Independent observer Felix Tan, who has written about Singapore’s social environment, said that it even represents a transition in how the PAP fields its prospects.
They” seek out the floor” to see who are the ones who are really in touch with residents and who they believe can win, such as those with remarkable CVs and qualifications,” he said.
He continued, the PAP faces a brand-new problem in developing its strategy in opposition-held neighborhoods.
” After all, it is a relatively recent development, only three GEs ago that they lost the initial GRC”, he noted.
After gaining enough political experience, he claimed that PAP candidates in opposition-held wards were moved to run for another seats in upcoming elections.
Koh Poh Koon, the latest senior minister of state for labor and sustainability and the environment, lost the Punggol East by-election in 2013. Desmond Choo, a GRC MP from Tampa, even ran clumsily in Hougang for the 2011 General Election and the 2012 by-election.
” If they win, they become the MP. They may have gained tree management experience if they didn’t, argued Dr. Tan, and could have been pushed out of the district in a subsequent election.
Assoc Prof. Tan argued that the party’s personnel changes could also serve as a long-term plan to mobilize its activists there in the wake of upcoming democratic elections.
” It’s the same as what the WP does in the south. They even take long-term decisions. And for these groups, one day the problems may just be proper”, he said.
FIRST GRC WON BY OPPOSITION
The WP defeated a PAP group that included former foreign affairs minister George Yeo and stranger Ong Ye Kung, who is already minister for health, in the first election held by Aljunied GRC.
It had won the second opposition party to win a GRC since the system’s introduction in 1988, winning 54.72 percent of the seats.
The team was led by then-WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang, who left his long-time enclave of Hougang to challenge the GRC. Pritam Singh, the existing leader of the opposition, Sylvia Lim, Mr. Faisal Abdul Manap, and Chen Show Mao, a stranger, made up the group.
The WP therefore retained Aljunied GRC in the 2015 political competition, with 50.95 per share of the vote. Given the close result, the PAP group applied for a recount, but was later still edged up.
Yeo Guat Kwang, a former four-term MP, and four newcomers, including Mr. Shamsul Kamar, the current president of the Kaki Bukit tree, made up the PAP group.
In his first political campaign since taking over the ropes from Mr. Low in 2018, Mr. Singh led his group to success in the district in the previous General Election in 2020.