He is unconscious in ICU in KL General Hospital; another Singaporean may also be in critical condition A Singaporean is fighting for his life in hospital after being injured when a tour bus crashed while returning here from Malaysia.

Although no one was initially reported as being critically injured in last Wednesday’s accident, The Sunday Times has learnt that Mr R. Manokaran, a barber, broke his arm and a wrist bone, and punctured his lung.

He now needs assistance to breathe, according to his niece, Ms V. Chandralekha, who is at the hospital with him in Kuala Lumpur.

He is in the intensive care unit, and has not regained consciousness since the accident.

Mr Manokaran, 52, his wife and two of their three children were returning from a four-day holiday in Genting Highlands on a Grassland tour bus when it crashed into a road divider and overturned on the highway linking Karak to Kuala Lumpur.

The cause of the crash has not been determined.

9 Singaporeans hurt after tour bus overturns in Malaysia

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The impact caused the double-decker to skid for about 20m, Malaysian newspaper The Star reported.

The Malaysian driver and nine of the 12 passengers on board the bus, all of whom are from Singapore, suffered injuries, a spokesman for Singapore-based Grassland Express and Tours told The Straits Times on Wednesday night. He said at the time that none were critically injured.

Mr Manokaran’s son, Mr Navindran Manokaran, 19, told The Sunday Times yesterday that the family visits Genting Highlands twice a year, and while they normally drive, his father had decided to take a bus this time.

Mr Navindran said that he was sleeping during the journey home when he was woken by a loud noise.

The bus hit a road divider, spun and toppled over, and he was knocked unconscious, he said.

When he came to, his hip was cut by glass and his arm was injured, but he pulled his father out of the wreckage.

The family, who had not been wearing seatbelts, had been sitting in the upper deck and Mr Manokaran ended up in the stairwell after the crash.

They were first taken to a hospital in nearby Bentong before being transferred to Kuala Lumpur General Hospital.

Ms Chandralekha, 21, said Mr Manokaran cannot be moved as his condition is unstable.

“It is a government hospital but facilities are not ideal,” she said. “A lot of medication is being given to him to support his heart rate and blood pressure.”

His wife, Madam Muniandy Barvathi, 48, was flung out of the bus, but did not suffer major injuries.

Mr Navindran’s sister, Ms M. Priyatharsini, 24, suffered injuries to her neck, ankle, collar bone and back.

She returned to Singapore on Friday and underwent ankle surgery at the National University Hospital (NUH) yesterday.

Mr Navindran returned to Singapore yesterday and was warded at NUH for observation.

Yesterday, Grassland Express and Tours operations manager Steven Chew said that five passengers had returned to Singapore and that the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

The Sunday Times understands that another Singaporean injured in the crash is also in critical condition.

Officials from the Singapore Embassy in Malaysia are assisting the families of those injured.

This article was first published on Sept 4, 2016.
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Both prime ministers after Mr Lee Kuan Yew – Mr Goh Chok Tong and current PM Lee Hsien Loong – had long run-ups in politics before they took on the premier’s role. Mr Goh had 14 years, while Mr Lee had 20. Their ascension came amid the support of their peers, and the PAP’s emphasis on leadership renewal. Insight retraces their routes.

HOW GOH CHOK TONG BECAME PM

Mr Goh was not his predecessor’s first choice. The late Mr Lee had felt that Mr Goh had a tendency to try to please everybody, and could be awkward when addressing a crowd. But he refrained from naming a successor, citing the need for the next generation to choose their own man.

Besides, in his peers’ eyes, Mr Goh was the man for the job. They had already decided this in 1984, and reaffirmed their choice in 1988, despite Mr Lee making his analysis of Mr Goh public in his National Day Rally speech that year.

The Prime Minister had ranked five younger Cabinet ministers – Mr Goh, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, Mr S. Dhanabalan and Mr Lim Chee Onn – according to their leadership potential. He revealed that he preferred Dr Tan, then the finance minister, but the latter did not want the job.

