TODAY: Young candidates a 'breakthrough' for WP

Low says Workers' Party will continue to attract young talent to contest in the next GE


ANSLEY NG
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VOTES: Yesterday, Workers' Party secretary-general Low Thia Khiang was at his Hougang constituency to thank voters for their support.

ANSLEY NG
ansley@newstoday.com.sg

CONDUCTING a post mortem for reporters after a victory parade in Hougang yesterday, Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general Low Thia Khiang said that the WP's ability to find enough "capable" young candidates had been the key to the party's performance in the General Election (GE).

And despite winning only one seat in Parliament, the WP - the best performing Opposition party - scored more than 30 per cent of the votes in all the three Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) and four Single Member Constituencies (SMC) it contested.

Said Mr Low: "The breakthrough for the Workers' Party is that we were able to field capable young candidates. We could get the support from young voters."

Mr Low also singled out his lineup in Ang Mo Kio GRC for praise.

The six-man team - all first time candidates with five who are no older than 30 years old - managed to win 33.87 per cent of the votes against a People's Action Party (PAP) team helmed by PrimeMinister Lee Hsien Loong.

That showing, Mr Low said, demonstrated that there was "a level of trust" in his party. He also said that the party would keep attracting young talent, and would work on it immediately.

"The election is a politicising process - we politicise and raise the awareness of the young. (Whether) that awareness level will translate into the person joining a party or (becoming) just a supporter, we do not know," he said yesterday.

But Mr Low did reveal that some young people, "who are interested to join us" either as volunteers or just supporters, have approached his party. The profiles of spectators at his party's rallies also helped him gauge the WP's appeal to young Singaporeans.

"I noticed that there is a sizeable number of younger Singaporeans who are attending our rallies," he added. "When I speak, they listen."

"I also got feedback from party members that some of them (young Singaporeans) were prepared to join us during GE 2006 or after," Mr Low added.

Meanwhile, WP chairman Sylvia Lim confirmed that the party would be back to contest the Aljunied GRC again, despite the loss.

Her team had garnered 44 per cent of the votes at last Saturday's polls, losing the constituency to the PAP team helmed by Foreign Minister George Yeo.

Said Ms Lim: "It has been quite a gruelling campaign. And after that we will plan to work towards the next GE, probably in terms of the groundwork we intend to do and we'll probably carry on to work in Aljunied.

"Hopefully there won't too much redrawing of boundaries the next round." - ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LEE CHING WERN

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LOWSPEAKS

Hougang residents want and need upgrading but they have character. If you threaten them to replace Low Thia Khiang with upgrading, it doesn't mean they would do it. Every time I see (SM Goh), I will ask him for the money. I will tell him: "This is a promise you made." He can't go back on his word. My priority - if I get the money - is to provide lifts that stop on every floor.

- Workers' Party secretary-general Low Thia Khiang

TODAY: James Gomez under police investigation

LEE CHING WERN
chingwern@newstoday.com.sg



WORKERS' Party candidate James Gomez (picture) is under investigation by the police.

Yesterday afternoon, Mr Gomez was at the airport to catch a flight when he was stopped by immigration officials. Police officers later took him to the Police Cantonment Complex where he gave a statement. His passport and boarding pass were confiscated.

Mr Gomez left the complex after midnight. He told reporters: "I remain relaxed as usual, you know, and cooperate with the police and see how I can help them."

Asked whether charges would be filed, he said: "No, er, I don't know and I can't answer that. But all I can say (is) I've given a statement ... that took me six hours to put together."

A police spokesman told TODAY that they are investigating a "complaint" by the Elections Department against Mr Gomez.

During the election campaign last week, Mr Gomez had blamed the department for losing his minority certificate form, warning them of "consequences".

After video footage of the incident emerged, proving that Mr Gomez had not submitted his form, he apologised, saying that he had been distracted due to his busy schedule. He was, however, still asked to give a fuller explanation by Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who said that Mr Gomez's actions did not seem to be an innocent mistake.

Yesterday morning, Mr Gomez went on a "thank you" parade around Aljunied GRC with his party colleagues to thank residents for their support after Saturday's polls, which the WP team lost to the PAP by 12 percentage points.

Before 4pm yesterday, Mr Gomez rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Sweden, where he works as a policy analyst. At the airport, he was stopped by an immigration officer who asked him to wait in order for them to "do some checks", said Mr Gomez, to TODAY.

