SINGAPORE: At the Workers’ Party’s members’ forum on Jan 11, Secretary-General Pritam Singh underlined how “critical” the upcoming election is, saying that the nascent opposition movement in Singapore may yet be wiped out and calling for WP members to stand in unity and to put the party first.
Mr Singh, who was designated as Singapore’s first Leader of the Opposition after the WP won 10 seats in the election of 2020, said at the beginning of his speech that it would be different from others he has given at Membership Forums. He characterized it as an “election speech” in the same way that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will be giving an election speech when the national Budget is rolled out next month.
An abridged version of his speech was published on the WP website, and Mr Singh shared a link to it on his Facebook page on Jan 17.
The Leader of the Opposition reiterated that the WP believes that at least one-third of the elected Members of Parliament must come from the opposition while warning that individuals who want to be part of this cannot do so alone and must do so in the context of a party.
He addressed what was perhaps an unspoken question in the room regarding whom exactly would be contesting from the WP in the upcoming GE but added that to reveal a list of candidates would be of little purpose, given that the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee has yet to release its report.
However, he reassured party members that potential candidates are being looked into carefully. He added that WP’s election committee engaged commercial parties to assist in candidate screening and personality review to aid in the WP’s deployment plans.
Mr Singh also underlined the importance of bringing “newer and younger” Singaporeans as candidates, members, and volunteers, whom he described as “individuals who are better than us.” Otherwise, the WP will not grow and risk becoming irrelevant.
And for those who will contest under the party banner, he underlined that the WP “always contests as one team,” emphasising the importance of unity and cohesion.
At the end of his speech, he said, “2025 is a critical year. The opposition movement as defined by elected opposition MPs in Parliament, is still in its infancy. At this stage of Singapore’s political development, there is a real risk of a wipeout of elected opposition MPs. Such a development will set back the evolution of a more balanced political system.” /TISG
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