Low sees off WP leadership challenge from Chen Show Mao

SINGAPORE — For the first time since he took charge of the Workers’ Party (WP) in 2001, Mr Low Thia Khiang faced a challenge to his leadership at the party’s biennial Central Executive Council elections.

The challenge was mounted by fellow Member of Parliament (MP) for Aljunied GRC Chen Show Mao, 54, who was the party’s “star” catch for the 2011 General Election.

Mr Low, 59, retained his secretary-general post with a 61-45 vote, while party chairman Sylvia Lim retained her post uncontested, party sources said.

When the four-hour meeting ended at about 5pm on Sunday (May 29), Mr Chen and two former CEC members who were not re-elected, Mr L Somasundaram, 52, who was deputy treasurer, and Dr John Yam, 54, were seen taking their leave shortly before other CEC members.

Declining comment on what motivated his contest, Mr Chen said: “Now that the election is over, we have gone through the process, everybody is going to work with the CEC under the leadership of Mr Low.”

Mr Low said he welcomed the leadership challenge as part of a “healthy democratic process”. Asked if it signalled divisions within the party, he laughed and brushed this off as “speculation”.

Mr Low, accompanied by Ms Lim and WP MP Pritam Singh, told reporters: “All the cadres agree that regardless of the election results, we’ll continue to stay united and move the party forward.”

The election results demonstrated that cadres understood the importance of leadership renewal, he added, and with a younger team in the “leadership core”, the party is “on track” in its renewal plans.

“There are people who’ll be in the CEC for not one, but two or three terms. They (will) have enough exposure, both to the public and members of the party. So when there’s a need, when the time comes, the new team will be ready to take over,” he said.

The average age of the new CEC is 45.2. Mr Low and Mr Chen are the oldest members. In 2014, the average age was 46.6.

In all, 12 members were voted into the CEC, 10 of whom already held seats last term. Besides the party’s MPs and non-constituency MPs, they include Mr Gerald Giam, Ms Lee Li Lian and Mr Kenneth Foo, who was co-opted into the council in October.

The two new faces are chocolate manufacturer Firuz Khan, 49, a WP candidate in Marine Parade GRC at last year’s GE, and Mr Tan Kong Soon, 39, who serves as Mr Low’s legislative assistant.

The members’ roles will be decided at the council’s first meeting. Their term will be for two years.

CEC members not re-elected on Sunday include Mr Mohammed Rahizan Yaacob, 60, the party’s former vice-chairman. Former NCMP Yee Jenn Jong, 51, said he did not stand for election to “let young members have a chance” to take on leadership.

According to former party members, 28 new cadres, who have the right to elect the CEC, were added in a meeting last month. Cadres are typically nominated by CEC members, who would then vote on the nominations.

TODAY understands that Mr Low nominated about two-thirds of the new cadres to ensure that those he had earmarked for leadership positions could be elected.

This came after the WP’s setback in last year’s GE, when it lost the Punggol East single-seat ward, just two years after wresting it from the People’s Action Party (PAP).

The party retained its Hougang stronghold by a smaller margin, and scraped a victory in Aljunied GRC with 51 per cent of the votes, and with Mr Chen reportedly getting fewer votes in his Paya Lebar ward than PAP’s Mr Murali Pillai.

Political analysts TODAY spoke to were divided on whether there are rifts within the WP.

While Singapore Management University law professor Eugene Tan viewed Mr Chen’s challenge as “friendly rivalry”, Assistant Professor Woo Jun Jie from the Nanyang Technological University said it “hints as possible faultlines ... that are likely to have emerged from as far back as the 2011 GE”.

Then, Mr Giam was favoured over veteran politician Eric Tan as the party’s NCMP, said Asst Prof Woo. “Such rifts are to be expected, given the WP’s quick pace of leadership renewal,” he added.

That the challenge came from a “rather low-profile” Mr Chen, however, was “surprising” to Asst Prof Woo.

“This suggests a significant extent of back-office politicking,” he said, adding that sources of dissent may have emerged from more senior members at risk of getting displaced.