PAP elects top decision-making body: Gan Kim Yong steps down as chair
The People’s Action Party (PAP) on Sunday elected its top decision-making body during its biennial party conference at Resorts World Convention Centre. It was attended by more than 3,000 party members.
In no particular order, PAP’s 37th central executive committee (CEC) will comprise Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong; Deputy Prime Ministers Lawrence Wong and Heng Swee Keat; Mr Chan Chun Sing; Mr Masagos Zulkifli; Mr K. Shanmugam; Ms Grace Fu; Mr Desmond Lee; Ms Indranee Rajah; Mr Ong Ye Kung; Mr Tan Chuan-Jin; and Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.
The 12 CEC members were elected by secret ballot.
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong and Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo were co-opted into the CEC as they got the 13th and 14th highest votes.
Party Chairman of the 36th CEC and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong did not stand for re-election to the CEC.
Mr Gan had held the post of PAP chairman since 2018, when he was elected after then-Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan stepped down from the CEC and chairmanship.
PM Lee's speech
Addressing the conference, PM Lee made his views on the opposition clear.
Singaporeans cannot have it both ways, where many want the PAP to continue governing the country but also have more opposition MPs elected to keep the Government on its toes, he said.
Whether voters give the Government a strong or weak mandate makes a very big difference, PM Lee said.
“With a strong mandate, when the Government needs to act strongly and decisively – whether at home and abroad – everyone will know that it is acting with the people’s support. And everyone will know that Singaporeans are united, tackling problems as one and moving ahead together.”
Had the PAP won the 2020 General Election narrowly with a 51 per cent vote share, instead of 61.2 per cent, it would have still formed the Government and ruled Singapore to the best of its ability, said PM Lee. But it would have lost many good MPs and ministers, and its leadership team would have been considerably weakened.
If Singapore’s politics go wrong, its governance will go wrong too and so will the lives of all Singaporeans, he warned.
In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said there was no guarantee that the PAP will win the next general election, nor was it inevitable that he will become the next prime minister.
But the ruling party will work “doubly hard, triply hard” to regain the seats it has lost and will go all out to earn the support of Singaporeans to secure a strong mandate to govern, he said.
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