Regardless, the next generation had already made its decision after the 1984 General Election, when support for the People’s Action Party (PAP) plunged more than 10 percentage points to 64.8 per cent – at the time, the lowest percentage since 1963, when Singapore was a state of Malaysia.

In the seat of Anson, the party lost again to the Workers’ Party’s J.B. Jeyaretnam, who retained it with a bigger majority. Potong Pasir went to Singapore Democratic Party leader Chiam See Tong.

It was a setback. Some among the party’s second-generation leaders were not sure if leadership renewal should go on as planned.

But Dr Tan felt strongly that it had to, or risk Singaporeans losing confidence in the PAP. So on Dec 30, less than a week after the results were announced, he had key second-generation leaders go to his Bukit Timah house.

There, they chose Mr Goh as the first deputy prime minister – essentially the man to succeed Mr Lee when the time came. Mr Ong would be second deputy prime minister.

On Jan 1, 1985, Mr Goh held a press conference at the Istana to unveil the new Cabinet line-up. He likened his position to that of a centre-forward and striker – a dominant role in running the country’s affairs – and that of Mr Lee, who was still the prime minister, to a goalkeeper.

Over the next five years, Mr Goh’s team was tasked with the day-to-day running of the state even though the official handover took place only in November 1990.

Even then, it was not until 1992 that Mr Lee gave up the position of PAP’s secretary-general to Mr Goh.

LEE HSIEN LOONG’S RISE TO PM

When current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong entered politics in 1984, many Singaporeans assumed he might one day become prime minister. This belief was bolstered by Mr Goh’s selection of the younger Lee to be his second-in-command over Mr Ong when he assumed the top post in 1990.

Mr Goh later said he had canvassed the views of his team, and added that it would not reflect well on the PAP’s self-renewal drive if he picked someone older than he.

“That might mean I was protecting my position,” he said. Mr Lee is 11 years younger than him, while Mr Ong was five years older.

But in 1992, Mr Goh was hit by the double whammy of both his deputy prime ministers getting cancer. Both later recovered.

Adhering to the PAP’s principle of self-renewal, he continued to bring in MPs of high calibre, including newcomer Teo Chee Hean in a by-election in his own Marine Parade GRC a month later. Today, Mr Teo is Acting Prime Minister whenever Mr Lee is away.

In his 2003 National Day Rally speech, Mr Goh announced that Mr Lee would take over as prime minister. “The clear consensus is Hsien Loong. He is also my choice,” he said then. Mr Lee was sworn in as prime minister a year later.

One difference between the two men’s transitions was Mr Lee’s swift assumption of the role of PAP chief. Just four months after he became prime minister, he was elected secretary-general at a party conference.

CHOOSING THE NEXT LEADER

What about Prime Minister No. 4? Similar to how Prime Ministers No. 2 and No. 3 were chosen, Mr Lee Hsien Loong said in 2007 – just three years after he took the top post – and he would not anoint his successor but leave the decision to the next generation.

Like his father, he believed the leadership had to gel, and that could happen only if the leader were to emerge naturally from the group who supported him.

He said: “Ultimately, it’s really the PAP MPs who must have confidence in him because, constitutionally, the prime minister is the person who commands the confidence of the majority of the MPs in Parliament.”

This article was first published on Sept 4, 2016.
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A 68-year-old woman was killed last Friday after being hit by a road sign that was dislodged by what was said to be a runaway bus.

Police said they were alerted to an accident involving a bus and a pedestrian at the junction of Bukit Panjang Ring Road and Bukit Panjang Road, at 9.56am.

Madam Ong Lim was taken conscious to the National University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead later, said Ms Agnes Chai, 26, one of Madam Ong’s nine grandchildren.

Ms Chai believes her grandmother had been waiting for a taxi on the kerb after a visit to a market near her Cashew Road flat that morning, when a bus from funeral services firm Singapore Muslim Casket and Marble Contractor rolled down the slope, mounted the pavement and hit a road sign.

