Why AHPETC is a national issue in 2015

With tomorrow being the last day of the hustings, the battle for the hearts and minds of 2.46 million Singaporean voters takes on greater urgency and poignancy. Any misstep by the nine political parties and their candidates at this late stage might well be game changing.

The final assault that is now in earnest has taken on hues of an existential contest given what is at stake for the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and the Workers’ Party (WP).

The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) issue is one that patently refuses to go away.

This is not surprising. Both the PAP and WP have willed it so even if they say that they are focusing on national issues.

The AHPETC issue, however, is inherently a national one.

It is a national issue because it is not confined to specific constituencies, but a large swathe of the electoral landscape.

Both parties have used it as a central plank of their election campaign to mount attacks against each other.

Beyond the intricacies of financial rules and probity, the PAP insists that the town council issue is not a political attack on the WP, but brings to the fore serious issues and questions of WP leaders’ competence, character and integrity.

The PAP frames the AHPETC issue as bearing the fundamental importance of honest and responsible politics in Singapore.

Given that the WP portrays itself as the putative government-in-waiting, the PAP’s intent is to attack what is the WP’s Achilles heel in this election.

Although the WP views town council management as a municipal issue, the substance of its defence and counter-attack has been to impress upon voters that the issue raises national concerns such as how Opposition wards and voters are treated by the PAP Government.

The WP recognises that it needs to turn a potent electoral threat to an unmitigated electoral opportunity. By characterising the AHPETC issue as a municipal one, the Opposition party seeks to downplay its weakest link in the quest for more elected seats in this election.

To that end, the WP, in their strenuous protestations, portray itself as the victim, the underdog and the target of the PAP’s supposed bullying.

Thus far, the WP has used the AHPETC issue to illustrate its arguments on the unfairness of the town council framework as being unabashedly tilted in favour of the PAP.

It has leveraged the issue to argue that WP wards and voters are penalised for their electoral choice whether in terms of upgrading or estate improvement funds and government grants. It has also sought to use the town council issue to make the case for the imperative of more checks and balances in the system of governance.

THE INFLUENCE OF AHPETC ON THE VOTE

Will the PAP’s accusations of the WP’s financial irresponsibility stick or will voters simply dismiss this as another political attack by the ruling party?

Should voters view it as the latter, then the WP will reap handsome dividends.

This reflects the WP’s political craft and smarts in deflecting a potentially debilitating issue into a successful counter-attack.

However, it could also be a serious body blow to the WP if the PAP succeeds in persuading voters that the serious questions relating to the Opposition party’s financial mismanagement and alleged breach of fiduciary duties — as evidenced by the Auditor-General’s report, the WP’s own auditors, and the High Court’s judgment — reflect on the WP’s competence and integrity.

Meanwhile, the WP has little bragging rights vis-a-vis their being equal to the task of running a town council effectively and efficiently.

The PAP’s frontal assault of the WP’s ability and integrity in running a town council will continue unremittingly, even if indirectly, into the final day of campaigning, especially in constituencies facing PAP-WP contests. But the PAP must guard against reducing its entire GE2015 campaign into six letters: AHPETC.

Some voters may look beyond the town council issue and place greater weight on the WP’s intrinsic value as the leading Opposition party, and its role in Singapore’s evolving political landscape where the idea of one-party dominance is increasingly being challenged.

If so, AHPETC may well be a non-issue to these voters.

In light of the town council saga, the issue of a political party being able to properly run a town council has come to the fore.

Other Opposition parties such as the Singapore People’s Party and the Singapore Democratic Party have asserted that they have successfully run town councils in the past.

Given the many exchanges of accusations and conflicting narratives on the AHPETC issue, voters may not necessarily fully understand and appreciate what the brouhaha is all about. They, too, might be disappointed that the two leading political parties are locking horns over a seemingly municipal issue.

However, the battle royal between the PAP and WP over the issue demonstrates it is, to all intents and purposes, a national issue. It is also a central platform by which the PAP and WP are making key arguments against each other in this election.

For both parties, improving their 2011 electoral performance has taken on a larger significance in their campaign.

Each party is determined that it gives no quarter away on this issue, which explains why the issue refuses to go away.

In the final analysis, AHPETC may well be the defining issue of GE2015. The court of public opinion will ultimately be the decider, with the implications flowing from it reverberating deafeningly in the forthcoming five-year parliamentary term.

Come Saturday early morning, we will know to what extent, if at all, the AHPETC issue affected the PAP’s and WP’s electoral fortunes.

For now, the PAP and WP will seek to ensure that their narrative of the AHPETC issue prevails.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Eugene K B Tan is associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University School of Law