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 91 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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlxfbE2VvfY
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 his 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlxfbE2VvfY
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 his 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.
