Lee Kuan Yew & Goh Chok Tong announced retirement

Singapore, the gleaming city state's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has announced his retirement from the Cabinet, paving the way for reforms after the ruling party's worst debacle in the 7th May general elections.The 87-year-old leader and his successor, former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on Sunday announced that they would step down from the government, leaving Lee's son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to lead a younger generation government.

The decision came after the general elections where close to 40 per cent voters polled against the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), electing a record six opposition members to parliament.Though the PAP has a strong majority of 81 seats, its popularity on vote count was reduced to slightly above 60 per cent, the worst performance since independence.

Lee helmed the wealthy city as the premier from 1959, when colonial ruler Britain granted self-rule to Singapore, to 1990 and served the government as senior minister and minister mentor after that.

The elder Lee built Singapore into an Asian commercial, financial and trading hub, taking over from the colonial left out at independence.Goh, who turned 70 next week, had continued that nation-building momentum till August 2004 when he handed the premiership to Lee Hsien Loong."Our main reason is to show Singapore is in a new era. It cannot be government as usual. Both former PMs withdrawing from the Government will indicate that it is not government as usual, and that the PM can and will revise and revamp his policies going into this new situation," the elder Lee was quoted as saying by The Sunday Times.

He said he and Goh believed that it was the right thing to do, to give PM and his team the room to break from the past, and make it clear that the PAP has never been averse to change."It is vital to avoid a situation where people vote to have more opposition for oppositions sake," he pointed out.Issues raised by Singaporeans during the general elections were related to influx of foreign workers taking local jobs on cheaper wages, higher cost of housing caused by high net worth expatriates, housing affordability, rising cost of living for the locals, the slower progress on transportation, and the high salaries for the ministers in the prosperous city state.

The Sunday Times said Lee's decision to quit the government stemmed from the instinct to never take voters for granted.Commentators said the two leaders were widely expected retire sooner or later, especially given the age of senior Lee, but their absence would have an impact in terms of Singapore's foreign relationships.

Lee and Goh had served as "special envoys" for the country, noted former member of parliament Chan Soo Sen."The new Foreign Minister would not have the kind of network that (Foreign Minister) George Yeo had, and he wont have these two (Lee and Goh) working almost as special envoys to open doors for Singapore," the paper quoted Chan as saying.

Foreign Minister Yeo lost his parliament seat in the election, the biggest PAP loss ever.After stepping down as prime minister, Goh travelled to various part of the world to raise Singapore's profile, most notably in the Middle East, India and Europe.Goh was credited with fostering closer ties between Asia and Europe.

Premier Lee is expected to announce a new cabinet this week with a challenge of filing in a number of ministerial positions after the retirement of several senior ministers.Singapore is projected to post an economic growth of between four per cent to six per cent this year, a follow on to last year's 14. 5 per cent, having rebounded strongly from the global economic meltdown of mid-2008 and 2009.Media agencies