GE2025: “Singapore is our business, nobody else’s”

Day 4, done! I now have no life outside of GE2025.

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Highlights

Politics, religion and foreign interference
Here comes a bit of a curveball for the Workers’ Party. Noor Deros, a Singaporean religious teacher living in Malaysia, wrote on Facebook that he’d met with members of WP and presented them with a list of demands, which he claimed the party had taken seriously. (Noor Deros is one of the founders of the homophobic Wear White movement in Singapore. About ten years ago, WP’s Faisal Manap supported this movement but said he was doing so in his private capacity “as a Muslim individual”.) This, along with the news that the authorities have told Meta to block posts that they say were attempts of foreign interference, has led to talk—which the People’s Action Party has contributed to—about the WP, separation between religion and politics in our secular state, and foreign interference.

In response, WP has issued a statement saying that they don’t have “control over foreign parties who express support for our candidates” and that “[at] a meeting with other religious leaders where Noor Deros was present, the Party confirms there were no promises, commitments or agreements made to any individual, including Noor Deros, in exchange for political support for WP candidates”.

“In Singapore, the principle of keeping religion and politics separate is well established,” they continued. “The WP’s commitment to this principle is a matter of public record.”

Pritam Singh also addressed this issue during a media doorstop on Saturday. He said that the meeting was supposed to be between WP’s Malay Muslim members and Malay Muslim religious leaders and they hadn’t known that Noor Deros was going to be there. Noting that Tampines GRC, where Faisal Manap is leading the WP team, has one of the highest proportions of Malay voters in the country, Pritam emphasised that all of WP’s candidates, if voted in, will represent all Singaporeans “equally and fairly”. In response to a question about Noor Deros’s endorsement of Faisal, he said that “if he thinks that endorsement means we will carry his views and we share his sentiments, he’s sadly mistaken”.

It’s not uncommon for politicians to meet religious leaders. For example, we know that the PAP has also met with conservative Christians to discuss a range of issues, including LGBTQ+ equality. In March, LoveSingapore posted on Facebook about two meetings K Shanmugam had with church leaders, during which speculation that “a certain PAP volunteer” (they don’t name her but it’s quite clear they’re referring to Deryne Sim, the LGBTQ+ rights activist) was going to be fielded as a candidate was discussed, among other subjects. “Our positions and concerns have been made known and it has been made clear that our feedback will be taken very seriously,” LoveSingapore’s chairman said.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with political parties meeting religious groups, listening to their concerns and engaging in conversation. Religious groups are part of our society; interacting with them is one way political parties can get a better idea of ground sentiment and the things that Singaporeans care about. It doesn’t mean that the party endorses all the views discussed and such meetings don’t automatically undermine secularity. The key is whether particular religious groups—through political parties or otherwise—try to push their beliefs on to others. So far WP has given reassurances that they seek to serve all Singaporeans rather than those from particular racial or religious communities. It is up to Singaporeans to hold them—and all other political parties—to this commitment.

Green rankings
SG Climate Rally’s Greenwatch team has released their ranking of political parties in their Climate Justice Scorecard. They’ve started with the PAP, the WP and the PSP—the three parties that were represented in our last Parliament—and will be adding other parties later. So far, the WP is ahead of the pack with a score of 57/100 (hmm, doesn’t seem like a particularly well-performing cohort if this is the top scorer…)

From SGCR’s press release:

The WP’s score reflected their greater ambition than the ruling PAP government in areas such as labour protections and social support, with policies such as tiered utility pricing, greater caregiver support, and improving healthcare support for people with disabilities, which will be crucial for climate-vulnerable groups. They have also pushed for greater investment in domestic food production and food resilience policies. However, they fell slightly short of the PAP in [that] the WP falls short of offering fully developed alternative policies on several key climate fronts, including ensuring a just transition for workers in fossil fuel industries, and have been silent on emissions in the built environment, reflecting a climate platform lacking the depth and ambition needed to drive systemic change.

Edward Chia vs Hamsters
This was on nobody’s GE2025 bingo card and I've enjoyed it immensely.

Edward Chia, a member of PAP's Holland-Bukit Timah GRC team, revealed in a campaign booklet that his "entrepreneurial journey" began with breeding hamsters as a 10-year-old, selling them to pet shops for $3 each.

This attracted the wrath of the Hamster Society of Singapore, who pointed out that it's illegal to breed and sell pets without a license. "Animals are not products," they fumed. "Whether it’s hamsters, dogs, cats, rabbits, lives should never be reduced to $dollar$ signs. Breeding without a license isn’t just illegal. It’s irresponsible."

Chia has had to acknowledge the Hamster Society's (legit) criticism, leading to a Facebook post I really did not expect to have to read during the election period (or, really, ever):

This story is a gem in all sorts of ways but the thing that makes it even better is that Edward Chia kind of reminds me of Alfredo Linguini from Ratatouille…

Rally reflections: WP at Temasek Junior College

Apart from Polling Day and the results, a WP rally is the Main Event of general elections in Singapore. A newbie to Singaporean politics attending a WP rally could be forgiven for believing that a change of government is imminent. You really have to work to not get swept up in the moment and remember that large numbers of rally attendees have travelled from other parts of Singapore and won't actually get to vote for the WP in their constituencies.

I love WP rallies. Or, to be more specific, I love being with my fellow Singaporeans at a WP rally. There's no other opportunity for Singaporeans to gather in public space for such an overtly not-PAP-dominated political purpose. People heckle, joke, cheer and chant. The atmosphere is infused with a sense of empowerment, of the excitement of feeling like we have space to express our frustrations and demand better.

My friends and I arrived before the WP candidates took the stage, but many had made their way to Temasek Junior College even earlier to chope good spots. Those sitting in the stands sometimes burst into cheers and, at the signal of a WP volunteer hype man, started a wave. People blew up yellow, blue or red inflatable hammers, their cheeks puffed up with the effort. Parents brought their kids.

The WP candidates stuck to their party message, each speech emphasising different proposals in their manifesto. There were common threads: assurances that WP will be a "loyal opposition" who will use their seats in Parliament responsibly for the good of all Singaporeans, that a vote for WP is a vote for a more democratic Singapore, that having a significant opposition presence will make the PAP listen. Again and again candidates brought it back to the party's GE2025 slogan: "Working for Singapore". Given the short campaigning period, they have to seize every available opportunity to ensure their core messages stick in voters' minds.

Closing out the night, WP's leader Pritam Singh set his sights on Ng Chee Meng and Desmond Choo—the secretary-general and assistant secretary-general of NTUC. "[NTUC] is the safest trampoline for a politician anywhere in Singapore, and maybe anywhere in the world, but you must be a PAP candidate to earn the right to bounce on it," Pritam said. Even if Ng and Choo lose at the polls on 3 May, they'll still be able to work for Singaporean workers in NTUC. "Let us help the PAP candidates in Jalan Kayu and Tampines-Changkat—who are the top leaders in the NTUC—be full-time NTUC union leaders."

What a zinger. I wonder how Ng (who has a rally in Jalan Kayu tonight) and Choo will respond.

Update log: I added Darryl Lo's (three) proposals to the database so now we have everyone contesting in GE2025 represented!

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