TR EMERITUS

For decades, many Singaporeans have suffered and struggled against the seemingly unbeatable Goliath – the People’s Action Party (PAP). We seethed at the way they messed with our Constitution and rammed through undemocratic repressive laws like POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act). We shed tears reading how they gunned down vocal critics and destroyed the reputation and lives of opposition leaders like Workers Party (WP)’s JB Jeyaratnam, Tang Liang Hong and  Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)’s Chee Soon Juan. We were hurt and insulted by how they disrespected Singaporeans with their arrogant words and dismissive actions which made our people feel like second class citizens. After the disappointing General Election (GE) 2015 where the PAP won almost 70% of the votes, many hopeful Singaporeans became despondent and frustrated as the PAP-ruling party tightened its control over us and accelerated its toxic brand of politics with the help its increasingly aggressive Internet Brigade (IBs). The sense of hopelessness grew with the implementation of laws like POFMA, which purportedly is to fight fake online news but which in reality has been weaponised by the government. The light at the end of the tunnel was dimming and some voices went silent. This 2020 election changed it all and has brought a rebirth of hope GE2020’s results on July 11 brought immense joyous relief to many people. The sheer happiness and loud crazy cheers that rang loud in the streets of Hougang and Sengkang at dawn reverberated across the island. Indeed, we have much to celebrate. This was the second general election where all seats were contested since our country’s independence. That is significant. For many years, there were walkovers due partly to pork barrel politics and gerrymandering and many of us could not vote. Some only got to vote when they were middle aged! How galling! Hopefully, walkovers will never again happen here and all of us can exercise our right to vote including more than 200,000 overseas Singaporeans most of whom were upset at being unable to vote as there are only 10 polling centres worldwide. A key milestone to note at this GE2020 is that PAP’s share of the votes dropped in most of the constituencies except for a handful. And its overall vote share fell from the whopping 69.9% in 2015 GE to 61.2%! Contrary to general impression that the PAP is hugely popular, the party’s vote share at every election has actually been dropping since 2001 when it scored 75.1%. It plunged to 66.6% in 2006 and to 60.1% in 2011 before being bumped in 2015 when the PAP used Lee Kuan Yew’s death and legacy to manipulate public sentiments. So what do the latest GE results mean? That it fell again in line with the downward trend shows the underlying unhappiness with PAP is still there and that there is growing widespread concerns over the PAP’s elitist and arrogant style of governing, its brand of gutter politics, its self-serving agendas and certain policies that do not really improve the lives and future of Singaporeans. SCMP’s report yesterday quoted NUS political scientist Chong Ja Ian as attributing PAP’s marked drop in vote share to “less satisfaction with how the PAP has been handling policies from the economy to the coronavirus pandemic” Bridget Welsh, a honorary research associate at Malaysia’s University of Nottinghand was more blunt and said “in the Singapore context, this is a defeat (for the PAP)…(it’s the) worst seat performance and loss of popular vote”. This election’s victories, seemingly small, are in reality significant achievements. WP, led by an astute Pritam Singh, gained much admiration for outplaying and outwitting the PAP and he significantly bolstered the image of the party which had taken a beating in recent years no thanks to the lawsuits instigated by the ruling party over Aljunied GRC. WP won three constituencies and 10 Parliamentary seats, the most ever by WP. This was despite fielding several younger candidates like economist Jamus Lim and lawyer He Ting Ru against PAP’s political office holders including two ministers in Sengkang GRC. WP’s East Coast GRC group led by Nicole Seah lost but dealt an embarrassing blow to the group led by PM-designate Heng Swee Keat which won with a paltry 53.4% of total votes casted. WP’s handsome wins in Aljunied GRC and Hougang were impressive in view of all the allegations and lawsuits thrown by the ruling party at WP over the past few years which led many to assume that voters there would not root for the team in blue again. Instead, WP gained a 9-point vote share from to almost 60% in Aljunied GRC, a testament to the wisdom of voters there. Concerns over WP stalwarts Low Thia Khiang, Chen Show Mao and Png Eng Huat not contesting, proved unfounded. Hougang SMC, long our beacon of hope, also gained vote share with a strong 61.1% win by Dennis Tan. WP’s chief Pritam Singh proved to be an astute politician in planning the party’s success at this election. Fielding younger, smart and eloquent candidates like economist Jamus Lim in Sengkang GRC and Nicole Seah in East Coast was a master stroke that resonated well with young and old voters. Sengkang GRC’s win by a group of relatively young but outstanding WP candidates, was the real surprise of the night. Thousands of households in Sengkang cheered loudly in the wee hours when the result was announced. Hundreds of thousands more across the island cheered along with them, ecstatic as we were over this huge achievement. The seemingly impenetrable GRC system had been cracked again by the Hammer and by many young families living there. While we were disappointed that Progress Singapore Party led by well-respected Dr Tan Cheng Bock did not manage to win a seat, take heart that PSP as a new party managed to do very well in its first election, within a very short time frame, with vote share averaging about 40% for all the GRCs where it contested. Dr Tan’s team in West Coast also lost by a mere whisker with 48.3% of the votes. PSP will also be offered two NCMP seats in Parliament thus further cementing their presence as a credible political party. Eighty-year-old Dr Tan’s poignant and heartfelt messages calling for political changes to improve the lives