The road sign hit Madam Ong on the head, and also left her with a deep cut on her leg.

“My grandmother was a happy, jovial woman who was very close to her family… She would call my mother for a chat on the phone every day,” said Ms Chai, whose mother is Madam Ong’s eldest daughter.

“We are very shocked that this has happened.”

A spokesman from the funeral services company said that its driver had parked the vehicle and ensured it was stationary before proceeding to a nearby mosque.

But Madam Ong’s family is now calling for eyewitnesses or video footage to determine if a driver had been on board when the incident occurred.

The family has also lodged a police report on the matter.

Police confirmed that a report was made and that investigations are ongoing.

This article was first published on Sept 4, 2016.
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Community efforts are vital in the fight against terrorism, and the Muslim community has taken the lead on this front by countering extremist ideology and narrow views, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said yesterday.

He called on Muslim leaders to “act to set the tone of Islam” here, so that all Singaporeans are clear about the community’s stand.

When they see that the community and its leaders clearly reject extremism, “they will understand that the actions of a few terrorists or radicals who claim to follow Islam, do not reflect our Muslim community as a whole”, Mr Teo said at a lunch to thank community volunteers.

“With all communities working together, we can form a strong and united front against extremist views,” he said.

Speaking in Malay, Mr Teo said the Government appreciated the work of Muslim community leaders and volunteers such as the Religious Rehabilitation Group and Inter-Agency Aftercare Group in counselling terror detainees and reintegrating them into society.

This effort has drawn praise from the leaders of other religions here, who have pledged to stand in solidarity with the Muslim community to counter extremism, he said.

“While our security forces work hard to detect, prevent and deal with an attack, community efforts are key to countering the threat of radical ideology and exclusivism.”

An area such efforts can focus on is ensuring Singapore’s practice of moderate and inclusive Islam is upheld, said Mr Teo, who is Coordinating Minister for National Security.

Pointing to how terror attacks committed in the name of Islam have led to a rise in Islamophobia in other countries, he called on all communities here to stand united with the Muslim community.”We can build social resilience and bounce back as one united community should an attack occur.”

He also welcomed the Muslim community’s support to make registration of all Islamic teachers mandatory, saying it would stop extremist teachings and exclusivist views from gaining a foothold here.

He warned the terrorism threat has not abated since the discovery of the Jemaah Islamiah network here 15 years ago. Recently, extremists linked to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria planned to fire a rocket at Marina Bay from Batam.

Mr Teo said: “We must prepare now and act now before an attack happens, so that we can all stand together in the event of a terrorist attack, doing all that we can to maintain the precious social harmony that we all value.”

This article was first published on Sept 4, 2016.
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It is Jay Chou’s world – we all just happen to be living in it.

That was the message sent during the Taiwanese superstar’s stellar live show, “The Invincible” Jay Chou Concert Tour, at the National Stadium last night.

From the moment he appeared on stage in a pink futuristic light-up bodysuit for his song Hero, Chou, 37, got his fans cheering.

The opening sequence was a visual extravaganza that showed Chou on a spaceship blasting off into battle as his backup dancers appeared dressed in futuristic armour and sporting lightsaber-like swords.

“The Invincible” Jay Chou concert tour

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The New Paper

Chou, married to Australian-Taiwanese model Hannah Quinlivan, with whom he has a year-old daughter, Hathaway, is certainly not as youthful as he once was. He has a more plump “dad bod”, having gained 17kg in the last three years.

At one point, he joked with the audience in Mandarin: “It has been two years since my last Singapore concert – I am fatter now, right?

“If you have been listening to my songs from the beginning, you will never grow fat… Or I should say, if you keep listening to my songs, you will never grow old.”

The 40,000 fans who thronged the stadium certainly agreed, as they sang along enthusiastically to his classic hits such as Can’t Say and In the Name of Father.

