And so Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has started his walkabout, à la LKY, GCT and LHL. He has an opportunity to be different and help usher in a new phase of Singapore’s political development.
Be visibly the PM for ALL Singaporeans, whatever their politics.
Lee Kuan Yew did his visits out of sheer necessity, as he fought a life-and-death battle for survival and control with his Barisan Sosialis and communal opponents. Many of the receptions were downright hostile, whether in some parts of the city or Geylang and the outlying islands. No nice multi-purpose CCs then in the 1960s and 1970s. Just unfriendly Oompah Merdeka crowds in Jalan Besar or sullen southern islanders who just wanted to be left alone.
By the time Goh Chok Tong and then Lee Hsien Loong went for their constituency walkabouts, things were already more settled and nothing like the fight for ground support affairs of the early years. They were more for the purpose of getting to know residents and assessing the different moods and needs of different places. At the same time, they were good tests of the People’s Action Party’s political machinery on the ground as well as for gauging the overall mood of the electorate before any impending general election.
Lee Hsien Loong’s walkabouts were more like what Lawrence Wong’s will be: With the top leadership question more or less sorted out within the party and government, they had to go to the ground to validate their support (not quite mandate, just support, because mandate could only come from a general election).
Goh Chok Tong’s constituency visits were slightly more complicated.
He had just been chosen by his 2G peers to be their leader despite LKY’s preference for Tony Tan to be the next PM. And Goh had to earn his leadership mantle first by doing his visits, starting with the now-defunct Boon Keng ward. But the visits were not all that taxing for the 2G leaders. Goh was not the only one doing the walkabouts. All the 2G ministers had to take turns every Sunday – Tony Tan, Ong Teng Cheong, Lim Chee Onn, S Dhanabalan, Ahmad Mattar and Bernard Chen.
As the years went by, the walkabouts have become more focused on issues. They were aimed at giving Singaporeans ownership of their destiny. More time was set aside for conversations (as part of the ongoing government programme) with younger Singaporeans on their aspirations and visions for the country.
PM Wong said: “I am keen to build on this momentum. Having aspirations is one thing… I would like to see how we can translate that sense of idealism and aspiration into more concrete collaborations and partnerships.” As Jurgen Klopp, the former Liverpool manager, liked to say: “It’s all good.”
There seems to be a shift from the old Us And Them paradigm. It is now more welcome We.
PM Wong has an opportunity, in his district visits, to help Singaporeans adjust to a new era. More Opposition wards resulting in greater checks and balances should not be regarded as anathema to the ruling establishment but as part of a maturing society.
Today, Aljunied GRC, Sengkang GRC and Hougang SMC are in Opposition hands. PM Wong is likely to visit at least some of these wards where the ruling politicians are as Singaporean as any other citizens—so are the elected representatives and their teams in these districts.
Let’s hope PM Wong will work out and carry out conversations jointly with the Workers’ Party machinery and leaders in the Opposition constituencies in an inclusive manner as befitting a new era and national leadership.
Such a new approach should not be seen as any sign of weakness or acceptance of eternal defeat. I would regard it as the decision of a self-confident national leader acting constructively together with his team and every Singaporean to shape a truly new, refreshed Singapore.
No one should be left out.
Tan Bah Bah is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a magazine publishing company