No shortcut to winning votes

I refer to the report, “NSP faces tough talent search in crowded political landscape” (March 3). As witnessed, talent migration, hunting and poaching seems to be the order of the day.

And Singapore’s unique democracy framework of Group Representation Constituencies makes the pooling of new candidates into teams, and having them work together to push common agendas, even more challenging.

On further analysis, it seems there is an absence of quality standards and processes among several young parties. They may deem that it is premature to build a quality system or that they can function without one and can continue to work on an ad-hoc basis.

If they are resorting to mass recruitment and praying hard to land some star candidates who could help them win seats in Parliament, then we are in for a problem after the elections.

First, every potential Member of Parliament must be equipped with certain competencies, including basic legal knowledge, people skills, public administrative knowledge, facilities and property management, public finance, conflict resolution and negotiation skills as well as social entrepreneurship.

They also need to deal with the complexities of destitution. And for opposition party members, these qualities are more essential, as the support system is usually weak compared with the resources available to the incumbent.

Second, there is the question of why any person or party deserves our precious votes. If a party lacks a quality system, we may not get our enquiries answered on time or a service request followed through in good time.

We may also have difficulty assessing the knowledge, skill set and commitment of individuals making up a team, and this applies to all parties.

Not all candidates in a GRC are equally competent and deserving to represent constituents and carry out their mandate in Parliament. Hence, they may not participate actively during parliamentary proceedings.

There is no shortcut to winning a seat. Young parties must embark on quality processes to build a sustainable political existence. And whether they get into Parliament or not, the process of gaining sustainable trust among voters must not be disregarded.