For Rooftop, originally sang as a duet with Landy Wen, Chou had the audience sing Wen’s parts, turning it into a mass karaoke session.

Chou’s vocals were good, but it was his star power that shone through and kept fans spellbound.

When he went off stage to shake hands with his fans, many went into a frenzy at the closer look of their idol.

Jay Chou opens first overseas Phantaci boutique in Singapore

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The New Paper, Sina Weibo

SPECIAL APPEARANCES

Fans who expected a special appearance by local singer Nathan Hartono, a contestant on reality singing competition Sing! China, were disappointed.

Chou had earlier told the media that Hartono was busy preparing for his next round on the show.

Local singer Nathan Hartono wows Sing! China judges

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The Straits Times, The New Paper, YouTube screengrabs, HBO Asia, Music & Movement

But another of Chou’s mentees, 16-year-old Canadian-Taiwanese singer Patrick Brasca, made a guest appearance, singing Try – from the Kung Fu Panda 3 film- with Chou.

Fellow Taiwanese singer Gary Yang, Chou’s long-time collaborator of Nan Quan Mama fame, also made a guest appearance.

Though the concert was almost flawless visually, with spectacular sets ranging from a graveyard to an underwater paradise, the acoustics were less than perfect.

Chou’s piano performances for Sunny Day and Rice Field were drowned out by the bass.

Still, Chou solidified his place last night as one of Mandopop’s most influential artists.

It was clear his fans love him, even after more than 15 years, for who he is – fat and all.

Jay Chou opens first overseas Phantaci boutique in Singapore

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The New Paper, Sina Weibo

This article was first published on September 04, 2016.
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In a commentary last week, The Straits Times Editor-At-Large Han Fook Kwang wrote about the process by which Singapore’s next prime minister will be chosen, and suggested that it could be relooked. The People’s Action Party (PAP) chairman responds to the piece in this letter.

I am surprised by Mr Han Fook Kwang’s article (“Relooking leadership renewal in Singapore“, Aug 28).

He, of all people, should know that the process by which we choose prime ministers is anything but “opaque”. He has worked on many books with Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and heard Mr Lee describe in detail leadership succession in the People’s Action Party (PAP).

We scour the country to find able, honest and committed people to field in elections. Possible candidates go through a rigorous vetting process. This begins the day after every general election.

The most promising among every cohort of MPs are then brought into government. They work with senior ministers, and are tested and stretched in a range of portfolios. In the process, they become confident in their roles and gain the trust of the people.

As with both ESM Goh Chok Tong and PM Lee Hsien Loong, the next prime minister will be chosen by the next generation of leaders from among themselves. If all goes well, they will make this choice by consensus. Older ministers, including the current PM, will stay out of the deliberations. This is as it should be, for it is the younger ministers who will have to work with the new PM and help him succeed.

he new leader will also have to be elected into the PAP’s Central Executive Committee, and become the party’s secretary-general. And constitutionally, the Prime Minister must enjoy the confidence of the majority of Members of Parliament. This means he must have support of the party cadres as well as the parliamentary party. And he will not have either if he fails to unite Singaporeans and win elections.

Australia has had five prime ministers in five years, with three of the four switches due to intra-party feuds. In the United States, the major parties choose their presidential nominees through a prolonged, prodigiously expensive and deeply divisive process. And in Britain, the Conservative Party has just had a brutal contest for a new leader, while the Labour Party is in the throes of yet another internecine struggle to determine the fate of its current leader.

We are lucky to have had leadership cohesion over five decades, across three generations. The shared sense of purpose among ministers, and the consciousness that becoming PM is a responsibility to be borne and not an ambition to be sought, means the ruling party is not riven by factions.

Why would we want to exchange this calm and rational process for periodic political bloodlettings that leave deep and lasting wounds, both within the party and the body politic?

• Mr Khaw is chairman of the People’s Action Party. He is Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport.

