By Fang Zhi Yuan
Veteran
opposition MP Chiam See Tong on Wednesday called for the current
Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system to be
abolished.
If this cannot be done away with, then it should be modified
from the present five to six members to two, comprising an ethnic
and a Chinese members, he said. He also suggested that the the
two-member GRC be limited to 20.
Nowhere in the
world including countries with significant ethnic minorities such
as Malaysia, Indonesia, United Kingdom and France do we find a
similiar electoral system to entrench the incumbents in power under
the guise of ensuring minority representation.
Since the introduction of the GRC system in 1988, the size of
the GRC have ballooned from the initial three to six. During the
last general elections, there were only 9 single constituency
seats. The smallest GRC is in Aljunied with five members.
In spite of
the PAP and the state media’s insistence that GRC is necessary to
ensure that minority voices are heard in Parliament, few
Singaporeans believe that the set up has little to do with curbing
the growth of the opposition in Singapore.
How do we get Rajaratnam, E W Barker, Othman Wok and Jeyaretnam
into Parliament before the GRC system was introduced? These ethnic
minority candidates fought and won in single wards against Chinese
candidates. Jeyeretnam, in particular won two elections in Anson
which is predominantly Chinese.
The electoral boundary review committee which is under the
purview of the Prime Minister’s Office reserves the right to redraw
the electoral boundaries here and there at any time without the
need to provide any explanations for doing so thereby leading to
rampant gerrymandering to serve the political interests of the
PAP.
Enclaves with a high level of opposition support were taken out
and merge with another constituency to dilute the opposition
vote.
We have seen this in Eunos and Cheng San GRC which was nearly
won by the Workers’ Party in 1991 and 1997 respectively.
Eunos GRC is now cut and divided amongst East Coast and Marine
Parade GRCs while Cheng San GRC has been absorbed into Ang Mo Kio
GRC under the Prime Minister.
The PAP has no qualms shifting the goalposts to bolster their
chances of winning in every elections even in GRCs which have been
an impenetrable fortress for them so far.
Though I support Mr Chiam’s call to abolish the GRC system, it
is highly unlikely that the PAP will have the political will and
courage to do away with a system which has served them so well over
the past two decades.
In addition to reducing the size and number of GRCs and increase
the number of single constituency wards, may I suggest that we
include a clause for all first time PAP MPs such as Indranee Rajah
and Lee Bee Wah to fight one on one in single member constituencies
(SMCs) instead of hitching a free ride into Parliament on the
coat-tails of ministers.
Mr Chiam also called for a freer media ‘where more news of the
opposition is allowed’, including the activities of the two
incumbent opposition MPs.
With the PAP firmly in control of SPH and enjoying a virtual
monopoly over the media industry in Singapore, it is almost
impossible to expect the media to liberalize itself to go against
its political master.
Singaporeans have no more time to lose. We are lagging far away
behind our neighbors Malaysia where a new media revolution is
gradually changing their political landscape.
The 2008 political tsunami which hit the shores of Malaysia
leading to the loss of the customary two-thirds majority enjoyed by
the Barisan Nasional (the Malaysian version of PAP) in Parliament
is not a freak result.
It began 10 years ago from the reformasi movement to free Anwar
Ibrahim who was detained for 6 years under the Internal Security
Act by Mahathir and the setting up of an independent online media -
Malaysiakini to provide Malaysians a real alternative to the state
controlled media.
Malaysiakini has an online readership larger than all the
mainstream papers today. There is a proliferation of
socio-political news blog of late with new players such as The
Malaysian Insider, The Nut Graph and the Chinese Merdeka Review
adding to the chorus of independent voices to counter the state
propaganda.
Barisan Nasional, despite dominating the civil service, police
and print media, is expected to lose the next general elections due
to be held in 2012 if current trends persist. This is unimaginable
almost a decade ago.
As a keen observer of the political developments across the
causeway, I notice a similiar awakening of political consciousness
amongst Singaporeans though the pace is still pretty slow at the
moment.
Singaporeans are more willing to express differing views
contrary to the establishment openly compared to 10 years ago and
to mobilize fellow citizens for a cause.
The recent Aware saga and the ongoing petition drive to ask Lee
Bee Wah to relinquish her position as STTA President are ample
proof that Singaporeans are becoming more politically active,
mature, and assertive. We are no longer contented with a nanny
state telling us what to do. We want to have our voices heard by
the government and we want to have a say in how the country is
run.
There is also rising interest in socio-political blogs which are
usually less popular compared to celebrity and entertainment
blogs.
In the last six months, the two leading socio-political blogs of
Singapore have seen a 100% leap in readership. A Straits Times
article by Jeremy Au Yong last year reported The Online Citizen as
having an alexa.com ranking of 1745 in October 2008. Wayang Party’s
ranking is only 5,945 in the same period.
Today, both blogs are not ranked in the top 600 of the most
visited sites in Singapore. Established blogs like Yawning Bread
and newcomers like The Kent Ridge Common have also seen an increase
in their readership.
We must seize the moment now to set up an independent
online news daily run by professional journalists in the mould of
Malaysiakini to give the mainstream media a run for its money.
I call on
opposition politicians, journalists, activists and all Singaporeans
interested to lead Singapore to the next stage of political
development to pool their funds and resources together to register
a company to run this “Singaporekini”.
I believe such a news blog run by full time profesional
journalists will be a hit in Singapore and it will take no longer
than 6 months for it to establish itself as a credible alternative
to the mainstream media.
The next
generation of voters will be spending more time on the alternative
news media than the print media which is fast losing its appeal for
its lacklustre, biased and toothless reporting.
Once we break
through the PAP’s monopoly on the control and dissemination of
news, it will take no more than two elections for Singaporeans
to regain their rights as proud citizens of their land by booting
the despotic PAP out of power forever.
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