Chan Jia Hui
WP supporters on the Final Day Rally (GE2011) at Serangoon Stadium
I follow with keen interest the respective political parties’ response to the offer of the non-constituency member of parliament (NCMP) seats.
The Worker’s Party was offered two seats in single ward Joo Chiat and the other in five member ward East Coast GRC, in which the party has to nominate one member out of the five contestants. The verdict is that the party has decided to accept the two NCMP seats on offer; Mr Yee Jenn Jong, the losing candidate for Joo Chiat by 382 votes and the nomination of Mr Gerald Giam, one of the contestants for East Coast GRC.
The preference of Worker’s Party candidate Giam over the leader of the East Coast GRC, Mr Eric Tan, prompted the latter’s resignation. He cited past contributions most notably in bringing Yee and Mr Chen Show Mao into the party . A party treasurer, he also helped build up the East Coast GRC team. As such, given his past contributions, he was disappointed over the party’s decision to pass him over for the NCMP role and hence, his resignation.
For those who have been following the Worker’s Party, they would have been familiar with the party’s stand on the NCMP scheme. The party is against the NCMP scheme. Because of this, Mr Low Thia Khiang, secretary-general of the party, has said earlier that he will not take up the NCMP post if he had lost in Aljunied GRC. It turned out that he won the five member ward of Aljunied.
Miss Sylvia Lim, another winning member of the Aljunied team from Worker’s Party has voiced her disapproval over the NCMP scheme in parliament before, ironically in her capacity as NCMP. Lim’s arguments against the NCMP scheme was she had limited voting rights. She cited an example in which she could not vote against a 2007 Amendment Bill that allowed the Prime Minister to nominate two members into a committee of the Legal Service Commission in which one of its roles was to decide the promotion of district judges. She felt such a bill compromises the judiciary’s independence.
Back then, Lim also highlighted a possible scenario in which all fully elected members of the parliament were from the PAP, with the opposition playing the limited role of NCMPs. She suggested that the best way will be to go back to single ward contests as opposed to the multiple seat GRC contest.
“If you just imagine at the coming election, we have a situation where Parliament consists entirely of PAP MPs and the opposition is only playing an NCMP role. I think most people would find that to be a regressive step. We are not asking for any indulgence or slack; what we want is an even playing field.”
Miss Sylvia Lim, courtesy of Channel News Asia
However, Lim was also quick to acknowledge the benefits of an NCMP role. It raised her profile, resulted in greater visibility in the public’s eye and ultimately did her credibility a world of good. She also acknowledged a good NCMP stint could translate into votes. Such a logic was not lost among observers and most would agree with her.
However, the Worker’s Party taking up of the two NCMP seats on offer represents a cognitive dissonance of some sort. Its stand against the NCMP scheme conflicts with possibly the collective belief within the party that party members who take up NCMP posts will gain political mileage and capital via their limited roles as parliamentarians.
It is more understandable if the party decided in the circumstances following General Elections 2006 to accept the NCMP slot. It has after all, one seat in parliament then, in the form of Low who won his seat in Hougang. Thus, there was a need to opt in favour of the party progress by having another member in parliament, however limited the role may be. Perhaps, such a cognitive dissonance can be overlooked the first time round in favour of progress.
Fast forward to 2011, the party has now six fully elected MPs. Accepting two more NCMP seats will make a total of eight candidates in parliament. Now, it seems obvious that the cognitive dissonance is overlooked in favour of political progress. Notwithstanding the party’s views on the NCMP scheme, it appears that political progress is the number one priority.
Sylvia benefited from her stint as NCMP and was fully elected MP the second time round in 2011. The result in East Coast GRC for the 2011 elections was better than what Sylvia’s team in Aljunied could muster in 2006. Such a fact was not lost on the party, and there is no doubt that it has set its sights on East Coast again for the next elections.
The cognitive dissonance arising from the conflict between the party’s antagonistic stand towards the NCMP scheme and its choice to take up NCMP’s seats in favour of political progress is all too clear. The irony is that the party is now relying on the platform that it has always been against for its progress. It will be interesting to see how the party responds to a bill to do away with the NCMP scheme, if there ever was such.
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Photo courtesy of the Workers’ Party.
Some body took your wallet and offered to give half of your money back. You did not agree; he went away and left half of the money on the table. You should have a problem pick up the money?
Eric Tan handled his rejection for NCMP by his WP elders badly. By citing betrayal and indulging in self-pity invites suspicion to his motives. Such action is poor decorum and detrimental to the greater interest of the party.
