Extract from channelnewsasia.com:  Singapore News
	Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 04 May 2006 2046 hrs PM Lee says Singapore's future is key issue in General Election By S. Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia Related News   DPM Wong dismisses opposition's pledge over full-time MPs   FM Yeo wants to move on from Gomez issue, focus on Aljunied residents' needs   Singaporeans not getting the opportunities they deserve: SDA's Steve Chia more>>

SINGAPORE : Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said the most important issue in this General Election is Singapore's future.

He asked for a strong mandate on May 6, so that he and his People's Action Party (PAP) team can take the country forward.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Mr Lee made it clear that there are bigger issues at the polls than opposition candidate James Gomez.

The James Gomez issue has dominated campaigning the last few days, and Mr Lee wants to put it aside.

Mr Lee said he should not have waited for the Workers' Party to respond with details of what exactly happened.

He said the PAP had taken the matter as far as it can for now.

Mr Lee said: "I am not letting it go, that's why I am saying after elections there will have to be a proper public resolution. Right now, the more urgent priority is polling and I want people to be in the right frame of mind when they vote, and to have the right considerations as they sit down today, tomorrow, before they vote, to think what they want to do."

The campaign for the 2006 General Election is nearly over, and Mr Lee said he wanted to refocus on what this election is all about.

Mr Lee said: "I called this election for three purposes. First, to secure a mandate for myself and my team. Secondly, to decide on the future of Singapore and thirdly, to endorse a new team of leaders and MPs to take us forward in the next 15, 20 years.

"In one word, this election is about our future. We have presented the manifesto many times and you are familiar with it. What does it mean? Cast it in a different way, it means Peace and Prosperity for Singapore - PAP."

Oh, so now they want to talk about 'key issues' -- with one day left in the campaigning process! Gee whiz, the PAP must be really concerned about our future to devote one whole day to discussing key issues.  How sad that Singaporeans only got to pick up their newspapers today and read the PAP's last word on 'key issues' on Friday, when by Saturday night we'll know the polling results.

I think the PAP figured out they can't really pull the wool over Singaporeans' eyes any longer with this issue.  Not a single person I've talked to buys the PAP story about how Gomez wants to 'wayang' his way into deceiving everyone.  Everyone's sick, tired, scornful, and now they want to talk about 'key issues'.  My dad would say: my toe can laugh.

I don't think we've seen the last of the Gomez issue.  But for now the PAP is beating a tactical retreat to get in the last word on the key issues that have swung this election.  But I don't think it'll work.  I think they went too far this time, and that the Opposition, in contrast, has conducted themselves in a far more dignified and honourable manner than Them Who Shall Not Be Named.  The Opposition's concerns have been consistent and pushed for:  Healthcare costs.  Upgrading.  Means testing.  Transparency.  And what is the PAP doing? Running away.  On the issue of healthcare costs: no answer.  On the issue of selective upgrading being unethical: no answer.  On the issue of means testing: we'll talk about it later, and anyway maybe we won't implement it after all.  On the issue of transparency: Gomez, Gomez, Gomez -- which people don't buy.

Tomorrow we'll know if Singaporeans decided to let them get away with it.  I hope not.  I think not.  I think tomorrow we'll make them hurt, maybe not too much, but enough for them to know that they can't play this game with us for very much longer.  No landslide victory, no 75% mandate this time round.

Singaporeans, please let me believe in you.  Lee Hsien Loong got one thing right -- it is about our future.  That is the real 'key issue': if we want our future to continue to be one of being bullied, cowed, and distracted into being yes-people, or if we can find it in ourselves to be something more.  Something greater.  Not just a rich country behind whose back everyone laughs at, but a country with real dignity, who can't be pushed around.

They wanted me to care.  They said they put me in a cream-of-the-crop education system and spent money on me so I would care.  They wrote in my Social Studies textbook that I had to care.  Now I care, and I dare them to tell me to care in any other way. 

Melodramatic? Yeah.  Angsty? Rather.  It's not that I'm not self-aware ;) I generally disdain ranting and raving and white-noise diatribes.  But I think tonight, I have that right -- no, I have that obligation, to dare to feel something for the key issue of our future.  And I will make no bones about it, nor apologies. Cheers everyone: tomorrow we will know.