Former NMP Calvin Cheng says ruling party should not control appointment of Leader of the Opposition

Calvin Cheng disagrees with PM controlling appointment of Leader of the Opposition, thinks Pritam Singh’s popularity unaffected

Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng weighed in on the recent debate regarding Mr Pritam Singh’s position as Leader of the Opposition.

He opined that the ruling party should not get to appoint or remove a politician from the position, suggesting a constitutional post instead.

Yesterday (14 Jan), Parliament passed a motion deeming Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh unfit to be Leader of the Opposition. The WP’s Members of Parliament (MPs) dissented.

Leader of the House Indranee Rajah stated that it would be ultimately up to Prime Minister (PM) Lawrence Wong to decide if Mr Singh remains in the role.

Former PM Lee Hsien Loong and PM Wong both designated Mr Singh as the Leader of the Opposition after the General Elections in 2020 and 2025, respectively.

Calvin Cheng disagrees with government controlling appointment of Leader of the Opposition

In a Facebook post on 14 Jan, Mr Cheng called the Leader of the Opposition role in Singapore “a gift of the ruling party”, which he criticised.

“The ruling party and government should not have the right to appoint or remove the leader of the parliamentary opposition,” he said.

Mr Cheng pointed to the role of Leader of the Opposition being a “constitutionally guaranteed” feature in many countries with Westminster systems of government, most notably the United Kingdom (UK).

He also highlighted the United States’ House and Senate minority leaders as further examples.

As such, he suggested that Singapore’s Leader of the Opposition post should be constitutionally guaranteed and independent of the ruling party’s control.

Veteran journalist Bertha Henson echoed the sentiment, saying it should be a statutory appointment.

“Now it looks like PAP ‘bullying’ PM into making a decision — or it was all orchestrated from the beginning,” she wrote in a Facebook post on 15 Jan.

“Both ways [are] not good.”

Calvin Cheng says WP supporters will still consider Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition

Aside from the nature of the role, Mr Cheng also weighed in on how this would affect Mr Singh in the eyes of his supporters.

He believed that WP would be weaker politically without Mr Singh as Leader of the Opposition.

However, he opined that they made the “right strategic decision” in continuing to support Mr Singh.

A SensingSG survey in April 2025 found that Mr Singh had increasing approval ratings of 71%, just below PM Wong’s 75% approval.

“Clearly, their supporters and even middle-ground Singaporeans, not only do not care, [but] they love him regardless,” Mr Cheng said.

He even felt that WP supporters would still consider him the Leader of the Opposition even without the designation.

Also read: Pritam Singh deemed unfit to be Leader of the Opposition by Parliament, all WP MPs dissent

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Featured image adapted from MDDI Singapore on YouTube and Calvin Cheng on Facebook.