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1. PAP’s excuse for the need of a GRC system
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Singapore’s system of Group Representation Constituency (GRC) was implemented in 1988. The excuse given by the PAP Government for the need to have a GRC system was to ensure the nation’s parliament would be multi-racial, instead of comprising members of a single race.
Of course, many Singaporeans found the PAP’s excuse strange as there was no lack of minority race MPs in parliament then. For examples, there were Jayakumar, Vasoo, Ahmad Mattar, Chandra Das, Othman, Dhanabalan and JB Jeyaretnam.
In fact, out of 79 Single Member Constituency (SMC) seats in General Election 1984, 20% were already held by minority race MPs – a figure which was higher than the percentage of seats reserved for minority race candidates, after the GRC scheme came into effect.
For example, in GE 1988 (which took place soon after the Constitution was amended for the GRC scheme), only 16% of the total 81 parliamentary seats was reserved by law for minority candidates (based on at least one minority race candidate per GRC).
Even in the most recent GE 2011, the minimum seats allocated for minority race candidates were 17% - as compared to the above 20% before the GRC system was implemented.
2. The public’s views on PAP’s motive
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So, what was the real motive behind the PAP’s GRC system? Different people hold different views or opinions :
(a). It was all about One Man’s view ….
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To those Singaporeans who saw Harry Lee Kuan Yew as someone being trapped in the history of 1960s and was unable to extricate himself, they said the GRC system was just another state’s policy arising out of his most cherished personal belief – i.e. Singaporeans of one race would never support Singaporean of another race.
Lee Kuan Yew, the mother of great exaggerations, loved to fantasise. He expected the whole world (let alone his ministers) to support his pessimism, optimism and views on how things should go about. When Barack Obama first stood for the American Presidential Election, Harry Kuan Yew told the world that Obama would not be elected because he was not a white American (of course, we now know Harry was once again proven wrong).
(b). A lesson in General Election 1984 ….
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Yet, there were some Singaporeans who speculated that the GRC scheme was triggered by an embarrassing slap on Harry Kuan Yew.
As most Singaporeans are aware, Lee Kuan Yew loves to EITHER endorse OR condemn political candidates. Do you know which group of candidates he will endorse and who he will condemn? Yes, clever, you got it right - you have just passed the first IQ test to be his minister!!
In the 1984 General Election, Harry Kuan Yew strongly endorsed two of his candidates who were contesting election for the first time. The two young men were Mah Bow Tan and Ng Pock Too, both had good examination results which impressed the then Prime Minister who himself scored a double-distinction in Cambridge’s examination. Since all seats were SMCs, both were in a straight-fight against members of opposition parties (JB Jeyaretnam and Chiam See Tong) who had worked the ground very hard for years! Despite Harry Kuan Yew’s strong endorsement for his two candidates and derogatory comments on Jeyaretnam and Chiam, both Mah and Ng were defeated in that election – which meant Kuan Yew could not have them in parliament.
It was said that Kuan Yew’s mind functioned in a very logical manner : given his strong endorsement, both candidates must be good and therefore should have been elected into parliament. However, they were not elected – hence, the electoral system was not perfect and thus, the flaw needed to be corrected. As a result, the GRC system was born!
(c). As a general strategy to cripple the opposition force ….
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Of course, a much more popular view held among Singaporeans at that time was that the GRC system was intended to prevent the opposition parties from winning more seats.
Given a population that was politically timid in those days and the high-handedness of the ruling party in destroying its opponents, it was already an uphill task persuading people to join opposition parties, let alone assembling a number of strong teams to contest in several GRCs.
3. GRC system served the PAP very well
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Whatever motives the PAP held at that time, it turned out that the GRC system has indeed served the PAP very well for more than twenty years.
(a). Mission-Impossible for the Opposition Force
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With the ruling party controlling the state’s media and institutions, it was very easy to paint an ugly and derogatory image on the opposition force. When some hot-blooded people from the opposition camp with strong political principles and values decided to mount strong challenges against the ruling party, the state’s media spared no effort to show the public how those political foes of the ruling party ought to be and were indeed ruthlessly punished. It reminded one of ancient times when emperor executed dissenters and displayed their heads in public to serve as warning for going against the authority.
Opposition parties simply found it almost impossible to attract good men and women to join them. The compulsory requirement to have a minority race candidate in a GRC team worsened the Opposition’s predicament. There were simply not enough resources to contest in every constituency (GRC and SMC) – the PAP had a walkover victory in many wards without even having to campaign for votes!
(b). Easy pie and nice tea for the PAP
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The PAP, on the other hand, did not have problems recruiting its preferred candidates, i.e. people with impressive academic qualifications, established careers and perhaps most importantly, were obedient. Indeed, it was only logical for those candidates to join the PAP : ministers’ salaries were high, MPs were allowed to hold onto their full-time jobs, and winning the election was virtually guaranteed – given that the electorate was naïve and most regarded the state’s media as the only reliable source of information.
