By Fang Zhi Yuan
Veteran opposition MP Chiam See Tong on Wednesday called for the current Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system to be abolished.
If this cannot be done away with, then it should be modified from the present five to six members to two, comprising an ethnic and a Chinese members, he said. He also suggested that the the two-member GRC be limited to 20.
Nowhere in the world including countries with significant ethnic minorities such as Malaysia, Indonesia, United Kingdom and France do we find a similiar electoral system to entrench the incumbents in power under the guise of ensuring minority representation.
Since the introduction of the GRC system in 1988, the size of the GRC have ballooned from the initial three to six. During the last general elections, there were only 9 single constituency seats. The smallest GRC is in Aljunied with five members.
In spite of the PAP and the state media’s insistence that GRC is necessary to ensure that minority voices are heard in Parliament, few Singaporeans believe that the set up has little to do with curbing the growth of the opposition in Singapore.
How do we get Rajaratnam, E W Barker, Othman Wok and Jeyaretnam into Parliament before the GRC system was introduced? These ethnic minority candidates fought and won in single wards against Chinese candidates. Jeyeretnam, in particular won two elections in Anson which is predominantly Chinese.
The electoral boundary review committee which is under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office reserves the right to redraw the electoral boundaries here and there at any time without the need to provide any explanations for doing so thereby leading to rampant gerrymandering to serve the political interests of the PAP.
Enclaves with a high level of opposition support were taken out and merge with another constituency to dilute the opposition vote.
We have seen this in Eunos and Cheng San GRC which was nearly won by the Workers’ Party in 1991 and 1997 respectively.
Eunos GRC is now cut and divided amongst East Coast and Marine Parade GRCs while Cheng San GRC has been absorbed into Ang Mo Kio GRC under the Prime Minister.
The PAP has no qualms shifting the goalposts to bolster their chances of winning in every elections even in GRCs which have been an impenetrable fortress for them so far.
Though I support Mr Chiam’s call to abolish the GRC system, it is highly unlikely that the PAP will have the political will and courage to do away with a system which has served them so well over the past two decades.
In addition to reducing the size and number of GRCs and increase the number of single constituency wards, may I suggest that we include a clause for all first time PAP MPs such as Indranee Rajah and Lee Bee Wah to fight one on one in single member constituencies (SMCs) instead of hitching a free ride into Parliament on the coat-tails of ministers.
Mr Chiam also called for a freer media ‘where more news of the opposition is allowed’, including the activities of the two incumbent opposition MPs.
With the PAP firmly in control of SPH and enjoying a virtual monopoly over the media industry in Singapore, it is almost impossible to expect the media to liberalize itself to go against its political master.
Singaporeans have no more time to lose. We are lagging far away behind our neighbors Malaysia where a new media revolution is gradually changing their political landscape.
The 2008 political tsunami which hit the shores of Malaysia leading to the loss of the customary two-thirds majority enjoyed by the Barisan Nasional (the Malaysian version of PAP) in Parliament is not a freak result.
It began 10 years ago from the reformasi movement to free Anwar Ibrahim who was detained for 6 years under the Internal Security Act by Mahathir and the setting up of an independent online media - Malaysiakini to provide Malaysians a real alternative to the state controlled media.
Malaysiakini has an online readership larger than all the mainstream papers today. There is a proliferation of socio-political news blog of late with new players such as The Malaysian Insider, The Nut Graph and the Chinese Merdeka Review adding to the chorus of independent voices to counter the state propaganda.
Barisan Nasional, despite dominating the civil service, police and print media, is expected to lose the next general elections due to be held in 2012 if current trends persist. This is unimaginable almost a decade ago.
As a keen observer of the political developments across the causeway, I notice a similiar awakening of political consciousness amongst Singaporeans though the pace is still pretty slow at the moment.
Singaporeans are more willing to express differing views contrary to the establishment openly compared to 10 years ago and to mobilize fellow citizens for a cause.
The recent Aware saga and the ongoing petition drive to ask Lee Bee Wah to relinquish her position as STTA President are ample proof that Singaporeans are becoming more politically active, mature, and assertive. We are no longer contented with a nanny state telling us what to do. We want to have our voices heard by the government and we want to have a say in how the country is run.
There is also rising interest in socio-political blogs which are usually less popular compared to celebrity and entertainment blogs.
In the last six months, the two leading socio-political blogs of Singapore have seen a 100% leap in readership. A Straits Times article by Jeremy Au Yong last year reported The Online Citizen as having an alexa.com ranking of 1745 in October 2008. Wayang Party’s ranking is only 5,945 in the same period.
Today, both blogs are not ranked in the top 600 of the most visited sites in Singapore. Established blogs like Yawning Bread and newcomers like The Kent Ridge Common have also seen an increase in their readership.
We must seize the moment now to set up an independent online news daily run by professional journalists in the mould of Malaysiakini to give the mainstream media a run for its money.
I call on opposition politicians, journalists, activists and all Singaporeans interested to lead Singapore to the next stage of political development to pool their funds and resources together to register a company to run this “Singaporekini”.
I believe such a news blog run by full time profesional journalists will be a hit in Singapore and it will take no longer than 6 months for it to establish itself as a credible alternative to the mainstream media.
The next generation of voters will be spending more time on the alternative news media than the print media which is fast losing its appeal for its lacklustre, biased and toothless reporting.
Once we break through the PAP’s monopoly on the control and dissemination of news, it will take no more than two elections for Singaporeans to regain their rights as proud citizens of their land by booting the despotic PAP out of power forever.