This article was first published on September 04, 2016.
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The plane is not just on the runway, it is picking up speed and getting ready for lift-off.

That is the stage Singapore’s fourth-generation political leaders are at now.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has repeatedly said that he plans to step down some time after the next general election, which must be held by Jan 15, 2021.

This means that the next generation of leaders is already in its last full term in office, after which one among them will have to assume the position of prime minister.

It was barely a year ago at the general election that PM Lee’s smiling face was prominent on campaign posters for the People’s Action Party (PAP) across the island. He is the party’s secretary-general.

But in the time since then, there have been two health scares this year – the Prime Minister taking ill during his National Day Rally speech, although he recovered and returned after an hour to complete it; and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat having a stroke in May, from which he has since recovered.

Both incidents have put the spotlight on succession.

But to think that this is the chosen young guns’ last term under the long and steady leadership of PM Lee, and that one of them is likely to assume his mantle, heightens how quickly the countdown has begun.

Furthermore, when that person becomes prime minister after the next general election, he will have had barely 10 years in politics – about half that of PM Lee when he took on the role.

A SHORTER RUNWAY

The country may have around four more years to find out who its next prime minister will be. But the front runners will have had far less time than their predecessors to get ready for the job.

Previous prime ministers had more experience in politics and running ministries before assuming the top job.

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong had 14 years in politics under his belt before taking over as PM from Mr Lee Kuan Yew in 1990.

PM Lee spent 20 years in politics before he assumed the role in 2004.

In contrast, the fourth-generation leaders would have entered politics in 2011 or last year. This gives them, at most, about 10 years in politics before one of them becomes prime minister – before PM Lee’s planned “retirement” date of after 2021.

In the first transition from Mr Lee Kuan Yew to Mr Goh, the latter was appointed deputy prime minister in 1985. He spearheaded the PAP’s efforts in the subsequent election in 1988, and became PM in 1990 in a carefully managed process.

Chances are, Singapore will see something similar this time round, with a new deputy prime minister potentially named at the mid-term round of promotions in the Cabinet, after which he will play a prominent role in the next election campaign.

But currently, as National University of Singapore political scientist Reuben Wong notes: “Some of the people viewed as a potential prime minister have been in the Cabinet for just a year.”

Retired MP Inderjit Singh says the new team should settle in while PM Lee is in charge, so he can ensure they evolve as a united team. Otherwise, says Mr Singh, there may be a risk of “some leadership challenge among the new ministers”.

Experts also wonder about the lack of a clear heir apparent.

Several believe it would be Mr Heng, given the heavyweight portfolios he has held. Before the finance portfolio, he was minister for education. Mr Singh says: “No obvious PM candidate other than Heng Swee Keat has emerged.”

But some wonder if his health scare means that he may not be up to the physically demanding job, which involves overseas diplomatic trips, on top of regular constituency events and other activities.

“Mr Heng has been cutting his teeth on multiple issues. But the big thought is, is he up to it with his health?” says Dr Wong.

SOME LEEWAY

However, Singapore still has some leeway in the form of its two deputy prime ministers.

Says former Nominated MP Zulkifli Baharudin, a businessman: “If anything happens, either of the two DPMs is perfectly able to run the country, to win an election and to be recognised globally.”

In fact, both instantly swung into action at the National Day Rally on Aug 21. Even as Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, a trained surgical oncologist, rushed on stage to attend to PM Lee when he took ill during his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean was not far behind.

Later, Mr Teo announced that PM Lee was well and would return to resume his speech, while Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam fielded questions from the media and guests and reassured them that all was well.

When PM Lee is on leave or overseas, Mr Teo is acting PM, and when both are away, Mr Tharman steps in.

Political watcher and Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan says: “If there is a need for either DPM Teo or DPM Tharman to step up as a transitional prime minister, it will not be regarded as a risky proposition.

“Singaporeans have come to know who they are and what they stand for. We will be in good hands.”

