Daniel Liu and the 10 million population handicap

’tis the season for kite flying. And the People’s Action Party has just flown one or two.

It has announced that there will be new party chairmen in three Aljunied.GRC wards. And one of the new chairmen is Daniel Liu, son of former HDB chief and well-known master planner Liu Thai Ker.

At the same time, the mainstream media have also reported that Daniel Liu has also been seen making the rounds in Nee Soon GRC. This led the GRC anchor minister, Law Minister K Shanmugam, to say Liu was just one of many people making the rounds in the wards.

Shanmugam: “Whether anyone will be a candidate will be decided later, but they are all on the ground in different places. Where they will stand if they are chosen will also be decided later. Just because you see Daniel Liu in Yishun doesn’t mean Daniel will be standing in Yishun.”

I have two questions. Is all this a case of political kite flying? Getting the children of ministers, former politicians or civil servants to be part of the PAP is certainly not new.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee is the son of Lee Yock Suan who was Minister in the PMO and who also held portfolios including Labour and National Development. And Grace Fu is the daughter of James Fu, Lee Kuan Yew’s press secretary.

Daniel Liu ought to be a slam dunk as a PAP talent and candidate. Indeed, his father had played a massive part in the growth of the HDB, which is generally considered one facet of the Singapore success story.

His father is also known for saying Singapore can sustain a population of 10 million in the long term as a developmental parameter. For the record, the island’s population was 6.04 million in June 2024.

Not many people share this 10m vision. It is a controversial one. The issue famously cropped up in a live televised debate in GE2020. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan categorically shot down an accusation that the government had a 10 million target: “We will never have 10 million. We don’t even have 6.9 million. The government doesn’t have a target for population.”

To cut to the chase, 10 million IS controversial and a political bomb. Given a worldwide pushback against immigration, Daniel Liu may start off his political career with an unnecessary handicap.

Tan Bah Bah is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a magazine publishing company