Workers’ Party’s best team lose Aljunied GRC

By Ahmad Osman
May 6, 2006
AsiaOne Special Political Correspondent

The best team fielded by the Workers’ Party (WP) in the general election failed in its bid today (May 6) to win the first five-member Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) for the opposition in Singapore.

The team led by WP chairman and law lecturer, Ms Sylvia Lim, received 43.92 per cent of the votes in the GRC with 145, 141 voters.

She and her team-mates, including researcher James Gomez, were beaten by the People’s Action Party (PAP) team led by Foreign Minister Mr George Yeo.

The narrow defeat may not be the end of her hope to enter Parliament, thanks to the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) scheme, which is a ticket for the top opposition losers at the polls to become parliamentarians.

The Parliamentary Elections Act currently provides for three NCMPs in Parliament minus the total number of elected opposition MPs.

The Constitution allows this limit to be raised to six, if the President so decides.

After the general election in 1997, lawyer J. B. Jeyaretnam, who was then the the WP secretary-general, became an NCMP because his Cheng San GRC team which won 45.2 per cent of the votes, was the top opposition loser that year.

The current WP chief, Mr Low Thia Khiang, has not ruled out the possibility of Ms Lim becoming an NCMP. If the offer is made by the PAP government, the WP will have to make a collective decision on the matter, he said.

Ms Lim, a single articulate speaker who can think on her feet, was the darling of the crowds packing the WP rallies during the hustings.

The PAP’s massive onslaught against Mr Gomez over his election minority candidate form did not dampen popular support for her.

She represents what she describes as the New Opposition in the WP comprising well-educated, younger Singaporeans with the passion and commitment to serve the people and build up parliamentary democracy in this country.

The WP has been trying since the GRC scheme was introduced in 1988 to win one of these 14 five or six member constituencies.

The opposition’s failure in the past was due mainly to the dearth of credible candidates, including those from the minorities, who were willing and able to defeat their PAP opponents.

To tackle this problem, the WP has been working hard in recent years to recruit and field better election candidates after they have spent some time doing grassroots work.

Ms Sylvia Lim and her team-mates worked the ground in Aljunied GRC for almost four years before they were fielded by the party in the constituency.

She said that she understood the constituents’ concern about national issues like the rising cost of living and healthcare – the two topics she highlighted at WP rallies.

Those concerns, however, were overshadowed by the PAP’s track record of being able to deliver on its promises to make life better for Singaporeans.

On the eve of polling day on Friday, PAP’s Mr Yeo and his four Aljunied team-mates sent letters to each of the 75,000 households in the constituency detailing the PAP’s future plans for the area.

For the elderly, the team promised lifts that will stop at every floor, ramps for those on wheelchairs, handrails, toilets at void decks and cozy corners.

For the young, there will be more health clubs, wireless hotspots and hubs for activities such as Bedok Reservoir for water sports.

The team also promised to set up one-stop centres, in each of the divisions, to help those who had lost their jobs, as well as housewives who are looking for part-time work.