But even if either DPM takes on the top job in the next five years or so, he is unlikely to stay on for a decade or more, say the experts.

They point out that Mr Lee Kuan Yew stepped down as prime minister at the age of 67, and Mr Goh did so at 63. As Dr Wong puts it: “Is that renewal when your DPMs are barely five years younger than your PM? Will the next PM take over, for example, at the age of 64?”

Mr Teo is 61 years old and Mr Tharman is 59.

However, it is not unusual for politicians elsewhere to be in this age range. Both Britain’s newest PM Theresa May and China’s President Xi Jinping assumed the top job at 59. As for America’s two presidential hopefuls, Mrs Hillary Clinton is 68 while Mr Donald Trump is 70.

In contrast, former British PM David Cameron took on the job in 2010 when he was 43, the same age at which former PM Tony Blair entered 10 Downing Street.

US President Barack Obama took on the top job in 2009 at age 47.

Some 50 years earlier, in 1959, Mr Lee Kuan Yew became prime minister of self-governing Singapore at the age of 35, and was 41 at independence in 1965. His successors took on the role at a later age: Mr Goh was 49 and PM Lee was 52.

While a “stop-gap” sort of prime minister who holds the post for under a decade is an option, Institute of Policy Studies deputy director of research Gillian Koh favours someone who can run the country with an eye on the long term.

“It probably should be someone younger than today’s two DPMs,” says Dr Koh.

She adds: “The country cannot be in succession planning mode every day, wondering who the next prime minister is. Imagine us talking like this for the next 20 years!”

CHOOSING THE FOURTH PM

As for the potential successors themselves, like their predecessors, they are going through a regime of learning the business of government.

Newly elected MPs are rarely catapulted straight to the post of full minister, unless they have held high-ranking positions in the civil service or private sector.

Those that have since Singapore became independent are Mr Heng, who became full education minister fresh from his entry into politics at the 2011 General Election; and former finance minister Richard Hu in 1984. Both were managing directors of the Monetary Authority of Singapore – though Mr Heng was a career public servant and Dr Hu had been in the private sector, where he was chairman and chief executive of Shell Group in Singapore.

Most of the time, potential ministers are first appointed minister of state, senior minister of state or acting minister. They learn the ropes and are promoted during Cabinet reshuffles only upon showing proficiency and a grasp of their portfolio. Not all of them make full minister.

This ensures that by the time a candidate becomes prime minister, he has learnt the business of government thoroughly. Mr Zulkifli describes it as a long culture of succession planning that provides stability.

This infrastructure of leadership has worked for Singapore so far and is unlikely to be drastically overhauled in the future, even given the recent health episodes and looming post-2021 deadline.

Instead, to make up for the shorter runway, younger leaders are likely to hold multiple portfolios and rotate among ministries more quickly. Says Dr Gillian Koh: “The top tier of young guns have some experience of public service, so they are not starting from scratch.”

She points out that Singapore has it good as most countries do not have the luxury of spending years getting prime-ministers-to- be ready for the job.

To most Singaporeans, the burning question is: Who is the chosen one?

But the challenges of the 21st century require a different mindset of governance, beyond the 19th century “great man” theory of leadership.

PM Lee himself, in a press conference after last year’s general election where he unveiled his new Cabinet, emphasised not individual successors, but the team. He said: “One important goal of my new Cabinet is to prepare the next team to take over from me and my colleagues.”

He added: “They have to prove themselves and gel together as a team. And soon after the end of this term, we must have a new team ready to take over from me.”

That emphasis on team hints that the decision lies less with the current prime minister, and more with the fourth prime minister’s peers – his fellow ministers who will make up his Cabinet.

This was how Mr Goh and PM Lee had been chosen, by consensus, and by their peers.

Perhaps then, one measure of successful succession planning is not whether it throws up a capable individual, but a whole team of them who can work together to take Singapore forward.

charyong@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on September 04, 2016.
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