The People’s Action Party, better known as PAP, which has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965, is slated to face its first electoral test of the decade as the island-state heads for general elections early next month. President S R Nathan today announced the dissolution of Parliament, just days after PAP revealed its election manifesto, and the government in an emailed statement said the country would go to the polls on May 7.
Having delivered record growth last year, when the economy expanded 14.5 per cent, PAP is seeking a mandate to govern the country for another five years, after having won the previous election in 2006 with 67 per cent of the votes. In the outgoing Parliament, it holds 82 of the 84 elected positions.
Rising cost of living, growing numbers of foreign workers and immigration policies, as well as escalating property prices, have been major issues in the pre-electoral debates and discussions that have dominated local media in recent weeks.
Inflation, a growing threat in large parts of the region, has emerged as a cause for concern, as have realty prices in a country where 87 per cent own houses, even as the government has put in place measures to combat both. The flow of foreign workers is also likely to be stemmed in coming years.
Leadership renewal
Although faced with a fragmented opposition, the PAP -- headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, son of modern Singapore’s founding leader and present ‘Minister Mentor’, Lee Kuan Yew -- is amidst a renewal process and will field 24 new candidates at the coming hustings. These include former managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s central bank, Heng Swee Keat, and Chan Chun Sing, a former chief of the Singapore army.
“This renewal is critical and urgent, not just to keep the PAP young but to keep Singapore vibrant and successful. The candidates coming in this general election, I hope, reinforced by a few more coming in the next election, will have to form the future leadership team for Singapore,” the Prime Minister said last Sunday.
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Despite the fact that Singaporean politicians are amongst the best paid in the world, the city-state has often had trouble attracting suitable candidates into politics, a fact that Lee Kuan Yew acknowledged in a recent book of interviews.
The PAP has an exceptionally rigorous scheme for the selection of candidates, involving six-hour psychological tests and questions on personal matters, including faith and marriage, apart from the initial ‘invitation to tea’, which represents the beginning of the interview process.
Fragmented opposition
Though the voice of the handful of opposition parties in Singapore may have grown louder with the internet emerging as campaign platform, the sheer organisational capability and size of the PAP is expected to smother them.
The seeming lack of coordination among them may hinder the creation of a single entity to assiduously challenge the ruling party. Paucity of talent willing to enter politics in Singapore also makes the task of the Opposition that much harder.
In fact, the manifesto of the Workers’ Party of Singapore (WP) tacitly declares the political status quo may well persist.
“We also believe it is in the national interest to ensure that Singaporeans are not held ransom, by having another political party capable to taking over, should the ruling People’s Action Party falter or lose its mandate to govern. WP’s long-term aim is to form the government,” reads the introduction of the party’s manifesto.
But in the short term, it looks unlikely the PAP will falter.