"They took me to a corridor and asked me to sit on a chair and wait. My passport and boarding pass had been taken from me," he said.

According to the WP candidate, a police official had told him that he was being investigated for a case of criminal intimidation. At about 5pm, Mr Gomez was escorted by three police officers to the Police Cantonment Complex, where CID officers interviewed him.

Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim was also seen arriving at the Police Cantonment Complex shortly after 8pm. She emerged from the building after three hours at 11pm.

She said she was called in to make a statement as a witness and she did not see Mr Gomez. The police report by the Elections Department was dated yesterday, she revealed.

"We will try our best to cooperate within what we have to do under the law," she said. "The police have a duty to do, and we should follow the due process."

When asked if the party would issue a statement on the latest development, Ms Lim said: "I don't think in that sense it is a party issue, so we'll have to see."

Straits Times: S'poreans willing to give opposition a go: Low

ELECTION 06

WP chief says party did well despite many first-timers

BY KEN KWEK

THE election results show that Singaporeans are willing to give the opposition a chance and have provided the Workers' Party with an incentive to continue engaging the public - especially the young, party chief Low Thia Khiang said yesterday.

Assessing the results a day after being re-elected to a fourth term in Hougang, he said the 'greatest breakthrough' for his party was in putting up a credible team of young candidates, and getting the support of young Singaporeans.

This was critical to helping in the development of the opposition as a whole, reversing its decline in the past few years, he said.

'If the opposition did not have some credible new faces, there would be no real competition. And younger voters would have found it difficult to connect with the opposition. This would affect our future prospects,' Mr Low told reporters over a lunch of Teochew food after a three-hour tour of 'thank you' tour of Hougang.

He hoped that the younger members of the WP team who contested the election would serve as an encouragement to other young professionals to join the ranks of the opposition.

Having learnt 'how to fight an election, how to manoeuvre and manage on the ground', they would be able to pass on these skills to newcomers in the future, he added.

He said the WP did well compared to the 2001 election despite most candidates being first-timers. Its share of the vote at this election stood at 38.4 per cent.

"There's a level of trust in the WP though the candidates are new."

He highlighted the performance of the WP's Ang Mo Kio team which contested against the team led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and rookie candidate Lian Chin Way who stood in Nee Soon Central against PAP veteran Ong Ah Heng.

"The Ang Mo Kio team was a very young team, and yet, against the Prime Minister, they secured 33 per cent of the vote, which is remarkable to me. So yes, people have sent a signal."

Mr Low had cast the election as a referendum on the future of the opposition and had asked voters to signal that they wanted opposition politics to stay.

At the end of a separate procession in Aljunied, party chairman Sylvia Lim said similarly that the WP achieved a respectable and meaningful overall percentage.

This would enable the party to attract more credible candidates in the future.

"There is visible support for the WP, and of course, I think people would like to join organisations where they see some potential."

The future of politics and how young Singaporeans viewed politics was a theme for both the WP and the PAP in the election.

Mr Low observed that many young Singaporeans had attended WP rallies.

Their concerns about policies which affected their livelihoods might have contributed to the rise in votes for the opposition.

"If you look at the percentage, especially in Ang Mo Kio GRC, I believe the ground was not as sweet as the PAP thought.

"I think the younger generation do worry about their future. Some of them who voted for the PAP in 2001 have their own families now and they realise some policies are affecting their quality of life."

He also said the Government should do more to encourage young Singaporeans and cited the Internet as being a place which contained "sharp" and "creative" ideas from young Singaporeans. The Government should not over-regulate the use of the Internet for political reasons, he said.

"You want to stop them from doing that because of political reasons, because it can be a political threat? Come on. We believe in Singapore being a globalised city, so please don't do that."

As Mr Low made his way through the constituency on the back of a lorry yesterday, residents cheered and drivers tooted their horns.

A gentlemanly fight

'I think the Prime Minister has been gentlemanly in this contest, when he engaged the Ang Mo Kio team. This is the right spirit and the right direction for Singapore.

'We should move towards a more mature democracy in which the rules of engagement are more civilised, rather than look at each other as enemies.

'Whether you are from the opposition or the ruling party, there must be some common platform and goal for everyone to reach, for the good of the nation, for the betterment of society, for a better life. The WP is prepared to meet the PAP on those platforms.'

- WP CHIEF LOW THIA KHIANG, responding to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who said the WP put up a slate of credible candidates and thanked the party for giving voters a choice in Ang Mo Kio GRC