SINGAPORE-ELECTION/FILE File footage chronicles key moments in Singapore's history ahead of general elections

Record ID: 141767

  • Title: SINGAPORE-ELECTION/FILE File footage chronicles key moments in Singapore's history ahead of general elections
  • Date: 6th September 2015
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (FILE - MARCH 29, 2015) (REUTERS) OFFICERS WALKING ALONGSIDE GUN CARRIAGE CARRYING COFFIN DURING FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR FORMER PRIME MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW, PEOPLE STANDING ALONG ROADSIDE WAVING SINGAPORE FLAGS IN RAIN PEOPLE WATCHING COFFIN PASSING COFFIN DRAPED IN SINGAPORE FLAG
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4C9S24O5XT6UELIL7UMMO0GM9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Singapore goes to the polls on September 11, more than a year before a deadline for the next election, with the government seen riding the feel-good factor of the wealthy city-state's 50th birthday last month amid slowing economic growth.
    Nominations on Tuesday (September 1) showed that the city-state's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) will face a fight from opposition candidates in all 89 parliamentary seats for the first time since independence.
    The PAP, co-founded by the Prime Minister's father, the late Lee Kuan Yew, has ruled Singapore since 1959.
    When Singapore separated from the Malaysian Federation on the morning of August 9, 1965, and had statehood thrust upon it, Lee set out with his government to create a viable nation out of a polygot collection of migrants, no hinterland, and no resources.
    Singapore has since transformed itself from a British tropical outpost to an affluent, global city in just over a generation, setting the example for developing economies from China to Dubai.
    English was retained as Singapore's working language as a means of keeping the peace between the island's Chinese majority and Malay and Indian minorities.
    The making of a "clean and green" Singapore to be one of Asia's most liveable and corruption-free countries was a focus from very early on.
    Nevertheless, Lee, a Cambridge-educated lawyer and a towering figure in post-colonial Asia, had little tolerance for opposition views, despite the facade of a Westminster-style democracy that gave every adult Singaporean the vote.
    While the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), co-founded by Lee, has propelled the city-state into a gleaming financial hub, it has also been criticized for heavy-handed government with little tolerance of dissent.
    Under Lee - a huge fan of late former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - political opposition and independent media were not allowed to flourish in the same way as the economy, a state of affairs that persists to this day.
    Singapore placed 153 out of 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index.
    His stern approach included caning for many offences and the death penalty for murder and drug trafficking. Lawsuits against political opponents and media organisations were a Lee hallmark.
    Lee stepped down as prime minister in 1990, handing power to Goh Chok Tong, but remaining influential as senior minister in Goh's cabinet and subsequently as "minister mentor" when his eldest son, Lee Hsien Loong, became prime minister in 2004.
    The elder Lee resigned from his cabinet position in 2011 after the PAP suffered its worst electoral showing since independence in 1965.
    Although he had receded from public and political life in the past few years, he was still seen as an influential figure in the government of his eldest son.
    Lee's death on March 23, less than five months before the city-state's 50th anniversary of independence, prompted an unprecedented show of grief among its population of 5.4 million people.
    2015 represents a possible turning point for Singapore, as it heads into a new era without their mentor Lee Kuan Yew but still quite confidently in the hands of both the PAP and Lee's son.
    The party, however, is trying to improve its performance from 2011 when its share of vote fell due to unhappiness over then high housing prices, the cost of living and immigration.
    Since then, the government has introduced curbs on foreign workers, measures to cool a red-hot property market and subsidized health-care cover for the elderly.
    The candidates for the 16 group representation constituencies - comprising four to six seats each - and 13 single-member constituencies were confirmed at the close of nominations, state-owned Channel News Asia reported.
    This year's election comes at a time when Singapore is seeing slowing growth. The government last month revised its official gross domestic product growth forecast for 2015 to 2.0-2.5 percent from 2-4 percent previously.
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