MS Commentaries: PAP triumphant despite a disjointed campaign
We have been here before.
For all the sound and fury of the election campaign, the massive crowds at opposition rallies and a sense that change might be afoot, reality has set in.
Once again, Singaporeans woke up on Sunday to the status quo: the proverbial strong mandate for Prime Minister (PM) Lawrence Wong with the usual supermajority, an increased vote share of more than four percentage points from 2020, and the Workers’ Party (WP) comfortably retaining their seats but winning no new ones.
In the end, it may have been the comedian Kishan J who got it spot on with his satirical clip of a man who goes into a voting booth chanting “Workers’ Party!”.
Once inside, he mutters to himself, “Eh they very good lah, they ruling very long, very safe lah. And then the voucher, the voucher is very good lah hor. I think…do the right thing lah!”
Ultimately, he walks out of the booth dressed all in white and chanting “PAP! PAP!”
Reactive and disjointed
This is the third general election I have covered as a journalist, and I have never seen the People’s Action Party (PAP) this disjointed, reactive and, dare I say it, vulnerable in an election campaign.
The PAP repeated the mistakes of GE2020 by not settling on a single, unified message and clearly defined lines of attack against the opposition.
In the brief campaign period, it lurched from one talking point to another, allowing the WP to seize the initiative and constantly put it on the back foot.
The PAP was the exact opposite of everything it had been in previous campaigns: decisive and unrelenting, never giving the opposition a moment’s respite.
The fact that 10 PAP rallies were held in the final two days of campaigning, with both PM Wong and his predecessor Lee Hsien Loong in attendance in the key Tampines and Punggol GRCs, made it clear that the PAP was rattled.
Fumbling from the first day of the election campaign
The missteps began on Nomination Day, with the abrupt redeployment of candidates such as Dr Tan See Leng from Marine Parade GRC to Choa Chu Kang GRC, to replace Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Gan Kim Yong — a 14-year veteran of the constituency — who had been sent to the newly created Punggol GRC.
While the PAP was clearly concerned about a strong WP line up in Punggol, this was done so abruptly that election flyers for Marine Parade featuring Dr Tan had already been distributed.
Image courtesy of a Marine Parade-Braddell Heights resident, provided by Nicholas Yong.
That Ong Ye Kung went on to make the bizarre claim that Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan had “abandoned” Bukit Batok, was tone deaf to say the least, even as he omitted to mention who exactly redrew the electoral boundaries and how many PAP candidates had been shifted to other wards.
PM Wong later accused the WP of “negative politics”, allowing Pritam Singh to seize on his remarks and unleash a litany of complaints such as opposition MPs being denied access to community centres in their wards, and not being invited to citizenship ceremonies there.
On key issues such as the controversial proposed sale of Income Insurance to German insurer Allianz, labour chief and Jalan Kayu candidate Ng Chee Meng — who ultimately scraped through by some 800 votes against a brand new WP candidate — only responded after very public pressure from a former NTUC Income CEO, and his promise to “do better” was less than reassuring.
The apotheosis of Gan Kim Yong this election
Then there was the sudden apotheosis of DPM Gan, who did a fine job as co-chair of the COVID task force and was popular in Choa Chu Kang, but found himself elevated to indispensability as PM Wong’s “right hand man” and “taskforce man”, and the one responsible for halting the Income sale.
(Apparently, he can even walk on water, but that’s just a rumour I made up.)
Source: Gan Kim Yong on Facebook
All this gushing praise meant DPM Gan, 66, found himself under unwanted scrutiny.
Given his importance, why was he not in the PAP’s central executive committee, asked Pritam Singh, charging that the PM was playing “dangerous tactical games” by moving DPM Gan away from a safer ward.
The list of fumbles goes on and on, and one cannot help but wonder just who decides the PAP’s strategy and who advises it on public relations.
Strangely, there was also nary a mention of the Raeesah Khan saga, nor of Pritam Singh’s court conviction for lying to Parliament.
Even the revered name of Lee Kuan Yew was barely invoked.
And yet, none of this ultimately mattered.
The PM may have gambled in sending his deputy to Punggol, with the resulting disruptions to other GRCs, but the gamble paid off.
Mosquito parties swatted away this election
Worries about economic uncertainty and the impact of Trump-imposed tariffs aside, perhaps the PM and the PAP’s real saving grace was the distinctly poor quality of some of the opposition.
My old boss Bertha Henson’s description of the lesser political parties as “mosquitoes” turned out to be spot on.
Voters resoundingly rejected the likes of the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and People’s Power Party (PPP), which lost more than one election deposit, while the incumbent garnered as much as 81% of the vote.
One-time WP candidate and PPP chief Goh Meng Seng did not help his own cause with his strange fixation with Pritam Singh, not to mention vaccines and his own sexuality.
The SDP is arguably the second most popular opposition party, but Dr Chee’s 28-year quest to get into the House was denied by the narrowest of margins.
It also looks like the end of the road for Dr Tan Cheng Bock and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), which could not repeat its strong performance of 2020 and has now lost its NCMPs.
It was all summed up best by the frankly hilarious admission from the People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR) team for Jalan Besar that two of their candidates were not present for a walkabout as they could not get leave from their employers.
Perhaps they could have claimed the time as CSR projects.
PAP, WP, or bust
Singaporeans generally agree that the country needs more opposition Members in Parliament to be a check on the PAP.
However, they have also shown themselves to be discerning and responsible: they want a credible opposition.
Increasingly, this seems to only mean the WP, which ran a fine campaign led by the fiery, quick-witted Pritam Singh.
The WP was tightly disciplined in its messaging, often via slick campaign videos and social media posts, and found much support for its slate of articulate and appealing candidates.
A friend remarked that WP rallies were hotter than a Lady Gaga concert, with tens of thousands in attendance.
It all paid off, with the WP even claiming two NCMP seats.
Where do we go from here?
The PAP ended the campaign by parroting its greatest hits: these are troubled times, electing more opposition MPs will hinder the PAP’s ability to govern, good ministers cannot be easily replaced, investors and other governments will be turned off by a stronger opposition presence.
But there is a reason they are called the greatest hits, because these messages do resonate.
Nevertheless, the PAP should not mistake the high margins of victory in its constituencies for unqualified support.
The numbers tell the story: in wards with non-WP opposition, it was an almost complete whitewash.
By contrast, in wards contested by the WP, the margins were much closer.
Besides Jalan Kayu, Tampines GRC was won by just 6,379 votes, representing less than five percentage points, while the WP also got at least 40% of the vote in East Coast and Punggol.
“I respect the Opposition presence in Parliament and will continue to take their views and suggestions seriously,” said the PM, whose personal appeal was another key factor in the PAP’s victory.
There are uncertain times ahead. Voters want strong, confident leadership, but they will hold him to this promise.
Also read: Commentary: Covid-19 made GE2020 one for the books, what will this election bring?
Commentary: Covid-19 made GE2020 one for the books, what will this election bring?
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Featured image retrieved from Lawrence Wong on Facebook and Facebook.