On the other hand, the WP party elders should recognize that selecting a NCMP is not a beauty pageant or popularity contest. Nor is it a choice of the most glib speaker to be NCMP. The ability to whip up a crowd’s emotions with poetic eloquence belongs to the political rally and campaign phase of the elections. We are past that and entering now into engagement with the PAP in parliament, where glib rhetoric and superficial eloquence count for little. Frivolity or faked tears will not gain you any ground either.
The common adversary is the cunning PAP MPs – all 81 of them – who have the habit of dressing up their spurious arguments and pet projects with statistics & financial data to overwhelm the Opposition (and the public) ostensibly with their inexorable ‘logic’. This has been the PAP’s ploy for decades. Churn up enough numbers/data and the Opposition’s position will crumble. Recall how MBT spat out tons of data to prove that HDB flats are affordable.
Recall too how SDP’s Tan Jee Say, did it. He trotted out a 46 page Economic Regeneration Plan for Singapore, that was endorsed by Lord Butler, a Cabinet adviser to 3 British Prime Ministers. Whether it was right or wrong, it threw the PAP on the defensive, tying down the time of 3 PAP ministers, including the EDB, Ministry of Finance and MTI, all tasked to debunk his data. That is the way to engage the PAP. Fight fire with fire. Words alone, however eloquent without reams of economic data based on financial modelling just does not have the same persuasive power.
Therefore, it is imperative that the Opposition have someone with extensive financial experience & expertise to engage the PAP effectively in their favorite playground of numbers. Otherwise, the engagement can only be superficial, and PAP’s argument will always be more compelling, and carry the day.
The 6 elected MPs of Aljunied and Hougang are either lawyers, social workers or business managers. The lack of deep & extensive financial/economic expertise is woefully obvious.
It is true that Chen Siow Mao has a Harvard first degree in Economics. He went on to acquire a Masters and Doctorate in Law, and worked for over 25 years as a lawyer. While he was involved in many acquisitions, his participation was always in the legal complexities of such transactions, rather than the financial, economic aspects of the deal.
With over 20 years of commercial & investment banking experience, Eric Tan’s presence would supplement the legal, sociological and business skill-sets of the other WP MPs. I have nothing against Gerald, a capable software engineer and entrepreneur. I would be the first to admit that Gerald is more telegenic by far, have better PR and sex appeal (dubbed ‘auntie killer’ by the press). Yes, he is younger, and we should groom the next generation.
Dropping Eric for Gerald, however, creates a potentially vulnerable opening in the WP team’s armor that the PAP can exploit.
But Eric is history now – the result of LKT’s failure to appreciate the paramount need for robust financial skills in taking on the PAP. LTK may be a brilliant strategist, but a mediocre tactician at best 勇而无謀 . Perhaps, inviting Tan Jee Say to defect to WP may be food for thought
@MrHarryLi
I reject your argument that Mr Eric Tan would be a better choice for NCMP as his quantitative skills would ’round up’ the WP party in parliament.
Your argument assumes that the skill sets of a party are limited to the members seated within the parliament in session, hence Eric > Gerald because Eric has finance.business/commercial experience, would be good with statistics, and would round up the WP team quantitatively.
However, the quantitative work for parliamentary debates is usually done by a backend team, for instance the respective ministries or through other hands within the party. If Eric Tan stayed on, he could still have buttressed the WP team with his quantitative skills prior to sessions, assuming that he’s really good. Further, the PAP Ministers do not do their number crunching all by themselves either.
Hence, you may wish to reconsider the base structure of your argument.
I wouldn’t agree either that taking NCMP seats is purely in favor of political progress. It’s just sound politics to play the ‘rules’ to collective advantage. The NCMP platform enables Singaporeans to assess an NCMP’s contribution and s/he to gain parliamentary experience. It is a market test and ultimately helps in the interests of Singapore.
Personally, Gerald Giam, who’s younger but no less promising, seems the better candidate for our first world parliament.
I suggest all candidates or assoiciates with WP should work together as a Team. Have a trained PR to speak to the Media, do not tarnish the group nor reveal the resign of Eric, instead smoke screen play like what the ruling party have done. Everyone will be observing. It reflect the whole Organisation “WP” not Eric himself. How would you address the next candiditaes to join your team? How would to deal with them with even fairness …. [maybe from others perspective..... ] ? …. the list goes on. ……… Now is the right time to PULL IN more resources …. and plan for next GE. Who, where and how …… ? just my 2 cents worth.