WP says it has a good chance of winning Aljunied GRC

Support has been warm, says Low

By Ahmad Osman
May 05, 2006
AsiaOne Special Political Correspondent

The Workers’ Party (WP) has a good chance of winning the opposition’s first five-member Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) to morrow (May 6) when Singaporeans cast their votes in a general election to elect a new government.

WP chief Mr Low Thia Khiang said this today at the end of his last tour of the GRC hotly contested between his party and the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).

“The support has been warm. We certainly have a good chance,” he told reporters who asked him to assess the chances for a victory by the WP’s Aljunied team lead by party chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim.

He did not rule out the possibility of Ms Lim, a law lecturer, becoming a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) if his team was defeated by the five PAP opponents by a margin narrow enough to qualify it for the NCMP scheme.

“We will come to that when it happens. The party has to decide, not a single candidate,” he said. The NCMP scheme, introduced in 1984, allows the top opposition loser in a general election to have a seat in Parliament if fewer than three opposition MPs are elected.

As for his own constituency, Hougang, the PAP is offering a $100 million upgrading plan to entice voters to oust Mr Low from the single-member ward where he has been the MP since 1991.

He said today that he had the highest respect for the voters in his electoral ward. One of them is a 63-year-old woman who was prepared to climb the stairs if the ward was placed at the bottom of the government’s lift upgrading queue because Mr Low was re-elected.

Citing the PAP’s votes-for-upgrading strategy as a national issue dividing Singaporeans on different sides of the political divide, Mr Low said: “This is immoral. This is pork barrell politics of the PAP.

“The PAP has, in the past, believed in Confucianism. One important tenet of Confucianism on how a country should be managed is that you are not worrying about having not enough.

“You are worrying about not being able to distribute equally to your countrymen because you create a lot of problems and there are a lot of people who are not happy about it. “It is very divisive. If they want to continue with the policy of upgrading using government funding to selectively reward PAP supporters, they are dividing Singapore.

“That goes against their principle of staying together and moving ahead.”

Mr Low said that the WP’s slate of 20 credible election candidates, including himself, was prepared for the possibility of losing the electoral battle.

But the outcome tomorrow must be decided by the electorate, he said, adding: “We offer you a choice. It is unlike the PAP saying: I select for you, this is good for you.

“The Workers’ Party puts forward what we have. We are prepared to face the verdict of the voters.”

He also dismissed the Prime Minister’s claim that the WP was inciting feelings of insecurity by spreading rumours about the rising costs of living and dwelling on lift upgrading and means testing for hospital stays. He said: “The Prime Minister must be aware that there must be somethhing on the ground, something that is the real issue on the ground.

“Singaporeans are intelligent, rational, they are not easily incited. I have no intention to incite Singaporeans.

“What I am doing is simply reflecting the ground sentiments to the PAP.

“They better wake up.”

He also said that he did not believe the fiasco over the minority candidate form for Ms Lim’s Aljunied team-mate, Mr James Gomez, had a negative impact on the WP’s campaign in the constituency.

He added: “I believe Singaporeans are intelligent and decent. They can make their judgment on polling day.”