By John Geddie, Fathin Ungku and Aradhana Aravindan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – When the brother of Singapore’s prime minister joined the opposition to the party their father led through the city-state’s independence and rise as a nation, he brought a bitter family squabble into the realm of politics on the eve of a general election.
Lee Hsien Yang, younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and son of modern Singapore’s founder, Lee Kuan Yew, said last week he was a member of the new Progress Singapore Party (PSP). He said the People’s Action Party, which has governed Singapore since independence in 1965, had “lost its way” without his late father.
The younger Lee, 62 – described by people close to him as shy, distant from his powerful brother but not afraid to challenge the status quo – has made no policy statements or said whether he will run for office, something candidates for the July 10 election must declare on Tuesday.
It is not clear if his move can energise an opposition that holds just six of parliament’s 89 seats, and it is not expected to alter prospects for a lopsided ruling party win.
But Lee Hsien Yang’s dramatic move presents Singaporean voters an inversion of the campaign that the PAP is offering as Prime Minister Lee, 68, prepares to retire in the coming years.
The ruling party depicts the government’s aggressive response to the COVID-19 pandemic as this generation’s heroic sacrifice, harking back to the “Pioneer Generation,” led by Lee Kuan Yew, that forged the tiny island from a dot on Britain’s colonial map into a first-world economy.
Lee Hsien Yang’s rebuke: This is not our father’s PAP.
“I have never sought the limelight, and most people know that actually I value my own privacy,” Lee Hsien Yang told reporters on Sunday at a PSP event at a food court. “I’m here because I think sometimes we need to speak truth to power.”
He has criticised the PAP government for calling an election during a pandemic and its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, in which thousands of Singapore’s migrant workers have been infected. He has also criticised a 2019 “fake news” law that has been used against government opponents and said the PAP suffers from “narrow group-think” and mainly serves the elite in society.
The ruling party declined to comment.
“NOT UNDER HIS BROTHER’S SHADOW”
The Lee brothers were not close but had no major quarrels most of their lives, said a person close to the younger Lee. A business associate said Lee Hsien Yang was mild-mannered but defensive about his parents.
He had repeatedly said he was not interested in politics.
That changed after his father’s death in 2015, when Lee Hsien Yang and his sister alleged their older brother wanted to preserve the family home for political gain despite their father requesting it be demolished in his will.
The younger Lee said the lengthy feud did not motivate him to join the opposition.
The brothers, who declined to be interviewed for this article, were both army brigadier-generals but their careers have otherwise diverged.
Lee Hsien Loong, first elected in 1984, became deputy prime minister aged 38 and has led the PAP for 16 years. Lee Hsien Yang was CEO of telecommunications firm Singtel and chairman of drinks conglomerate F&N.
Patriarch Lee Kuan Yew, known as LKY, wrote little in his memoirs about his younger son compared to mentions of the current prime minister but said in a 2011 interview Lee Hsien Yang was a “sensible and practical man” who was “not under his brother’s shadow.”
With an openly gay son, Lee Hsien Yang last year attended a Pride march in the conservative city-state where sex between men is outlawed.
Can this iconoclastic scion with the common touch make a difference?
Loke Hoe Yeong, author of a history of Singapore’s opposition, said Lee Hsien Yang’s arrival will energise opposition parties but could also antagonise voters who don’t think a family spat over a house should be aired publicly.
Former PAP lawmaker Inderjit Singh said Lee Hsien Yang’s presence in the opposition could sway some voters, who have always given the ruling party at least 60% of the vote.
“When people see LKY’s son switching camp to the opposition, this may create doubts…that the PAP of the present is not the same as the PAP of the past,” Singh said.
(Reporting by John Geddie, Aradhana Aravindan and Fathin Ungku; Additional reporting by Anshuman Daga, Jessica Jaganathan and Tom Westbrook; Editing by William Mallard)
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
