“I’m more aggressive” – Low Thia Khiang talks about how newer WP MPs don’t go on attack mode like him

Veteran politician Low Thia Khiang said that he is probably more aggressive than the Worker’s Party’s (WP) current crop of leaders, in an interview he gave a day after it was announced that he is stepping down from electoral politics.

Mr Low, who has seen six consecutive victories at the polls since he was elected as Member of Parliament in 1991, will not be among the WP’s slate of candidates for the upcoming election which will take place on 10 July.

Speaking to the local press on 25 June, Mr Low said that he is stepping back with no regrets and that he feels his work is done. Mr Low undertook the task of securing a GRC for the WP – which he achieved in the 2011 general election – and initiate leadership renewal.

Over the past several years, Mr Low has been working to build up a younger generation of credible leaders within the party. In 2018, after nearly 17 years at the helm of the WP, Mr Low stepped down as secretary-general and handed the baton over to Pritam Singh.

Asserting that the party has evolved from the time he took its reins to how the present crop of leaders now run the party, Mr Low said that he is probably more aggressive than the current leaders and that this may be a good thing.

The 63-year-old told the press: “Probably they are a different generation in terms of political debates. I would think that I’m more aggressive, but the younger generation like Pritam and Leon, maybe they want a different approach, which I think is not a bad thing.

“If I compare myself with my predecessor Jeyaretnam, I think I am probably mild right? So probably this political progress, where you become less aggressive and you can sit down and talk about things rather than just political brickbats, is a good thing.”

When asked to rate Mr Pritam’s leadership thus far, Mr Low said: “So far I think Pritam has been good, in that from my observation, (he has) done well in exchanges with the ministers.”

Mr Low added that that the party’s other MPs share this quality as “they respond appropriately and they make a point although they don’t go for some attack here and there like me”.

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