and future of Singaporeans and his criticisms of bad government policies have also raised extensive awareness and touched the hearts of many people both young and old. Left- Dr Tan Cheng Bock formed PSP to try and right the wrongs he felt were causing unhappiness to Singaporeans. Right – SDP’s Dr Paul Tambyah is the first Singaporean appointed President-elect of the US-based International Society of Infectious Diseases. As for SDP which did not manage to win a seat, it shows it is a party to be reckoned with. The vote share of its two star candidates increased despite the PAP wielding the POFMA sword and casting aspersions yet again at them and their party. Dr Paul Tambyah, an infectious diseases specialist, scored 46.26% – the highest losing opposition candidate among all the SMCs. SDP chief Chee Soon Juan similarly saw a significant 6.4 per cent increase in his votes to 45.2%. All this shows that voters approval of SDP and Chee have gone up and that they stand a good chance of doing even better at the next elections. We need to remember that this victory of this GE2020 is thanks greatly to the tireless efforts of all the alternative party leaders, candidates, members and their armies of passionate volunteers. With so many credible and capable candidates contesting all wards and walking the ground all over the island they were able to enlighten countless Singaporeans that there are many non-PAP people with the ability and the heart to represent us in Parliament. Such a united effort on the ground and online would have made a substantial positive impact on voters. For sure, PAP, even in its worst nightmare, could not have imagined that its plan to hold an election during a pandemic, without election rallies, using only digital platforms, could have backfired so badly. For a long time, many had lamented about the political ignorance and apathy of our people especially the youths who grew up amidst a culture of fear and propaganda in social studies. There was speculation that at this election, the opposition would be wiped out as many would vote for the PAP out of fear of the uncertainties caused by the pandemic and a desire for stability by trusting in the devil they knew best. We were gladly proven wrong. This GE2020 showed us that in reality there are many Singaporeans who are discerning, not cowed by fear and who are willing to speak up and vote for positive change. No physical rallies so what? The winds of change was palpable even on digital platforms. Elections news and messages were shared fast and furious, commentaries and posts drew immeasurable number of comments and robust debates on handphones, on computers on iPads, etc etc. We have globalisation and social media to thank for this change. Better educated, more aware, more woke, the millennials, together with likeminded older Singaporeans, will reshape the political landscape and policies to be more human-centric and Singaporean-centric. Being more sensitive to social issues like fairness and inequality, many will no longer be easily fooled nor intimated should the PAP remain unrepentant and continue to mislead, bully and misuse its power. Like many older voters, the millennials are not blind to injustice nor incompetence. The PAP’s increasing incompetence weighed heavy on many of us. Trust has to be earned and not demanded. Past performance is no guarantee of success. Trust in PAP 3G and 4G leaders was justifiably withered as we saw how the economic policies were hurting many Singaporeans who struggle to cope with the high cost of living, the rising healthcare costs and the ignominy of having to compete so damn hard for good jobs against the overwhelming number of foreigners here. This election, held during a pandemic, also made us question the PAP’s agenda and competence even more when we saw over two million Singaporeans queuing under the hot sun and in crowded polling centres to cast their vote. It defied reason to endanger lives just so the PAP could gain a strong mandate. Long queues formed at most polling centres leading to an unprecedented extension of polling by two more hours All the feelings of anger, betrayal and disappointments…and hope went into the X we marked on the ballot paper on 10 July 2020. The saying united we stand rings true. After so many decades of trying to make our voices heard it seems that our message is finally starting to get through – through our votes. Speaking yesterday after the polling results, PM Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged that the election results show a clear desire for a diversity of voices in Parliament. In a surprise move, he said WP chief Pritam Singh will be formally appointed Leader of the Opposition and will be given the staff support and resources to carry out this role. Through our votes, we have spoken and we have finally been heard. The road to real change is a long and arduous one but we need to find our rightful place as Singaporeans again. We need to make Singapore truly our happy home again. We can do this by being united in speaking up without fear and doing right by our conscience. We can do it and we will get there.   Jentrified Citizen * The writer blogs at Jentrified Citizen. ** More articles by the same writer on TRE.      Read More →

It was an election result that everyone expected. As usual, Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (“PAP”) ended up with 83 of the available 93 seats in parliament and 61 percent of the popular vote. Yet, despite winning an election margin with more resemblance to a North Korean referendum approving the hair style of Kim Jong Un than what might consider a democratic mandate, Singapore’s Prime Minister appeared like a chastened school boy appearing before the principle. He muttered some words about how the electorate had made its intention for more diversity in parliament and talked about external conditions like Covid-19 that damaged the economy. The Prime Minister’s post election comments can be found at: [LINK] Why would a Prime Minister of a ruling party in the middle of an economic meltdown appear like a chastened school boy after a thumping electoral win? The answer could be found in the fact that instead of wiping out the opposition, the ruling party lost another Group Representation