Through the GRC system, it was possible for the PAP to bring into parliament new candidates who would otherwise not be able to stand up, on an individual basis, against an experienced political opponent in a SMC contest. Typically, a PAP GRC team would comprise of one or two senior ministers and a few fresh faces (i.e. raw recruits). The senior ministers would be the anchor-persons for the whole team drawing in plenty of votes due to several advantages, including voters’ psychology, voters’ fears and unlike opposition candidate, ministers of ruling party were in a position to dangle carrots to residents. It did not matter the raw recruits were an unfamiliar face, possessed no political skill or made boring speech; actually, if he or she had nothing to say, just tell the voters, “I don’t know what to say” – and all of them would be elected into parliament!
Under the GRC system, voters could not hold an under-performing MP accountable because the loss of votes for one MP would be compensated or absorbed by the votes of other MPs within the same team.
4. Will the GRC system backfire on the PAP?
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History has proven that no dynasty lasts forever and no political party holds perpetual governorship over a country.
There are now signs that the GRC system is backfiring on the PAP.
(a). “Best” people are not joining “politics”
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Despite drawing the world’s highest ministerial salaries, the PAP is not used to governing in an environment filled with noises and criticisms; in fact the ruling party hates criticisms and challenges. Hence, the type of people it attracted and recruited is largely similar to its party leaders in terms of personality, ideas, values, preferences and management approach.
Unlike in the past, internet is now easily available to homes, offices and public places which resulted in the PAP ministers and MPs finding themselves on the firing-line every day. Those who couldn’t take the criticisms and public pressure are considering whether they should call it a day, while those want to join the party are now having a second thought.
The problem faced by the PAP must have been serious enough to warrant the party’s ageing emperor to write recently about his fear of the “best people” (by his definition) would choose not to be “in politics” ( i.e. in PAP).
(b). PAP’s anchor-persons and generals are ageing
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Many of the ruling party’s experienced generals and lieutenants have aged and retired from politics. Those who still have a seat in parliament looks like either their biological time is running out or their popularity has reached the expiry date - which renders them too risky to remain as the anchor-person for a GRC.
It is a matter of time that the PAP will have to face this big question : could its young MPs who have been riding into parliament on the coat-tails of ministers over the past two or three elections able to lead another new team of raw recruits to clash with a group of seasoned warriors from the opposition camp?
(c). Better qualified people are joining Opposition
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Contrary to past practice for decades, the last General Election saw the PAP ceased marketing, for the first time, the universities its candidates attended and the academic qualifications they held. The reason was obvious: the Opposition Camp was not short of candidates trained in world prestigious universities like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard. And many of the opposition candidates held respectable professions with respectable organisations, prior to joining the opposition parties!
There are signs that more such qualified people are joining the Opposition. They are no longer fearful of challenging the ruling party!
(d). More sophisticated voters
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Unlike their politically naïve parents, young generation voters are more informed and politically sophisticated. Many do not simply swallow what the PAP and its controlled media told them. These voters understand the need to have effective and independent check and balance in parliament. They know the PAP MPs cannot put real pressure on their ministers – those whose coat-tails they rode on into parliament! They see how their grandparents’ and parents’ blind trust on the PAP has resulted in today’s terrible mess for them and their loved ones – medical, housing, transport, employment, food prices, water & electricity charges …. the list just goes on! Even some of the older generation voters are now beginning to wake up to their mistake of placing too much trust on the PAP.
(e). GRC – a political aircraft carrier
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The GRC is like an aircraft carrier, it possessed a powerful capability to strike its enemy and defend itself. However, if it is ever hit by the enemy force, it will suffer heavy casualties! One GRC gets hit, four or five candidates are lost!
In the last GE, for the first time, we saw the PAP lost its aircraft carrier in Aljunied – one deadly hit and five candidates were lost; two of whom were ministers and one a prospective speaker of parliament.
What should be worrying to the PAP is that the loss was not due to a stroke of bad luck. It could be a sign of coming trouble for the ruling party!
As we saw it in the same general election, one of its invincible aircraft carrier group, The PAP Marine Parade, was hit by NSP’s newly acquired and untested torpedo of Nicole-Class and suffered an embarrassing 43% damage! A few days later, the admiral of the flag-ship was demoted.
Nearby, in the Battle of East Coast, despite an eleventh hour transfer of Admiral Zorro Lim to reinforce the PAP’s powerful fleet over there, its capital ship was nearly sunk by a group of relatively inexperienced pilots from the WP!
Over in the north seas which were traditionally PAP’s impregnable fortresses, the ruling party’s victories were achieved with embarrassing high casualty rates!
When it comes to retaining its power in parliament, the PAP is never stingy – you know where the money will come from! We shall see what defence budget it will put up, what strategies and measures it will deploy to wipe out the Opposition Force.
Celia Lim
TRS Contributor