Lee Kuan Yew
Will stand in 20l1
He also cautions PAP not to assume it will always form the government. Bernama.
Aug 19, 2006

Age may be catching up on modern Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew, but he is not about to give up politics yet.

Lee told a gathering here last night that if he was fit and capable, he will contest in his Tanjong Pagar GRC stronghold.

"If I am still fit and capable of making another speech like this, I'll be there, I will stand with you," Lee was quoted by The Straits Times as telling a National Day Dinner here.

One of Asia's iconic and influential figure, Lee, 83, won unopposed the Tanjong Pagar GRC in the general elecion on May 6 this year. The next general election is due by 2011.

(Littlespeck: By then Lee will be 88 years old).

He cautioned Singaporeans not to take for granted that the People's Action Party (PAP) will always form the government.

"The trouble now is that Singaporeans believe we'll always have a PAP government... one day they'll wake up and they'll find the opposition is the government, a miscalculation," he said in the report.

Lee, Singapore prime minister from 1959 to 1990, remained an influential figure in Singapore politics after stepping down from the post.

In the cabinet of successor Goh Chok Tong, he was appointed as the Senior Minister. He is now the Minister Mentor under the cabinet of Lee Hsien Loong, his eldest son.

Lee told Singaporeans that the island state needed to move ahead and compete.

"We must have a different kind of Singapore," he said, adding that Singapore's "orderly, very wholesome, very clean" image was no longer enough.

Singapore must become a city with a "buzz" to attract tourists, he said.

"If you want to compete beaches on beaches, forests, lakes, seaside, you lose.

"You can't beat Thailand, you can't beat Malaysia, you can't beat Indonesia and you can't beat Philippines, but we can become the Paris in Southeast Asia."
Bernama