Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong to leave cabinet

Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said on Saturday that they have decided to leave the cabinet for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to have "a fresh clean slate."

"After a watershed general election, we have decided to leave the cabinet and have a completely younger team of ministers to connect to and engage with this young generation in shaping the future of our Singapore," Goh and Lee said in a joint statement.

Lee Kuan Yew was the prime minister of Singapore starting from its independence in 1965 till 1990, when Goh Chok Tong took over as prime minister and appointed him senior minister in the cabinet.

After Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took over in 2004, he appointed Goh senior minister and created the advisory post of minister mentor for Lee Kuan Yew.

Goh and Lee said that they have studied the new political situation and thought how it can affect the future, and that the time has come for a younger generation to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation.

"A younger generation, besides having a non-corrupt and meritocratic government and a high standard of living, wants to be more engaged in the decisions which affect them," said the statement.

"But the younger team must always have in mind the interests of the older generation. This generation who has contributed to Singapore must be well-looked after," it added.

The People's Action Party (PAP) has been the ruling party since the independence of Singapore in 1965 and has had an absolute majority in the parliament. It lost a five-seat group representation constituency for the first time in the general election last week to the opposition Workers' Party.

The share of the popular vote won the ruling PAP also dipped to 60.14 percent, down from 66.6 percent in the last general election in 2006 and lower than the 61 percent in the 1991 general election.

Yeo has said that the political development in Singapore has entered a new phase.

The prime minister has yet to announce the line-up for his new cabinet but it is certain that Foreign Minister George Yeo and Minister in Prime Minister's Office Lee Hwee Hwa, both in the team for the lost multi-seat constituency, will have to go. Both have announced that they would not be contesting the next general election.

Goh said in a post on his constituency Facebook page on Saturday that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong can then refresh his cabinet to forge a new Singapore consensus by rethinking policies and reshaping Singapore with fresh ideas.

Goh said he will not be in the cabinet but will remain a lawmaker.

"(I) will have more time to spend with residents, something I have always enjoyed doing," he said.

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