In the light of the astounding, almost bizarre plunge of Mr Lee into political anonymity after GE 2011, one is tempted to ask an intriguing ‘What if’ question. What if the Aljunied incident had never taken place? What if the PAP performance in the election, even if bad compared to those in previous elections, was considered by the leaders as good enough for them to brazen things out, to act as if nothing had happened, to carry on as before? After all, in the eyes of the world, it was a clear victory, and in the eyes of Mr Lee, continuing endorsement of the PAP.
In this ‘what if’ scenario, where Mr Lee would still be a dominant influence, one can easily imagine, knowing his implacability, that he would make use of his remaining years to toughen up the PAP leadership, to make sure that the GE 2011 debacle would never happen again. To punish Singaporeans for voting irresponsibly, for jeopardizing, in his view, the very survival of the nation, he would most certainly reinforce the climate of fear, resorting, if necessary, to extra-constitutional measures. (Some years ago, at a public function, I asked Mr Lee, whether in the event of a serious threat of a freak election, he would send in the army. He did not answer directly but emphasized his responsibility to prevent any government from coming in and squandering the vast national reserves). Full story
