Category: Elections Page 1 of 3

There is a widely held view that Singapore needs both PAP government and more opposition. To achieve this, Singaporeans need to pay attention to politics in between elections and do their part to build a democratic society.

The opposition’s stars filled rally grounds and animated everyday conversations. In the previous general election, it had made a big breakthrough, winning more seats and pulling down the PAP’s vote share. Surely, Singapore was poised to take a few more steps away from one-party dominance. But, on Polling Day, the electorate sent the opposition straight into a brick wall. Many Singaporeans were deeply disappointed.

This could be a description of Singapore this May, 2025. 

Or I could be describing 2015. 

Or 1997. 

All these were election years when the previous poll’s quantum leap in opposition fortunes was followed by a big, resounding — nothing. The opposition’s momentum stalled. The ruling party maintained or improved its seat count and increased its vote share. 

Struggling to comprehend last weekend’s GE results? We have been here before.

I don’t bring up history to deepen anyone’s sense of futility but to suggest that if we are not to repeat it, Singaporeans might need to rethink their tendency to pay attention to politics only when elections come along.

Continue reading at Academia.sg

4G AND THE 2 SHANS

Singapore’s fourth prime minister faces challenges not unlike Goh Chok Tong’s.

More earnest than magnetic, better at balancing budgets than rousing a crowd, Heng Swee Keat is unlikely to be saddled with unrealistic expectations when he becomes Singapore’s fourth prime minister. Being underestimated can be a political asset. It was a step in Goh Chok Tong’s ladder from a wooden technocrat to a popular leader. When Goh became prime minister in 1990, people regarded him as a seat-warmer for Lee Hsien Loong, and Lee Kuan Yew’s second- or third-choice one at that. But rather than provoke scorn, this image evoked empathy, which Goh cultivated into affection and even respect.

In late 2018, Heng Swee Keat was anointed as Lee Hsien Loong’s eventual successor in similarly unpropitious circumstances. Once again, this wasn’t the incoming leader’s fault: it had more to do with the public’s doubts about the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) unconventional selection process, and rumours that his seniors may have preferred others to be in charge. Once again, a sceptical public may give the new leader the benefit of the doubt and warm to him, mindful that alternative scenarios could have been worse.

[Cont’d]

This is a chapter from Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited: Essays on Singapore Politics (Singapore: Ethos Books, 2020).

THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY OF THE 2017 PRESIDENTIAL TURNOVER

This chapter from my book, Singapore, Incomplete, can be downloaded here.

TRADING PLACES: THE CURIOUS CASE OF L&L

When WP wants credentials and PAP craves street cred, here’s what you get.

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FREAK ELECTIONS AND OTHER SCARY STORIES

Elites consistently underestimate the sophistication of the Singapore electorate.

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