http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=insightdownsouth&file=/2009/4/18/columnists/insightdownsouth/3712643&sec=Insight%20Down%20South
JB’s son steps up to do
battle
Insight: Down South
By SEAH CHIANG NEE
More young professionals with good credentials are
trickling towards the opposition camp, auguring well for the growth
of democracy in Singapore.
SINGAPOREANS have long had an insipid sense of political apathy
aggravated by many years of top-down government, but a small breeze
may be blowing.
Even among activists, few are ready to take the plunge of
challenging the government in elections like in most other
countries.
Even the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has to offer rich
incentives to attract them.
But in these times of crisis,
when the political life-span of the 85-year-old Lee Kuan Yew nears
its sunset years, the ground may be starting to
shift. With talk of a snap election by the
year-end, more Singaporeans with good credentials are trickling
towards the fledgling opposition camp.
Their entry into politics augurs well for the growth of democracy
in Singapore.
The latest is a big catch for the opposition. He is the 50-year-old
son of the late opposition icon JB Jeyaretnam, Lee’s erstwhile foe
for decades.
Kenneth has announced he has joined the new Reform Party, has been
co-opted into its leadership and seeks to stand in the next
election.
The Reform Party was set up by Jeyaretnam before he died of heart
failure, aged 82, seven months ago.
Kenneth said the decision was to honour his father’s long struggle
for a freer society, and he would inject his own economic ideas for
Singapore’s future. He will not be the only opposition recruit.
When an election date becomes clearer, more candidates may rise to
the surface.
Lee had predicted such a trend
many years ago.
He believes that after he leaves, a new breed of bright,
well-educated youths – who hitherto shun politics – will emerge to
challenge the PAP.
These would be graduates from top
foreign and local universities who would join opposition parties to
contest in elections.
Secondly, Lee has also expressed confidence that the PAP will
remain in power but only for two more elections (10 years); after
that, anything goes.
Thirdly, Lee doesn’t rule out a future PAP leadership splitting
into two factions after he has left, perhaps along ideological
lines.
Well, the Minister Mentor is still around, relatively healthy (he’s
now visiting Vietnam) and revealing no sign of wanting to go.
However, his prophesy of an
infusion of youthful talent in the opposition may be coming true,
even while he is still in office.
Kenneth’s arrival on the scene is a case in point. He seems to have
some political acumen despite his lack of experience.
“Like the Prime Minister, I also have a double first (in Economics)
from Cambridge,” he said. PM Lee Hsien Loong’s is in
Mathematics.
Academic qualifications rank very high among the Singaporean
voter’s preferences in a candidate.
When Hsien Loong entered politics, his Double First was a strong
appeal among heartlanders, a card Kenneth is now using to good
effect.
Jeyaretnam’s son is married and has a 12-year-old boy. He worked in
London’s financial sector for several years before returning with
his family to Singapore last April.
It has immediately raised a “Son versus Son” buzz among old-timers
who still remember the old verbal battles between their respective
fathers, Jeyaretnam and Lee.
Most people, however, dismiss it as unlikely. Both men are very
different from their fathers, possessing none of dad’s
confrontational stances or propensity for heated debate.
Even if Kenneth gets elected – a big if – the two men may face each
other in Parliament in a more sombre, logical manner. At any rate,
modern House rules will probably forbid any heated arguments. Both
Lee and Jeyaretnam were lawyers and master debaters, while their
sons are less aggressive by nature.
In these days, when Singapore needs a new strategy for its future
survival, Kenneth’s discipline as a trained economist (something
Jeyaretnam lacked) may be more important.
He is an important catalyst for
the recruitment of professionals by his party and the opposition in
general.
It comes at a time when the government is facing its strongest
public pressure in many years because of a number of unpopular
policies and the severe economic downturn.
Another potential candidate is Tan Kin Lian, former PAP elite and
ex-CEO of NTUC Income (insurance giant of the National Trades Union
Congress).
Tan became a folk-hero of sorts when he organised weekly rallies to
help Singaporeans recover their losses from being “misled” into
investing in the defunct Lehmans structured notes sold by the local
DBS Bank.
An active blogger, he has not shown his hand yet, but says he may
possibly contest as a candidate for an established opposition
party.
Meanwhile, the main opposition parties have reported an increase in
their recruitment of younger potential candidates.
The long surviving SPP leader, Chiam See Tong, who has recovered
from a stroke, hopes to battle in a bigger pond, fighting in a
group constituency, and to let his wife defend his strong turf at
Potong Pasir.
“I already have a team. We have one doctor, one accountant, two
lawyers,” he told a reporter.
The opposition Workers Party was recently hit by resignations of
four cadre members, including two past candidates.
Officials, however, say the loss is more than made up for by new
recruits. “The process of renewal is on track,” said its leader and
MP Low Thia Khiang.
Its team is getting younger, with nine of 15 CEC members below the
age of 40. For the PAP, however, the worry is voter reaction,
rather than the opposition moves. That will decide its
fortunes.
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