In a recent interview with RICE Media, former Member of Parliament (MP) Inderjit Singh shed light on the hotly debated topic of People’s Action Party (PAP) candidates serving as grassroots advisors in opposition wards.
While opposition parties have expressed their dissatisfaction with such an arrangement on multiple occasions, Mr Singh said it is not something “worth fighting” about.
Rather than butt heads on this, he urged opposition parties to form their own grassroots organisations instead.
The question about losing PAP candidates returning as grassroots advisors in opposition wards was presented to Mr Interjit during a RICE Media interview, as part of its ‘Inconvenient Questions’ series.
Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Viswa Sadasivan, who conducted the interview, referred to such an arrangement as something that could “grate on the ground”. He also described it as one of PAP’s “key Achilles’ heels”.
Responding to Mr Viswa’s thoughts on the matter, Mr Singh observed that the PAP has seen “declining votes” in recent elections.
He then attempted to explain the arrangement from the PAP’s point of view, which is that any ruling party would want to “strengthen their position”.
In his view, the party would “use whatever agencies, tools that they have to gain that advantage over their opposition”.
Source: RICE Media on YouTube
Mr Singh then shared a lesson that the late former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew once taught him:
If you want to form a government, you need to win elections first.
Having identified election victory as the PAP’s focus, the former MP said that being in control of [People’s Association] is an aspect that may change over time, depending on whether it wins the PAP more votes.
For now, Mr Singh believes the PAP still views grassroots organisations as an “important avenue” to reach out to residents and allow potential candidates to garner support.
Mr Singh subsequently flipped the question by asking what opposition parties would do if they were the ruling party.
He then offered a piece of advice for the Workers’ Party (WP): to form its own grassroots organisations. The party, he said, has enough support in each of the constituencies where it is.
Mr Singh added that the current arrangement is something “not worth fighting” over as it’s not going to change.
Source: RICE Media on YouTube
Expanding on this, Mr Singh highlighted the PAP’s “logical perspective” on the matter — grassroots organisations “help to explain and implement… government policies”.
Source: RICE Media on YouTube
Given this rationale, it makes sense for the PAP to have someone in charge that “they can actually work with”.
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Featured image adapted from RICE Media on YouTube.
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