Translated by Donaldson Tan
This is a non-verbatim translation of Zaobao report 《一名政党领袖：工人党掉入 ‘非选区议员圈套’》 dated 9 March 2011.
NCMP Sylvia Lim was the best performing Opposition Candidate to loose GE 2006
反对党为争地盘连日来僵持不下，一些较小的政党甚至炮轰被视为第一大反对党的工人党自以为是，还扬言它对一些选区再不让步，就只好和它一起跟人民行动党打三角战。
工人党打算在来临的大选中派出24名候选人角逐九个选区，包括后港、如切、盛港西、榜鹅东和黄埔等五个单议席选区，以及义顺、阿裕尼、东海岸及摩绵—加冷四个集选区。
其中一些选区也同时被好几个政党“盯上”。例如黄埔区除了工人党之外，国民团结党、新加坡民主党和社会主义阵线也有意派出候选人角逐，如果各政党都不肯妥协，将可能爆发五角战。
反对党阵营以往开一场跨党协商会议，就能对各自所角逐的选区达成协议，不过这次各反对党上星期开了两场“武林大会”，仍无法对如何在一些选区避免三角战达成共识。据知各党目前正在安排双边密谈。
一些政党领袖私下和公开受访时，似乎都把矛头指向工人党，指两次会谈之所以失败，是因工人党态度强硬，不愿妥协。
由于宪法规定国会在不足九名反对党候选人当选为议员的情况下，能邀请得票率最高的落选反对党候选人以非选区议员身份填满九席，据一名不愿受引述的反对党领袖分析工人党这次态度强硬，显然是掉入了执政党所设下的“非选区议员圈套”。
“每支反对党集选区团队可有两人成为非选区议员。工人党可能是为了提高它的集选区团队候选人进入国会的机会，而派出候选人到单选区‘搞破坏’，跟其他反对党的候选人打三角战，以拉低他们的得票率。”
工人党目前在国会里有一名当选议员和一名非选区议员。他是假设工人党派出的三支集选区团队的得票率，都比其他的落选反对党候选人高，那工人党就能把至少六名党员送入国会，使它在国会的阵容得以大为扩充。
不过，一名网上政治评论员受访时，却对这样的分析不以为然。
“这名政党领袖只不过是妒忌工人党而已。”
“我最近听一名工人党领袖说工人党这次不会让步，因为有实力的政党不应惧怕挑战。只有这样，新加坡的政治才能成熟。”
本报昨天无法联络上工人党领导人对这名政党领袖的说法作出回应。
国民团结党秘书长吴明盛昨天在其博客上暗示工人党是因团结党壮大而感受到威胁，所以才不愿让步。
他写道：“我彻底失望，但在某种程度上，我也能够明白工人党为何那么具侵略性。对两个快速成长的政党来说，出现这样的战争是迟早的事。”
这名前工人党候选人在博客中多次提到工人党将跟团结党展开三角战。
他还抨击一些工人党党员目中无人、夜郎自大，还不指名说：“傲慢和大头症是新加坡政治的劣根性。”
团结党和工人党都想派候选人到义顺集选区、摩绵—加冷集选区和黄埔区竞选。据知，团结党已表明愿把义顺集选区让给工人党，条件是工人党把摩绵—加冷集选区让给它，两党还在讨价还价。如果最终还是谈不拢，这三个选区还是有可能爆发三角战。
新加坡民主联盟也对工人党颇为不满。民联和工人党都想在榜鹅东和盛港西区角逐议席，民联虽准备让出盛港西以换取榜鹅东，但据民联秘书长林睦荃表示工人党似乎不打算让步。
他原已表示有意到从白沙—榜鹅集选区划出来的榜鹅东区竞选，而他过去也曾在白沙—榜鹅集选区竞选，按照所谓的“江湖规矩”，他相信本身应该有到榜鹅东区竞选的“优先权”。
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Workers’ Party fallen into NCMP Trap
The Opposition is still locked in a stalemate over territorial claims on electoral wards. Some smaller political parties have cried out that they will contest the Worker’s Party (WP) if the WP refuses to buldge.
The WP had intended to send 24 candidates to contest 9 constituencies which include Hougang SMC, Joo Chiat SMC, Sengkang West SMC, Punggol-East SMC, Whampoa SMC, Nee Soon GRC, Aljunied GRC, East Coast GRC and Moulmein-Kallang GRC.
Some of these constituencies are also targetted by other opposition political parties. For example, the WP, National Solidarity Party (NSP), the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and the Socialist Front (SF) are all eying Whampoa SMC.
Traditionally, the Opposition camp would participate in a multi-party roundtable to negotiate their claims over allocation of electoral wards prior to every General Election. However, despite having gone through 2 roundtable sessions dated 3rd and 5th March 2011 respectively, the Opposition parties are still unable to negotiate a settlement that would avoid three-cornered fights. Zaobao understands the inter-party negotiations are still going on.
Some party leaders blamed the WP for causing the failure of both Roundtable sessions. According to them, the WP was unyielding and refused to compromise. One party leader, on the condition of anonymity, told Zaobao that the Worker’s Party had fallen into the ‘NCMP trap’. He explained that the Singapore Constitution provides for up to a maximum of 9 NCMPs who will be chosen from the list of best-performing Opposition candidates who lost the General Election. He added:
Currently, the WP is represented in Parliament by 1 MP and 1 NCMP. Assuming that WP has higher probability than other Opposition political parties to win more votes, this strategy would result in WP sending at least 6 party members into Parliament, thus expanding its parliamentary presence.
However, an online commentator disagreed with the anonymous party leader’s view:
Zaobao was unable to obtain comments from the Worker’s Party leadership on the remarks made by the anonymous party leader. NSP Secretary General Mr Goh Meng Seng hinted on his blog that the reason why WP refused to buldge is because the WP felt threatened by NSP’s expansion. He wrote:
Mr Goh is a former WP member. He had mentioned many times on his blog the impending three-cornered fight involving the NSP and the WP. He also added that some WP members are arrogant and overconfident. “Arrogance and head-swell syndrome are bad traits for Singapore politics,” he emphasised in his blog.
Both WP and NSP intend to send GE candidates to Nee Soon GRC, Moulmein-Kallang GRC and Whampoa SMC. Zaobao understands that NSP already expressed its intention to back off from Nee Soon GRC on the condition that WP backs off from Moulmein-Kallang GRC. Both parties are still negotiating and should negotiation fails, it is very likely to see three-cornered fights at all 3 constituencies.
The Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) is also unsatisfied with the WP. Both WP and SDA are eying Punggol-East and Sengkang-West SMCs. The SDA is prepared to back off from Sengkang-West SMC should the WP backed off from Punggol-East SMC. However, SDA Secretary-General Mr Desmond Lim said that the WP doesn’t intend to cooperate.
Mr Lim earlier had expressed his intention to change from contesting at Pasir-Ris-Punggol GRC to contesting at Punggol-East SMC. According to established norms among the Opposition, Mr Lim stressed that being a candidate for Pasir-Ris-Punggol GRC during the last General Election gives him the priority to contest at Punggol-East SMC.