Constituency (GRC – a particularly unique Singaporean feature Westminster Democracy, which involves four constituencies being molded together and you get four MPs for your vote – which means that its possible for a heavy weight minister to bring in fresh blood into parliament on his coat tails). Just as the loss of Aljunied GRC had come with the costs of losing then Foreign Minister, George Yeo, the additional loss of Sengkang GRC came with the loss of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Secretary-General of the National Trade Union’s Congress (NTUC – our only union), Mr. Ng Chee Meng. The party that celebrated the most was the Workers Party, which had up to that point received minimal press coverage. You could argue that Singapore politics has had a turning point. The ruling party can no longer take winning GRC’s for granted and future election results are more likely to be like 2011 rather than 2015, which saw the death of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the Nation’s 50th anniversary. The bad news for the ruling party is that the main opposition party, the Worker’s Party has been very good at holding onto seats that it has won. Mr. Low Thia Khiang held onto their first win in the Single Member Constituency (SMC) of Hougang for nearly 20-years before jumping over the Aljunied GRC, which they have held onto in the last two elections (2015 and 2020). The benefit for the ruling party is that ministers no longer guarantee electoral success, which means that new candidates will have to fight harder and smarter to gain votes. The ruling party, which has gained a sense of belief that elections are a given, there is the reality of having to change its mindset to a changing world. Policies will have to be sold in a more consultative manner rather than in a “Me, smart and you stupid” manner. While the ruling party will have to go through a bit of a cultural change, the biggest change that the election gave us was in the nature of opposition. The biggest winner of the evening was the Workers’ Party, which had its position as our main opposition party cemented. While the Workers Party has remained the only other political party to have seats in parliament, it had been quiet throughout the election. The attention was focused on the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), which was led by former Presidential Candidate, Mr. Tan Cheng Bok who had been endorsed as “the leader that Singapore needs,” by non-other than Mr. Lee Hsien Yang, the Prime Minister’s Younger Brother. The story of the Worker’s Party’s success is highly instructional for entrepreneurs. The party has worked on the “slow but steady” strategy, a strategy that should be credited to its former secretary-general, Mr. Low Thia Khiang. The strategy is simple, to win seats one at a time. The Worker’s Party faces criticisms on a regular basis from both sides. The government has a way of lambasting Worker Party MPs for being quiet in parliament. The more radical elements criticize the Worker’s Party for being “PAP lite,” and not proposing anything terribly different from the PAP. Despite this, Mr. Low and his team have understood that the most important element in the game is seats in parliament. For the Workers Party the key is to win seats and hold onto them. Speeches in parliament and talking about holding the executive to account are pointless if you don’t have seats in parliament. Hence, Mr. Low ensured that his team worked hard enough for their respective constituents to ensure they would hold onto their seats. What makes this such an effective strategy is the fact that the PAP has been effective in running the show and takes great pains in drumming in the message that its not worth changing a winning group. The subtle message (which is not very subtle in as much as the government has famously withheld funds to opposition held constituencies) has been voting opposition will turn things to crap. Hence, while we may want to irritate the ruling party or we vote opposition to protest certain things, we’d always give the main votes to the PAP to ensure our standard of life continues. However, by winning seats and holding onto them, the Worker’s Party is showing that it can run things despite the handicaps of lack of resources, law suites etc. This counters the ruling party’s argument that it holds a monopoly on managerial competence. The seeds of change in the nature of opposition politics have been sowed. Within three elections, it looks very likely that there will be an opposition party that campaigns on the premise that it is capable of forming and running a government, as opposed to the current situation where opposition parties’ campaign on the premise that they’re there to be opposition to the ruling party. The business analogy best explains Singapore’s political landscape. We have the former monopoly player in the shape of the PAP, which dominates just about everything. There is the sexy start-up which looks good and has a great visionary founder in Tan Cheng Bok, with the backing of a rich VC in the shape of Lee Hsien Yang. This is the player that everyone talks about. The Workers Party is by contrast, a slow growth business. The initial founders have spent their fortunes building the ground-up infrastructure and product and the current and future generations test and expand markets. The records speak for themselves. Sexy start ups are sexy but unless they’ve built a real business and prepared for life after the hype, they tend to fade. Think of We Work as a cautionary tale. Then there are the former monopolies that have had to undergo painful changes in order to adapt. Those that have succeeded have continued to thrive, like SingTel, those that failed have ended up costing tax payers billions – think of the Detroit Big Three. Finally, there are the businesses that grow slowly but steadily, getting their products right. Think of Apple as a positive example. The lessons are there, it’s just whether we want to take them.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be      Read More →

Workers Party's He Ting Ru, Raeesah Khan and Jamus Lim thank voters for their support after their team defeated the People's Action Party in the new Sengkang GRC.      Read More →