SINGAPORE: While some Singaporeans online have expressed excitement to see the direction The Workers’ Party (WP) will take next, others have raised concerns that Singapore’s only elected opposition party in today’s Parliament is going “too woke.”
While the idea of “wokeness,” broadly defined as alertness to prejudice and discrimination, has some positive connotations, it has been seen in a more negative light by the more conservative members of society, especially in the past few years.
u/ExistingD00r asked in a recent r/SingaporeRaw post if anyone else is “excited for WP’s next move,” adding that they’re sure the party is “cooking up some good stuff to release during the election period.”
When a Reddit user started his answer by saying they’re “not a fan of WP going woke,” it received the most upvotes.
They cited the case of former WP MP Raeesah Khan, who stepped down in late 2021 after it was discovered that she had lied in Parliament more than once, and added that Sengkang MP Jamus Lim “is the latest woke politician”.
Writing that they believed the WP was a better alternative when Low Thia Khiang led it, they added that they “have their doubts” about the WP now that it’s under Pritam Singh, though they would still choose it over the ruling PAP.
One basis, apparently, for calling the WP too woke is a “scorecard” on a website that gives MP marks based on traditional family values.
Among the bottom five MPs are all three WP MPs in Sengkang: Assoc Prof Lim, He Ting Ru, and Louis Chua, who have been given low scores for “Promoting LGBTQ Ideology.”
Another Reddit user wrote, meanwhile, “woke… there goes my respect for them.”
One expressed that they did not expect too much from the WP but added that they believe that Senior Counsel Harpreet Singh, who recently joined the party, is “a great addition.”
They also felt, however, that the WP is “a bit of a mess esp with the court cases hanging over them.”
Another commenter, however, pointed out that there are also conservatives among the WP.
Dennis Tan (Hougang SMC), WP vice chair Faisal Manap and Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) are known to be more conservative in their views. /TISG
Read also: Singaporeans slam netizen who mocks local activists as “woke SJWs”