Letters | What Singapore can learn from Mahathir and 1990s Malaysia about electoral politics
- The Lee Kuan Yew brand remains very potent in Singapore. But with the current prime minister’s brother backing a new opposition party amid a bitter family feud and the economy slowing, the field could well be wide open
While many pundits have dismissed the newly created Progress Singapore Party as no threat to the PAP, I would caution the ruling party not to be complacent. To know how Singaporean politics is likely to develop in the future, we need only look at Malaysia.
In 1998, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fired his deputy Anwar Ibrahim at the height of the Asian financial crisis. The mass exodus of pro-Anwar members from the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) in the aftermath of the firing sparked a long-term decline in the strength of the party.
This endorsement translates into political credibility among Singaporean voters. Lee’s brand remains very potent in Singapore. It is no surprise that the current government continues to preach his ideals four years after his death.