21/08/2016

PM Lee collapses while giving 2016 rally speech


S’PORE PM LEE HSIEN LOONG COLLAPSES DURING NATIONAL DAY RALLY

During the 2016 National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was speaking half way about the elected Presidency when suddenly his face tensed up and his speech started to slur.

 After which he appeared to swap to the side before the camera view was taken away from him.
Netizens speculated that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong may have suffered a stroke but that cannot be confirmed. There is currently little new information on his well-being.

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 PM Lee collapses on stage while delivering the National Day Rally Speech

 PM Lee Hsien Loong collapsed mid-way into English portion of his National Day Rally speech on Sunday night. His rally speech has been disrupted.

 Before his collapse, the Prime Minister was talking about the pending changes to the Elected Presidency.

 The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying:
“PM Lee took ill while speaking at the National Day Rally. The medical team is attending to him right now. They assess that his condition is not serious. PMO will update in due course.”
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 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appeared unwell on stage during National Day Rally 2016

 The National Day Rally 2016 appears to have been suspended for now.

 Audience members at the ITE College Central looked on in shock just moments earlier when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stopped his speech that he was delivering as he appeared unwell and stumbled.

 Audience members, including Cabinet ministers and PM Lee’s wife rushed to the stage to assist the prime minister.

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 COLLAPSED LEE HSIEN LOONG INSISTS ON CONCLUDING NATIONAL DAY RALLY, TELLS DPM TEO HE WILL FINISH IT LATER

 In an update by Channel News Asia, they released an update saying that according to DPM Teo Chee Hean, PM Lee Hsien Loong told him to convey the message that he will return to conclude his #NDR2016 speech later.

 It is unclear if the doctors will clear PM Lee for such an attempt after his collapse on stage.

 It is also unclear when how much later would Lee Hsien Loong be back to finish his speech.

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 S'PORE PM LEE HSIEN LOONG COLLAPSES DURING NATIONAL DAY RALLY 2016

 During the 2016 National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was speaking half way about the elected Presidency when suddenly his face tensed up and his speech started to slur.

 In a brief statement released on his Facebook, the PMO office said:

 "PMO Statement: PM Lee took ill while speaking at National Day Rally. The medical team is attending to him right now. They assess that his condition is not serious. PMO will update in due course."

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 PM did not have stroke: PMO
PM Lee Hsien Loong delivering his National Day Rally 2016 speech at ITE College Central. FOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES

 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took an unscheduled hour-long break in the middle of his National Day Rally speech tonight after taking ill. 

 The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement that Mr Lee was "feeling unsteady because of prolonged standing, heat & dehydration". 

 "His heart is fine and he did not have a stroke," PMO said.

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 Singapore’s succession struggles

 When Lee Hsien Loong collapsed during the National Day Rally speech on 21 August 2016, it shocked not only many Singaporeans, but also leaders from around the world. Although he recovered quickly and was able to finish his speech after a short break, the incident drew attention to the issue of leadership succession in a country that has long experienced predictable politics with little change.

 While Singapore maintains the appearance of a democracy, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has dominated politics since independence by creating significant barriers to political opposition — currently the PAP control more than 90 per cent of seats. In order to maintain this level of control, the PAP has successfully transferred power to the next generation of hand-picked leaders. But presently, the leadership succession is still unclear despite the fact that the current prime minister is already 64 years old.

 This level of uncertainty is a new development in post-independence Singaporean politics, which has become used to the dominant role of the PAP. The party’s first leader and prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, has often been affectionately called the nation’s founding father. His successor, Goh Chok Tong, was widely seen as a seat warmer for the current prime minister, who is the son of the elder Lee.

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 PM Lee quote his father to fix the Presidential election

“This is not a Malay Singapore, not an Indian Singapore, not a Chinese Singapore. This is for everyone.”

 Quoting his father Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that it is necessary to fix the upcoming Presidential election and allow only the Malay race to contest this round because it is their turn. PM Lee Hsien Loong then went on to explain using unrelated reasonings why he is re-writing the country’s Constitution:

 “The symbolism of the President must ring true with the day to day experience of Singaporeans living in our multi-racial society. In many other societies, multi-racialism are celebrated on stage during occasions such as independence days but they are “not a reality”. “But in Singapore, (the racial relations we experience) in real life have to match and do match what we celebrate on National Day. When people incite division and misunderstanding between different races or religions, we have to act firmly against them…This is one of the areas where we are hypersensitive and it is a no-go.”

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 Elected Presidency: Symbolism must ring true in S'poreans' daily experience, says PM Lee

 In a White Paper put up last week, the Government broadly accepted recommendations put up by the Constitutional Committee tasked to review various aspects of the EP scheme, including a "hiatus triggered" mechanism where presidential elections will be reserved for a particular race which has not been represented in the office for five consecutive terms.

 Mr Lee said: "Racial harmony is one of the major motivations for us to make changes to the Elected Presidency... Every citizen must feel that one of his community can become President and regularly does become President because that is a symbol representing all of us."

 He quoted the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew's words on the Republic's first national day in 1965: "This is not a Malay Singapore, not an Indian Singapore, not a Chinese Singapore. This is for everyone." The symbolism of the President "must ring true with the day to day experience of Singaporeans living in our multi-racial society", stressed Mr Lee.

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 UN General Assembly Opening Session

 UN chief delivered hard-hitting final Speech warning leaders not to rewrite Constitution
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered a hard-hitting Speech in his tenth and final speech at the U.N. General Assembly. His Speech was directed against a host of world leaders from Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to South Sudan’s Salva Kiir Mayardit

 In the Speech filled with frustration, Ban charged that: “In too many places, we see leaders rewriting constitutions, manipulating elections and taking other desperate steps to cling to power.”

 Adding: “My message to all is clear: serve your people. Do not subvert democracy; do not pilfer your country’s resources; do not imprison and torture your critics.”
Although the Government of Singapore has changed the Republic’s Constitution a few times (including a pending change to the Elected Presidency scheme); although the ruling party has been accused of gerrymandering elections to give itself an unfair advantage to cling onto power; although citizens who have been detained without trial allege torture; it is highly unlikely that Ban was targeting Singapore in his Speech.
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related:
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Elected President: CC vs AGC
2017 Presidential Election to be reserved for Malay candidates
Public Forum on Elected Presidency cancelled due to poor response
White Paper on Elected Presidency scheme
Spore push for minority President but not ready for non-Chinese PM
Changes to the Elected Presidency Scheme
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