Past struggles forgotten by young: MM

MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave his first - albeit indirect - assessment of the 2011 general election result on Sunday, remarking at a community event in Tanglin Halt that the younger generation 'does not remember from whence we came'.

'That is to be expected,' he said. 'But I do and those amongst you who are older than 50 will remember.'

'And do not believe that the Singapore flight can be on auto-pilot. We will run into a storm, we will run into all kinds of emergencies and we must have good pilots on board,' he added.

Mr Lee was speaking after a Thank You parade with five other MPs-elect for Tanjong Pagar GRC and Radin Mas SMC. They toured Tanjong Pagar GRC on an open-top bus on Sunday to thank residents for their support at the just-ended general election.

MM Lee's five-member People's Action Party team was returned uncontested on Nomination Day, while Mr Sam Tan won Radin Mas single-seat ward with 67.1 per cent of votes.

Many Singaporeans were pleasantly surprised to catch a glimpse of the 87-year-old Minister Mentor, who stood and waved at them as the bus wound its way from Tanjong Pagar Plaza to Tanglin Halt, passing by Chinatown and The Pinnacle HDB estate.

Apart from Mr Lee and Mr Tan, Dr Lily Neo, Major General (NS) Chan Chun Sing, Ms Indranee Rajah and Dr Chia Shi-Lu were also on the bus.

Asked by reporters later about the drop in the PAP's vote share from 66.6 per cent in 2006 to 60.1 per cent in this year's general election, he said: 'I've also noticed that and I'm sure the Prime Minister and his team will sit down carefully and analyse the reasons and adapt our policies. I can't say more. I'm not the Prime Minister.'