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Workers Party
Storm in a teacup
Its newcomers can't escape this lesson: Politics is about staying
the course for years, however tough.
By Seah Chiang Nee, littlespeck.com
Nov 19, 2006
IN the past 40 years, Singapore has produced a good number of
bankers, engineers and scholars, etc, but fewer career politicians
than other developed nations.
With few exceptions, representatives of the Peoples Action Party
(PAP) are co-opted from outside the party rather than the best
being allowed to come from the ranks.
The politician in most of them somehow never quite emerged from
their years of Parliament experience; most remain technocrats and
problem solvers.
The fledgling opposition parties are no different. Only a few
leaders are battle-hardened, the rest being newcomers who move
straight from the professions or business to stand in
elections.
As a result, the majority of Singapores politicians lack campaign
or debating skills or political acumen.
Thats the way politics was designed here. Lee Kuan Yew had long
steered the country away from debate politics either in or out of
Parliament.
Theres another reason. Few citizens are interested in entering
or even discussing politics, and those who join parties nowadays
are mostly young, inexperienced people with questionable staying
power.
Recently, the lack of experience has told on the largest opposition
party, Workers Party (WP), at a time when its fortunes are looking
up after years of struggle.
It is undergoing a phase that all outfits face when
expanding.
It stems from a natural law, which says that when you are a one-man
party (as it was under J.B. Jeyaratnan), internal cohesion was no
problem; you lose it only when you grow big.
With its recent expansion, the invigorated party (its leader Low
Thia Khiang is a cautious, consensus-seeking person) has gained
more public acceptance but it has come with a price.
The new recruits are better-quality, Internet-savvy youths who are
new to the ways of the real world of politics like their
counterparts in the ruling party.
Barely six months after the election, the party has hit its first
teacup storm. Several new recruits who fared credibly as
first-timers in the May election began questioning their
leaders.
The big issue is party discipline that the free-spirited members
dislike but without which no political party can function.
Specifically, it hinges on two issues. First is a new directive
that forbids members of the Central Executive Committee from taking
part in online forums under their real names.
They could, however, use a moniker or alternately operate a weblog,
so free speech is not an issue as the detractors charge.
The ban, the party explained, is to prevent leaders from expressing
individual views that contradict each other or the partys
objectives that could project the party as a weak, disunited
organisation.
It could also give its rivals an opportunity to hit out at it or
as happened recently get themselves entangled in squabbles with
the public or provocateurs.
Two CEC members, Chia Ti Lik and Goh Meng Seng, both promising
members with some following among young Singaporeans,
resigned.
There is a larger issue at stake. There are rumblings among young
Turks that the leadership is too passive in engaging the PAP.
These are strong-minded individuals who had joined with a passion
to bring social and political changes to Singapore.
Supporters of the ruling party, whose vote fell from 75.1% to
66.6%, are cheered by the oppositions dilemma, but not all PAP
leaders find comfort in it.
The reason? It stems from a strong anti-government mood among a
section of Singaporean youths who are growing impatient for a more
aggressive opposition to bring down the PAP.
Since the election, new political and social issues have arisen
that bother the public, these complainers feel, and yet the party
has not spoken out.
Chia Ti Lik, a 33-year-old litigation lawyer, gave his reason for
resigning in an interview.
I think the party leadership is overly conservative, he said.
The opposition at the moment does not live up to its role. It is
too (...) restrained in its criticism of the Government.
At least one other CEC member admires the more aggressive strategy
of Chee Soon Juan, who staged a public protest to confront the
government during the World Bank-IMF meeting here recently.
Abdul Salim, a WP election candidate, brought some food to Chee
apparently to show sympathy, which the party leaders did not find
amusing.
All this points to a dilemma that is affecting society in general,
especially the opposition.
A new breed of Singaporeans may be emerging that is different from
their more passive peers. These want quick action to change what
they see as an unfair system, and to heck with discipline.
For now, their number is small, but they are very articulate and
active in the Internet and could have a long-term impact on the
young generation.
Observers say the resignations show how difficult it is for the
opposition to impose discipline on its younger recruits.
That it happens now and not after they become MPs is a good thing
for WP. How will they respond to the party whip? one political
scientist asked.
It will remain as long as political experience is low.
Generally, young Singaporeans who are used to the easy life resign
too easily, commented a lawyer, quoting his experience with his
estate management committee.
As soon as the members disagree with something, they threaten to
quit, he added.
This is, of course, not what politics is about.
The tougher politicians like Lee Kuan Yew or in neighbouring
countries stay and fight whatever the obstacles.
(This was published in The Sunday Star on Nov 19, 2006.)
