A one-party system gives Singapore its best shot at success, because it is a small country that needs to stay nimble, and move fast in a changing global environment : Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung.
Mr Ong stressed that the PAP must stay open-minded and grounded in reality, and have integrity beyond reproach....
He was speaking at the Institute of Policy Studies' annual Singapore Perspectives conference.
For a multi-party system to form, there must first be at least two sufficiently different paths for Singapore to take, and political views distinct enough for different parties to uphold, he said.
But Singapore is not big enough to have geographically separate towns which evolve drastically different views on national issues.
"A country's success is always idiosyncratic and can never be replicated wholesale by another.
"The formula for success is based on different political processes and ours happens to be a one-party system."
Mr Ong said the PAP needed to be as pluralistic a party as possible and must take in people with different views.
"This will lead to internal competition which will be a good thing.
"Today it exists, there are diverse views, the public doesn't see them, but perhaps we ought to formalise this over time."
Banyan Tree executive chairman Ho Kwon Ping, who spoke on the same topic said the PAP had the best chance of any long-term party to set a new record for staying in power, because of its "ability to self-correct and obsessively talk about problems" and find solutions to them.
Mr Ho thought the party was unlikely to decline with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong around or even if he is no longer Prime Minister but is Minister Mentor or Emeritus Senior Minister.
"So long as he is around, the party's adherence to its core values will remain," said Mr Ho.
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