Temasek Review
NCMP Sylvia Lim has lashed out at the PAP for “stamping out”
opposition representation in Parliament which led to the present
predicament it finds itself in today.
The PAP has lately introduced a series of constitutional
amendments to increase the number of NCMPs in Parliament from six
to nine.
Ms Lim argued that while the changes were implemented to reflect
the aspirations of Singaporeans to have more opposition voices in
Parliament, it is a result of the PAP’s “success” in preventing the
opposition from winning seats in the elections via the GRC
system.
The opposition has never won a GRC since the scheme was
introduced in 1988. The closest it came to was in Eunos GRC in the
same year when the Workers’ Party team garnered 49.7 percent of the
votes.
Ms Lim also noted a speech made by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong
in 2006 in which he admitted that GRCs has helped PAP recruit fresh
candidates as “without some assurance of a good chance of winning
at least their first election, many able and successful young
Singaporeans may not risk their careers to join politics.”
“The root causes of our current problems are the abuse of
the GRC system and gerrymandering. These have curtailed the
expression of the people’s desires at the elections and instead
promoted the ruling party’s own agenda. The PAP has created the
problem which it is now trying to solve. But we should instead
tackle the root causes for a more lasting and sustainable political
future for Singapore,” Ms Lim added.
Though a third of the electorate voted for the opposition during
the 2006 general election, they are represented by only two out of
eighty four seats in Parliament.
While the constitutional amendments may increase the number of
opposition MPs in Parliament, they will not have dent the PAP’s
political hegemony so long it continues to have more than the
two-thirds majority needed to introduce bills and legislation as it
sees fit.
With no strong opposition in Parliament to check on the ruling
party, Singaporeans will have no choice but to put up with the
status quo for many years ahead.