Splinter Parties Point to Fragmented Opposition

TODAY

22 May 2015

SINGAPORE — After the watershed 2011 General Election, the possibility of a two-party political system in Singapore started being bandied about. But four years on, the picture emerging from the ground has been very different, with new entrants contributing to a more fragmented Opposition scene.

The submission of papers last Friday by Opposition veteran Goh Meng Seng to register a new political party comes after the formation of at least one new political party since the last polls. The Democratic Progressive Party has also sprung into action again, after being dormant for years.

In the same period, the dominant Opposition party, The Workers’ Party (WP), faced off with the National Environment Agency over the cleaning of hawker centres. And more recently, it has been in the hot seat over major lapses the Auditor-General found in its running of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).

… But Associate Professor Alan Chong of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies said: “Most are clones of the PAP, with some slight differences in terms of being more pro-welfare, pro-liberal or pro-Singaporean.”

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