Where is Singapore getting its opposition leaders (Part 3: Beyond PAP)

In this three-part series, Yahoo Singapore explores the backgrounds of the country’s past and present political leaders, as well as the possible backgrounds of future leaders. In this article, we focus on the leaders of the opposition.

Over its 50 years of independence; Singapore has seen prominent opposition leaders adding diversity to the country’s political landscape.

In the early days, there was Lim Chin Siong, who was also a founding member of the People’s Action Party in 1959. The former trade union leader left to form the Barisan Sosialis with other leftists in 1961.

There was David Marshall, who was Singapore’s first chief minister before independence. The lawyer founded the Workers’ Party (WP) in 1961 and was replaced by another lawyer, J.B. Jeyaretnam, who was the first opposition leader to win a seat in parliament in 1981.

Another lawyer, Chiam See Tong, founded the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in 1980 and became the only opposition figure during Singapore’s post-independence to start out as an independent candidate. He was also the longest serving opposition Member of Parliament (MP), having retained his seat in the Potong Pasir single member constituency (SMC) for 27 years, from 1984 to 2011.

In 1992, Chiam recruited National University of Singapore (NUS) lecturer Chee Soon Juan, who later became known for his hunger strike, unlicensed public demonstrations and defamation suits with Goh Chok Tong and Lee Kuan Yew. Chee became bankrupt, preventing him from contesting in the 2006 and 2011 elections. He returned to contest in the 2015 elections, getting a relatively warm reception, although none of his party's candidates won a seat.

Chiam disagreed with Chee’s public claim of being a political vendetta against the PAP. In 1993, Chiam was expelled from the party after he publicly criticised its members, including Chee. He then formed the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) together with former SDP members who supported him.

In 2011, businessman and former teacher Low Thia Khiang (WP) scored a major political breakthrough when his Aljunied team became the first from an opposition party to win a group representation constituency. Together with Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Pritam Singh and Faisal Manap, Low won against the PAP with 55 per cent of votes.

The same team retained the Aljunied GRC in the recent General Election, with a smaller share of vote of 51 per cent.

Legal eagles

In the past, Lim Chin Siong was one of the very few prolific opposition leaders who was not a lawyer. Instead, he was a trade union leader who led the Singapore Association of Trade Unions (SATU) after he was expelled from the PAP.

Lim, who was only 28 years old when the Barisan Sosialis was formed, was also well known for his strength in Chinese oratory. His most notable speech was made at Beauty World, where he spoke about the government oppressing workers and victimising students. A riot broke out not long after.

Meanwhile, David Marshall, J.B. Jeyaretnam and Chiam See Tong were all lawyers.

Marshall in 1937 was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in the UK before joining politics in 1955; Jeyaretnam was called to the bar by UK’s Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn in 1951; Chiam was a barrister at London’s Inner Temple in 1974 before starting his own law firm two years later.

There is still a fair number of lawyers in the opposition today, such as current WP chairwoman Sylvia Lim, the party’s treasurer Chen Show Mao and organising secretary Pritam Singh. The party’s new faces He Ting Ru and Terence Tan are also lawyers.

Increasingly diverse

Compared to the backgrounds of those in the Singapore government, there are no medical doctors, military men or principal private secretaries among the members of WP. Besides lawyers, Singapore's leading opposition party has been fielding several businessmen (Low, Png), IT practitioners (Koh Choong Yong) and educators (Daniel Goh). In fact, the current de facto opposition leader Low Thia Khiang is not a lawyer either.

WP members work up the ranks of the executive committee, chaired by Sylvia Lim. It also has a Youth Wing, similar to the PAP, led by its president and new member, Daniel Goh.

Yahoo Singapore has asked WP on more details regarding their party recruitment, however, they declined to comment.

Last week, the youth wing’s secretary and new member He Ting Ru, announced on Facebook four newly elected members of its council – Cheryl Loh, Redzwan Hafiz Abdul Razak, Muhammad Ihsan and Ron Tan. Loh works as a sales consultant, Hafiz as an engineer and Tan works as a real estate agent and director of Win Supreme Investment.

Within the SDP, which fielded 11 candidates in the 2015 elections, members include a medical doctor (Paul Tambyah), former educators, and an entrepreneur.

Chee said in a recent interview with Yahoo Singapore that the party focuses on sharing its views on social media, so that “people will come forward” and join the party after reading them. “Things open up, good leaders will show themselves,” he said.

Noting that many of the opposition members have widely varied backgrounds, it is difficult to point out the exact fields where future opposition leaders may rise. However, based on the track record of prolific opposition figures as mentioned in this article, the future may continue to see a new leader either in a lawyer, businessman or an academic.

Related stories:

Where do Singapore's political leaders come from? (Part 1: Past and present leaders)
Where might Singapore's political leaders come from? (Part 2: Future leaders)