Straits Times: GE a referendum on future of opposition, says WP
BY SUE-ANN CHIA
PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
OPPOSITION CANDIDATES: Mr Low Thia Khiang (second from right) formally introduces the Workers' Party's first three candidates (from left) Mr Yaw Shin Leong, Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Eric Tan.
THE Workers' Party has defined this general election as a referendum on the future of opposition politics in Singapore.
In an impassioned call to voters, WP chief Low Thia Khiang said yesterday that Singaporeans must decide if they want to give the People's Action Party (PAP) a "blank cheque" or if they wanted an opposition to check and balance a PAP Government.
If they believe in a strong opposition, they should signal this clearly at the ballot box - or politicians like himself would have to question their relevance to the political system here.
"Do Singaporeans need an opposition, do they want an opposition? And if they do not want, then what am I doing here?" he said when introducing the WP's first three candidates yesterday.
He had given new candidates no illusions about opposition politics: It is a long hard slog capturing voters hearts, demoralising at times, even for him.
"My conviction is that politics is a process, you come in for a long haul and don't expect instant success, especially in the opposition," he said.
If first-timers want to win at first try, they should join the PAP and stand in a Group Representation Constituency. "But if you want to join WP, then prepare to lose."
"We are prepared to lose. We have lost before. We continue and we press on. This is the spirit and that's why we survive till today. Since 1957."
Yesterday's press conference was unprecedented for the WP, which usually announces its candidates on Nomination Day.
Reflecting its better organisational skills, the party handed out CD-ROMs to the media containing their candidates' bio-data. The three unveiled are: WP chairman Sylvia Lim, 41, a polytechnic lecturer; WP member Eric Tan, 50, a senior bank manager; and Mr Yaw Shin Leong, 29, who runs his own business consultancy and is an executive committee member of its youth wing.
Mr Low, 49, who will be defending his Hougang seat for the fourth time, made it clear that his party did not just pick "anyone", and had to turn away those who were not up to mark.
One example: Mr Tan, whom he described as a "rare find", was his friend for 10 years before he finally decided to join the party.
Mr Low said he looks for credibility, capability, character, passion and public spiritedness in his candidates. What he doesn't want: People with an axe to grind against the ruling party.
The first-timers, numbering 15 in all, may not have gone through the same battery of interviews and psychometric tests like the PAP's candidates, but they can stand up to public scrutiny.
Mr Low would not confirm that the WP will field 20 candidates, contesting three GRCs - Aljunied, East Coast and Ang Mo Kio - and four single seats, Hougang, Joo Chiat, Nee Soon East and Nee Soon Central. Nor would he say where the three would be fielded.
He also would not be drawn into specifying what would be a strong signal to the opposition, save to say he was concerned about the dipping level of support. The high point for the opposition was the 1991 polls when it won four seats and had 39 per cent share of votes. In the 2001 polls, it retained two seats, and had just 24.7 per cent share of votes.
"Do we want to continue to be like that? Do people want to give a blank cheque to the PAP to do whatever they want to do and after the election, lament... complain?" he asked.
"Or do people want to show that yes, we give you the support but we are not going giving you a blank cheque and we are prepared to allow the opposition to check and balance the government."
In a reference to the WP slogan, You Have A Choice, he said: "We provide you with a choice, value that choice."
sueann@sph.com.sg
