anybody. You don't need to assemble a strong group of people."

SM Lee added that the 48-year-old was making his claims with the intention of gaining support for the WP team contesting against Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong for Punggol GRC in the May 3 general election.

"He has to say that because he wants to knock out Gan Kim Yong and he can't very well say: 'Mr Gan Kim Yong is a very valuable minister but nevertheless, please vote for me.' So he has to say that."

'It's becoming about personal attack'

SM Lee also told reporters at a separate event at Tampines Ave 3 today that he doesn't want to say anything more about WP's comment on Gan.

"It is very regrettable that instead of this being an election which is about issues and the future of Singapore, from some quarters it's becoming about personal attack on people, running down people, dismissing people, sneering at people and just showing that you're trying to go for the person instead of the issue, or instead of the interests of Singaporeans and the future of Singapore," he added. 

On Sunday, SM Lee shared in PAP's rally that losing key ministers in Parliament because of more opposition Members of Parliament (MP) could place Singapore in "quite a lot of trouble".

Singh then responded to his remarks at Tampines Ave 2 on Monday (April 28) that he thought SM Lee's response was a "weak argument".

Citing the example of former Minister of Foreign Affairs and MP for Aljunied GRC George Yeo, who retired from politics in 2011 after losing his ward to WP, he said when Yeo did not succeed at the general elections then, the foreign ministry didn't "suddenly lose its bearings".

He added that he is certain even if Gan is not elected, the PAP government will still include him in leadership discussions if needed.

For our GE2025 microsite, visit here.

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

For more original AsiaOne articles, visit here.