This election marks a distinct shift in our political landscape which all of us must adjust toDefeat is the distance between a bedtime story and a wake-up call

This election marks a distinct shift in our political landscape which all of us must adjust toDefeat is the distance between a bedtime story and a wake-up call. The former starts with ‘Once upon a time...’ and lulls the voter to sleep. The second is an energiser that addresses a fresh dawn.


Defeat is the distance between a bedtime story and a wake-up call. The former starts with ‘Once upon a time...’ and lulls the voter to sleep. The second is an energiser that addresses a fresh dawn.


Three political parties have become victims of their own success: their narrative has run its course, and they have not been able to find a further chapter to their saga




Singapore's long-time ruling party won an overwhelming parliamentary majority in elections in the Southeast Asian city-state, but the opposition made historic gains after mounting its biggest challenge since independence in 1965, according to returns released early Sunday. — The ruling People's Action Party won 81 of the 87 parliament seats as it captured 60 percent of the 2 million votes cast in Saturday's election, the Elections Department said. The Workers Party won six seats, the most ever captured by the opposition.
(See Singapore's leaders admit faults ahead of the elections.)
While the results would be considered a major victory for most of the world's political parties, it represents a setback for Singapore's political establishment, which has enjoyed unrivaled power for five decades.
The PAP, which controlled 82 of 84 seats in the previous parliament, remains Singapore's dominant political force, but the Workers Party showed unprecedented strength for an opposition party and is positioned to provide an alternative voice in the new parliament.
The PAP has earned genuine respect, especially from older voters, for helping to boost gross domestic product per capita to $43,867 last year from $428 in 1960.
However, the PAP's share of the overall vote has dropped from 75 percent in 2001 as stagnant wages and higher living costs have fueled a widening income gap and resentment among poorer Singaporeans.
"This election marks a distinct shift in our political landscape which all of us must adjust to," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised news conference Sunday. "While the voters have given the PAP a strong mandate, many voters, including some of those who voted for us, clearly expressed their significant concerns both on the issues and our approach to government."
"Many Singaporeans wish for the government to adopt a different style and approach," Lee said. "We hear your voice. The PAP will learn from this election and put right what is wrong."
Leaders from the PAP spent the last days of the nine-day official campaign apologizing for policy mistakes and perceived arrogance. Opposition parties tapped growing voter discontent over soaring housing costs and a surge of foreign workers.
"This is a political landmark in modern Singapore," Workers Party General-Secretary Low Thia Khiang said in a speech to cheering supporters Sunday. "Your courage has made a real breakthrough for future generations. You've taken a real leap of faith."
(See the Singapore Story, told firsthand by Lee Kuan Yew.)
Low was the Workers Party's lone representative in the last parliament.
The Workers Party and other opposition parties unveiled a crop of well-educated first-time candidates that helped shed the opposition's image as not ready for prime time.
The Workers Party's Chen Show Mao, who was part of a victorious five-candidate slate in the Aljunied district, represented the opposition's new credibility. Dubbed by local media as the opposition's "star catch," Chen is the head of the Beijing office of Wall Street law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. He studied at Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, and American Lawyer magazine named him one of its Dealmakers of the Year for shepherding Agricultural Bank of China's $22 billion initial public offering last year.
The losing PAP slate in Aljunied included Foreign Minister George Yeo - one of the PAP's top leaders and Cabinet members.
The opposition has never had more than four members of parliament. But in this election, six opposition parties challenged the PAP for a record 82 seats. Only 47 seats were contested in the 2006 election. In some past elections, the opposition failed to contest a majority of seats, ceding victory to the PAP even before the votes were tallied.
Opposition parties attracted up to 40,000 people at rallies during the last week, the biggest such crowds analysts can remember.
The PAP has traditionally campaigned on its record of strong economic growth and an efficient and corruption-free bureaucracy. However, this time it appeared to have been caught off-guard by the level of resentment of middle- and working-class voters who feel the government has not been responsive enough.
Lee apologized earlier this week for government mistakes, such as failing to build enough public housing and not expanding the transportation network to accommodate a large increase in foreign workers. Housing prices on the island are up about 70 percent since 2006.
PAP candidates were also put on the defensive by complaints from the opposition and voters that government leaders are sometimes arrogant and high-handed.
Lee is the son of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father, who remains an influential Cabinet minister and ran unopposed in the Tanjong Pagar district he has represented since 1955.





 The just-concluded general elections in Singapore provided us an insight in the way that Singapore is going politically. Certainly the dominant PAP maintained its tight hold over parliament winning 81 of the 87 seats available. 


Yet their popular vote has been reduced to 60 per cent from 67 per cent in the 2006 elections. In fact in 2001, PAP received 75 per cent of the popular vote. Thus the PAP has been losing seven per cent of the popular vote every election since 2001. If the trend continues PAP will lose the government, two elections from now or by about 2020.


By contrast in the Malaysia, the ruling BN only managed 50.2 per cent of the popular vote in the 2008 elections. Compared to the previous election in 2004, the BN had lost an additional 13.6 per cent of the popular vote. Unlike PAP in Singapore, the ruling BN cannot afford any further swing of popular support against it if it is to remain in government.


What stood out in the elections in Singapore was the level of interest in its citizens turning up in their many thousands at the rallies organised both by the opposition and the PAP. The main theme that the opposition brought up was that the PAP was too focussed on Singapore’s GDP growth and didn’t take care of its people well enough.


Issues that cropped up from this theme were the million dollar salaries of the ministers and the disparity of income between the top 20 per cent of Singapore households that earned about S$18,000 per month as opposed to the bottom 20 per cent that earned only S$1,300 per month. It was also highlighted that this disparity has continued to grow over the last decade.


The Singapore opposition also griped about the increase in the cost of living, the GST and the inadequate level of service and assistance by the government to its most vulnerable people. The opposition also harped on the large number of foreigners working in Singapore that have depressed wages of ordinary Singaporeans.


Aside from the economic theme the opposition also brought up the idea that the PAP has been too powerful for too long in Parliament. They were too paternalistic towards Singaporeans and were wont to rule by decree rather than consensus. The opposition voice was needed to keep the PAP in check.


Frankly, from my point of view, it is difficult to see how the opposition’s criticism of the PAP could resonate on the economic front. Singapore’s unemployment rate at 1.9 per cent is probably the lowest in the world. In terms of property ownership, 85 per cent of Singaporeans own their own property which is probably one of the highest rates in the world. Singapore has a first-class education system, first world healthcare and public transport facilities and its overall physical infrastructure is the envy of the world.


For PAP, the loss in the popular vote as well as the loss of a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) where the foreign minister stood was more to do with the emotional state of the electorate than anything else. Many voters were perhaps too tired of being told what to do by the PAP. Many of the voters are telling the PAP that they are the boss and not the other way around.


Surely the PAP will have to look long and hard at some of the grievances of the lower income households and perhaps spend more on them and not worry about running budget surpluses all the time. If there is a lesson for PAP, it is that no matter how well the government runs the economy, it still needs to win the hearts and mind of its people.


However with 60 per cent of the popular vote and 90 per cent of the Parliamentary seats, the PAP is not exactly in any imminent danger of losing the government and therefore may be inclined to do its business as usual