By: Dr Tan Cheng Bock
The results of the Bukit Batok by-election clearly show that a minority candidate can win an election on his own.
This win by Murali is significant because he won his seat as a member of a minority race in a predominantly (75%) Chinese constituency. And the win is even more telling because it was won in a by-election. Recent past by-election results have not been in favour of the ruling party eg Ponggol East by-election.
Apart from the many other factors that contributed to his win, an important observation was that, race did not affect his performance of 62%. It is a victory for multiracialism and a sign that voters are more discerning and colour blind.
The fear that a minority candidate cannot win on his own, resulted in the creation of Group Representation Constituency (GRC) after GE1988. The setting up of this GRC was to address this early concern that minority races may not be represented in Parliament if Singaporeans vote along racial lines.
This victory by Murali has put paid to this fear and should pave the way for the removal of any race-based politics in future.
一个多元种族的胜利
武吉巴督的䃼选的结果显示了一个少数种族的候选人也可以靠自己的实力获胜，这次的䃼选由穆仁理获胜，这个意义重大，因为他是属于少数民族却能在以75%的华人选区胜出说明以往的䃼选成绩並不利干执政党，例如榜鹅东的䃼选，除了其他許多因素导致穆仁理的胜出之外，一个重要的观察是种族並没有影响他62%的成绩，这是一个多元种族的胜利，也说明了现在的选民更加谨慎及不看肤色，
在担心少数种族无法获胜的情况下而建立了集选区的概念。
在1988 年后，集选区的成立是为了解决让少数民族可以进入囯会的问题而沿着种族界限来投票，而在这次䃼选由穆仁里获胜已经把这份担心铺平了道路，去除了以种族为基础的政治。
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Republished from Dr Tan’s FB.
