At his speech made at the Singapore-Malaysia High Speed Rail agreement event yesterday (Jan 16), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Singaporeans that political parties which lost in the election should accept their loss even when the election is “done properly”:
“When you have a competition, you must have a winner and a non-winner. It is like when you have an election, you must have a winner and a non-winner. It must be settled in such a way that the winner wins fairly and the person who did not win must be able to accept even if he is not happy that it was done properly and this was just the way chips fell.”
The Singapore PM did not explain what he meant by “done properly”, but Singapore has numerous undemocratic election laws like media censorship and a biased Election Department placed under the Prime Minister’s Office. The various election laws like “Cooling Off day” are legalised corruption passed by Lee Hsien Loong’s single-party power in Parliament. It is also assumed that the recent Presidential Election of Halimah Yacob was “done properly” too.
You may view the full transcript here.
Knowing that Malaysia is having an election in August this year, PM Lee expressed support for Najib Razak and boast about existing cross-border projects. However when questioned by a Malaysian reporter, the two PM were unable to come out with any new development after the High Speed Rail. Giving his endorsement for the ruling party of Malaysia and incumbent Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Lee Hsien Loong said that the Malaysian ruling party kept Singapore diplomacy at “very good shape”:
“We had very good discussions. Our bilateral relations are in very good shape. Both sides have been able to work well together…We are doing a lot together, in infrastructure, in education and culture. There is also other security cooperation, cooperation in counter-terrorism, diplomatic cooperation; and we are constantly looking for new areas to better the lives of our peoples. It is a sign of our confidence in each other’s future and our commitment to good relations with one another. I thank the Prime Minister for visiting us and look forward to visiting Malaysia for the next Retreat, after probably their general elections.”
Lee Hsien Loong also said that he is very confident that he will remain in power throughout 2024 and the High Speed Rail plans will continue with no political change in Singapore:
“If the subsequent government has other ideas, well, that would have to be dealt with and the agreement will deal with these contingencies. But I have no doubt on Singapore’s side, we have every intention of implementing what we signed and committed to today.”