TODAY: Workers' Party to field 20
General Election 2006
Long-term ambition is to contest more than half the seats, says chairman
DERRICK A PAULO
derrick@newstoday.com.sg
WHEN the Workers' Party files the papers to contest Ang Mo Kio GRC, it will be the first time the party is taking on the Prime Minister directly in a General Election - as reported exclusively in this newspaper yesterday.
The WP announced its final batch of candidates yesterday, bringing its total number to 20.
This makes it the party's biggest slate of candidates since the Group Representation Constituency system was enlarged from three-member teams in 1988.
But Singapore's oldest active opposition party, which has been asked by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew to raise itself to First World standards, insists that GE 2006 is only Phase One of its plan. In future elections, the WP plans to take on the ruling party in more than half the 84 seats available.
WP chairman Sylvia Lim revealed to some reporters the party's ambition after it introduced its candidates yesterday.
"The long-term aim of the WP is to build up our resources so that in time to come, we may be able to contest, by ourselves, more than half the seats. At this election, it's not possible. But we are working towards that," she said.
To her, if the government is formed only after voters leave the ballot box, it would signify "how much Singaporeans care about who governs Singapore".
She added: "For us in the opposition movement ... we are like conduits for Singaporeans. We are made up of Singaporeans, so, if people do not want to join us, this is going to be the situation. It's going to stagnate here."
For this GE, however, Ms Lim downplayed the significance to the Opposition of contesting more than half the seats, and said it was an "incidental" situation.
"You know there is no way for the Opposition to win all the seats anyway," she said.
"I'm sure the PAP will try to make people frightened and say we can't afford a freak result and all that, but get real. Singaporeans know, probably some constituencies are stronger than the others. It also depends on the resources of the challengers in that sense."
Still, at yesterday's news conference, Ms Lim and WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang refuted comments from PAP quarters that the Opposition only appeared during the election period.
Citing a 2004 PAP internal report on the Opposition, which noted that their activities have intensified, Ms Lim said: "Their own intelligence in written form says something else."
On campaign issues, the WP is prepared only to give a preview of what to expect at its rallies.
Mr Low unveiled three broad planks - or approximately half - of the WP's election campaign. These will be accountability, hope for the future - under which would come the bread-and-butter issues - and First World government.
This third plank refers to a debate between Mr Lee and Mr Low on the Government's credentials.
Mr Lee asked Mr Low if Singapore could have risen to First World standards as measured by various international institutions such as the World Bank and Transparency International if the PAP did not have the capabilities of a First World government.
Mr Low briefly replied that "there's more (to the matter) than that". Ms Lim added that other yardsticks include indices of happiness.
The international perspective was the theme used by the WP as it introduced its final three candidates to voters, social science researcher James Gomez, 41, financial manager Tan Wui Hua, 39, and entrepreneur Glenda Han, 29.
When asked how they differ from PAP's candidates, Mr Low said: "The fundamental difference is if you want to be elected, join the PAP and go to a GRC. But if you join the WP, be prepared to lose.
"These are people who have the international perspective, who are able to travel internationally for employment. But they are prepared to join the WP, prepared to lose. This is the spirit. It's something the PAP candidates are lacking."
