Speaking at a National Day dinner held at his constituency Marine Parade, former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong revealed that dictator Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will step down only 5 years later at 70. The news however is negatively taken by many Singaporeans who lamented about the sluggish economy and messy state of domestic and foreign affairs under Lee Hsien Loong.
Domestically, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is often criticised for failing to uphold the standards of Singapore development built by his predecessor PM and father Lee Kuan Yew. Most notably in public transport. the ex-military PM ignores the problems of persistent train breakdowns. Other domestic issues well-juggled by his predecessors are also turning for the worse – there is hardly any aspect the present Lee Hsien Loong’s administration worth attributing for.
Externally, PM Lee Hsien Loong screwed up Singapore’s diplomacy with China and US. China refuses to add Singapore into its One Belt One Road investment, and US called off the Trans-Pacific Pact. Relations with Malaysia is also on the rocks with arguments over Pedra Branca and a train bridge across to Johor. Ties with other ASEAN members like Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines are at best lukewarm, as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s MPs often refer them as “third world countries”.
Lee Hsien Loong’s stepping down as Prime Minister at 70 years old is 3 years longer than his father’s, who resigned in 1990. However, Lee Hsien Loong is likely to manipulate the Parliament and the new Prime Minister just like his father did. The dictator Prime Minister was revealed to be hatching plans to pass the premiership over to his son, Li Hongyi, who is now a senior civil servant with the propaganda ministry, Ministry of Communications and Information. Recently, PM Lee Hsien Loong purged his younger brother, Lee Hsien Yang, and his Harvard-professor-to-be nephew, Li Shengwu, fearing that they will seize the premiership from his son Li Hongyi.