Singapore: PM brother backs opposition in a challenge to PAP

The estranged brother of Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he backs a new opposition party against the PAP.

The expected twist is not a surprise in Singapore. Lee Hsien Yang is in a long-standing tussle with his brother and has their sister Dr Lee Wei Ling on his side.

<<A family feud started in June 2017 when Dr Lee and Mr Lee Hsien Yang said they had lost confidence in PM Lee.>>

In a Facebook statement on June 14, 2014, the siblings said they feared the use of state organs against them.

The feud took another turn in January this year. The Attorney General filed a “complaint of misconduct” against Lee Hsien Yang’s lawyer wife, Lee Suet Fern.

Lee Kuan Yew’s children has not stopped the bickering about their father’s home and now its about the PAP.

Elections are to be held within months from the official launch of the the Progress Singapore Party.

This is the appropriate time for Lee Hsien Yang to come out against the PAP.

Lee Hsien Yang says the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) founded by his father Lee Kuan Yew – had “lost its way”.

The family feud is now a political feud but no one knows how will this play in the upcoming elections.

<<But the People’s Action Party is so far unfazed.>>

Instead of a challenge to PAP, the Progress Singapore Party may be a real challenge to the Workers Party.

It has to conquer the opposition’s space first to impose itself.

The PSP leader Tan Cheng Bock is pushing for a wider opposition alliance but there are no guarantees this will happen.

Snap polls may come as a surprise, leaving the opposition as divided as before.

Tan Cheng Bock, formerly a member of the PAP stood for the 2011 presidential election and won the second highest number of votes at 34.85%. He lost marginally to the winner Tony Tan.

The support from Lee Hsien Yang may draw some interest in the PSP, but the party is still in its nascent stage.

It will probably take a longer shelf life and deeper maturing of the PSP for it pose a real challenge to the PAP.

But in politics, one week is too long and the fortunes may change.