Can We Ever Overthrow The PAP With The Opposition Parties We Have?
It doesn’t take an expert to realize how fragmented our opposition is, with a lot of infighting. Not only are they fragmented, their reputation is often tainted with misdeeds. How can we stand a chance to overthrow the PAP if our opposition stays this way? Especially if the PAP is always going to make a big fuss of such things? Here is a look at some of the opposition parties here.
❶ Reform Party (RP)
RP was founded by opposition veteran and lawyer J.B. Jeyaretnam. His son Kenneth Jeyaretnam took over in 2009. Today, RP is one of the messiest opposition parties around — remember the memes that came out of a televised broadcast for GE2020 when 3 out of 5 of their candidates were missing?
Just yesterday (12 Jan), RP’s Chairman Charles Yeo was allegedly arrested on charges of Criminal Breach of Trust as a fiduciary agent and for forgery. He went live on Facebook to explain the entire situation and ask for donations in order to fund his legal defence against these charges. Even if Singaporeans don’t like PAP for going back on their promises, would we want a party leader who has a record of forgery?
❷ People’s Voice (PV)
PV is founded by Lim Tean after he resigned from the National Solidarity Party in 2017. It was officially registered in 2018.
Just last year, Lim Tean was the subject of a viral Facebook livestream on Sept 21, when five debt collectors showed up at his law firm to demand repayment of an outstanding debt. According to the 19 minutes-long livestream, the debt collectors said that Lim Tean owes their client a sum of $4,950. The PV founder eventually issued a payment cheque, but can Singaporeans accept a leader who owes money?
❸ Progress Singapore Party (PSP)
PSP appeared promising when it was first announced, especially since Tan Cheng Bock was a veteran politician who was once a member of PAP. After he stepped down as PSP’s chief in 2021 however, PSP just went downhill.
Just this year, Leong Mun Wai said he had received feedback from residents that some teachers have already practised vaccine-differentiated safe management (VDS) measures in schools. He mentioned that he saw the feedback in a Telegram chat, but was unable to provide more details when probed by Indranee Rajah.
Subsequently, one netter pointed out that ex-PSP member Brad Bowyer and known anti-vax leader Iris Koh are trying to find people to help Leong Mun Wai in his claims. Brad Bowyer is the same man who referenced the Holocaust and Nazi Germany while criticising Singapore’s vaccination programme and vaccines (following which he resigned from the PSP).
PSP has thus far remained silent with their views on the vaccine. Yet their actions show that they seem to be on the side of the anti-vaxxers. Regardless of whether they are pro or anti-vax, can we stand a party who insensitively relates not being able to dine-in/shop to a genocide? If they were to lead the country, how will this affect our relationship with other nations like Israel who spoke up against Brad Bowyer’s statement?
❹ People’s Power Party (PPP)
PPP is another rather young party founded in 2015. The party Leader has been Goh Meng Seng since its formation. Similar to Brad Bowyer, Goh has been vocal about his thoughts on COVID and the vaccines.
Posts on his Facebook feature anti-vaccine propaganda, such as one which claimed that Covid-19 vaccines are “the most dangerous ever developed in recent memory”. Even Facebook had to step in to remove some of his posts and videos.
❺ Singapore People’s Party (SPP)
SPP was founded in 1994 by Sin Kek Tong, who led a pro-Chiam See Tong faction out of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). Chiam became the party’s first Member of Parliament (MP) when he won the constituency of Potong Pasir at the election, where he also did under the SDP banner. In November 2019, Steve Chia was elected as the new Secretary-General of the Singapore People’s Party.
In 2003, when Steve Chia was an NCMP under Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA)’s banner, his wife discovered photos of him and their helper, both naked, in the recycle bin of his computer. She then made a police report against her husband, alleging that he had molested their Indonesian domestic helper. Their helper told the police that she was not forced into posing for the pictures, while Chia publicly admitted to taking the photos, confessing that he had an interest in nude photography. At that time, Chia resigned from his positions as NSP secretary-general and SDA executive council member to save the NSP and SDA from further embarrassment, but remained a NCMP.
Although the act was consensual, Chia admitted he had an interest in nude photography. Is this sort of interest acceptable for someone who intends to lead the country?
❻ Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)
The SDP was founded in1980 by legendary opposition member Chiam See Tong. He was forced to leave due to disagreements with/being backstabbed by SDP’s “prime troublemaker” Chee Soon Juan. Chee became the party’s secretary general in 1993.
Chee has a history of stirring up the crowd to start protests. For example, in August 2006, Chee announced that he was planning to hold protests in Singapore during 61st Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in September 2006 (as part of Singapore 2006) to protest against the rising income gap and raise awareness of the hardships of working-class people in Singapore. He also distributed leaflets for an upcoming “Empower Singaporeans Rally and March”.
Chee has a more moderate image today, but what will it mean for Singapore if we had a leader who might at any time revert to his old ways of solving problems by starting protests? Will the 2021 Capitol Riots in the USA incited by their very own President Trump be repeated here?
❼ Worker’s Party (WP)
WP has been in the news recently because of Raeesah Khan lying in parliament. Although it was first said that she went against the WP leaders when she reiterated her lie, it is now a snowballing controversy about how apparently Pritam Singh was the one who told her to continue lying. As Singapore’s first official Leader of the Opposition (LO), he was expected to have made better judgement calls. Khan has since resigned, but what really happened between Singh and Khan remains unknown.
This is not the only incident tainting WP’s name. Prior to this, lawyers representing Aljunied Hougang Town Council (AHTC) and Sengkang Town Council (SKTC) faulted the WP leaders for breaching duties owed to the town council and misused S$33.7 million of town council funds. The AHTC reportedly waived the requirement for open tender and awarded a multi-million dollar contract to FM Solutions and Services Pte Ltd (FMSS), a company that was formed just days after the General Election. This case has yet to be concluded, but it was made clear that the funds were not managed properly. If they are unable to even properly manage the funds in a town council, will they be able to manage the funds of an entire country if they took lead?
We need a credible opposition party.
The PAP has its flaws, but at this point, we don’t have a better option. I personally thought WP stood a chance, but I was disappointed by the recent events. Until we are better able to consolidate our opposition parties and have worthy individuals who can lead a whole country, overthrowing the PAP wouldn’t happen any time soon.
