by Andrew Loh
Posted by theonlinecitizen on March 13,
2011
“Succession planning has been in progress,” says Mr Low Thia
Khiang, Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party (WP). He was
replying to a question from The Online Citizen (TOC) about whether
he is looking for someone to succeed him as leader of the WP.
“It is important for a political party,” Mr Low says, referring
to the issue of leadership renewal. “And this is another important
issue and [an] important consideration for voters to look at.”
Mr Low was speaking to the media after the party’s walkabout at
New Upper Changi Road in East Coast Group Representation
Constituency (GRC) on Sunday morning. Led by Mr Low, the group of
some 30 members and volunteers visited the hawker centre and
several coffeeshops in the area, introducing themselves to
residents there and handing out fliers.
Among those at Sunday’s walkabout were several potential WP
candidates who are expected to contest East Coast GRC. They include
Mr Eric Tan, 55, who led the WP team there in the last General
Election (GE); Mr Gerald Giam, 34; Ms Angela Oon, 32; Mr Png Eng
Huat, 49; and Mr Fazli Talip, 29. The Online Citizen understands
that Ms Glenda Han and Mr Brandon Siow, who was a candidate with
the East Coast team in 2006, are also involved with the East Coast
team.
WP garnered 36.1 per cent of the votes in the GRC in 2006.
On the issue of leadership renewal, Mr Low stressed that it is
not just important for the WP, but for the opposition as a
whole.
“Mr Chiam is already well in his 70s. I am already [in my] 50s,”
Mr Low, 55, says. “By the next elections, I’ll be in [my] 60s. So,
it is important that voters also look at succession, look at how
opposition can renew. So you have a younger slate of players in the
opposition who can give them an alternative choice and who can lead
the opposition movement in the future. Especially for the younger
generation of voters, I think they should be concerned about
this.”
Leadership renewal is also one of the reasons why the WP has
declared winning a GRC as one of its goals.
“[The] opposition can capture single seats like Potong Pasir and
Hougang, but to make progress, it’s not that easy,” Mr Low
explains. “The question always [comes] back: What if something
happen to Mr Chiam or something happens to me? Will we be able to
retain Hougang? There’s always this question. If you’re in a GRC,
you can ensure a smoother renewal and continuity. This is why we
find that it is important and strategic for the opposition to
capture a GRC, if the opposition is to play a role in the
future.”
Mr Low added, “[The] GRC has been the trump card of the PAP
and also a mechanism of gerrymandering. We have to break through
that.”
After the last General Election, where the party received huge
support, especially at its nightly rallies, the WP saw an influx of
new members joining the party. Its first post-election Central
Executive Council (CEC) saw eight new members elected. Its Youth
Wing was also given a boost by many new recruits. Is this internal
party renewal process still on course?
“Oh, we have done very well, in terms of renewal,” Mr Low says.
“You can see that the Old Guards have all retired. They’re now
playing supporting roles at the back. And you look at our CEC –
much younger people. What we’re trying to do now is trying to
inject certain depth into the party. You will see that Workers’
Party is not led by just Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim. There’ll
be other younger leaders. We want to promote a leadership team. In
the next elections, you will see that the party, besides a younger
team of leaders, probably will have newer members who can play
leadership roles with maturity and experience. So, we will have
certain depth [in] in the Workers’ Party, moving forward.”
In its 2006 General Election manifesto, the WP declared that it
wants to be an “alternative government” in time to come. When asked
if this is a goal the party intends to fulfill, Mr Low said, “We
are not seeking to form the next government or an alternative
government at this point of time. But of course, for any political
party, their long-term objective is to [be] an alternative
government but we’re being realistic. We want to build gradually,
to build up the party.”
When asked if he has ambitions to be Prime Minister one day, Mr
Low was unequivocal. “I have no ambition to be the Prime Minister,”
he says. “Lets make it clear here. I have to be honest with
voters.”
In the meantime, he says the party’s role is “to provide a check
and balance, and to improve the functionality of the political
system here.”
Rebutting Prime Minister’s Lee Hsien Loong’s claims that a
“two-party system will not work in Singapore, which is much better
off with ‘one dominant, clean and good party,” Mr Low said:
“Singapore needs a strong government and also a strong
opposition, to check on the government and [bring] the government
to account. How does it square that you need a strong government
and you do not need an opposition? What system is this? Is he
proposing a communist system?”
As far as the upcoming General Election is concerned, Mr Low
reiterated several times that he “does not want to speculate” on
how well he expects his party to do, nor about his own performance
in Hougang. When queried about WP’s potential candidates in East
Coast GRC, Mr Low said, “You want to know who stands where, that
will be Nomination Day.”
He would only reveal that the WP “always looks for balanced
configuration, to provide a credible team, a credible choice to the
people” in each of the constituencies it will be contesting. “This
will have a balance between mature candidates and younger
candidates,” he adds.
When pressed to elaborate further and to provide some clues on
its slate of candidates for the elections, Mr Low said, “First of
all, the Workers’ Party will select its best candidates to be
fielded in the election. And we select our candidates in a cautious
[way]. We are not fielding [just] anyone who come forward and want
to be a candidate. As to the quality of the candidates, I feel this
should be judged by voters.”
Mr Low did, however, reveal that “there will be some
professionals, lawyers, researchers,” in the party’s line-up.
However, he emphasised that these may not be fielded in the
elections as nothing has been firmed up yet.
The party will also be presenting its election manifesto in due
time, Mr Low confirms. “We have been reviewing it,” he says. “We
have had a second review. We did a preliminary review one or two
years ago and now we’re doing a final review.”
The People’s Action Party is expected to field a new, younger
candidate in Mr Low’s Single-member ward. Unionist Mr Desmond Choo,
34, is slated to challenge Mr Low in the next elections, stepping
into the shoes of Mr Eric Low who lost to Mr Low in the last two
contests.
What does the MP for Hougang think of his potential new
challenger and how well does he hope to do this time round?
“I have not met him,” Mr Low says. “I do not want to speculate
[on] the outcome of the election.”
With the birth of new political parties and the changes to the
electoral system which, among other things, will see the presence
of more Non-constituency MPs in the House, Mr Low says the party is
not distracted and is focused on its goals.
“Our direction is very clear: we want to provide a choice to the
people,” he says. “We want to build and show people that we are a
rational, responsible and respectable party. That has been the
direction of the party. It has not changed.”
The WP is in a tussle with the National Solidarity Party (NSP)
over the right to contest the newly-created Moulmein-Kallang GRC
against the People’s Action Party. When asked about this, Mr Low
would only say that “there have been communications” between the WP
and the NSP and he does not want to comment about it through the
media.
As for sentiments on the ground in East Coast GRC, Mr Low says:
“My gut feel is that they [residents] welcome contests. They want
to exercise their right to vote. So fundamentally, they welcome the
Workers’ Party here. They are prepared to support [us] because they
know – if you want a choice, you got to support Workers’ Party.
Then we will come back and provide you a choice. Because without
support, we probably won’t be able to come back again, right? I
think they know that. I appreciate that.”
Mr Low’s first foray into electoral politics was to contest the
three-member Tiong Bahru GRC in 1988, the year the GRC system was
introduced in Singapore. In that election, his team scored 42.2 per
cent of the votes against the PAP’s outfit.
Will Mr Low lead a GRC team again?
“I have declared to the press long ago,” Mr Low says, “that the
option is always open to me.”