• PAP’s Heng Swee Keat urges WP to declare its hand on NCMPs
• Opposition party should say whether it would accept NCMP seat if offered
• WP should also say if it agrees NCMP scheme ensures there can be no opposition wipeout

SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party must declare if its candidates would accept a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat if offered, and whether they agree that the NCMP scheme ensures there can be no “opposition wipeout”, the People’s Action Party (PAP) first assistant secretary-general Heng Swee Keat said on Sunday (July 5).

Said Mr Heng in a video titled Remarks on the NCMP Scheme posted on his party’s social media page: “They are playing games with voters. Voters are entitled to know what the WP’s stand is. They should not be made to think that the WP will refuse NCMP seats, the opposition risks extinction, and so vote for them.

“Then after the elections, the WP takes up NCMP seats that they are offered. And in this way, they can have their cake and eat it.”

Mr Heng, who is tipped to be the next prime minister, was weighing into an ongoing debate about the scheme that guarantees a minimum of 12 opposition seats in Parliament, even if they do not get elected.

Responding to Mr Heng’s comments at a doorstop interview in Sengkang on Sunday evening, WP secretary-general Pritam Singh said that he was quite surprised that Mr Heng “of all people” had made those remarks.

Mr Singh said that he would invite Mr Heng to review Hansard, a written record of parliamentary proceedings, which would show a “long history of the position that WP has taken on the NCMP scheme” since it was introduced in 1984.

“It’s on record and in the public domain, and Mr Heng just needs to look at that,” he said.

When pressed on why WP opposes the scheme and yet still takes up NCMP seats, Mr Singh said: “The stand has been made. It has been made in Parliament. It’s on the record and that stand hasn’t changed.”

Since the introduction of the scheme in 1984 during Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s tenure as prime minister, the WP had opposed the NCMP scheme on the basis that NCMPs were not the equals of elected MPs, and were created to the political advantage of the PAP.

From the new term, NCMPs will have identical voting rights as MPs, but they will not be able to represent constituents in Parliament.

The opposition party has said that there is a risk of having no opposition voices in Parliament after the General Election (GE), and has criticised the NCMP scheme over the past few days, most recently in the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) broadcast on July 3.

Mr Heng, who is standing in East Coast GRC, responded: “The PAP is not trying to shut the opposition out of Parliament. We understand that diverse views are important to ensure the best outcomes for Singapore, and Singaporeans value this diversity.

“That is why, over the years, we have steadily increased the number of guaranteed opposition MPs, and expanded their voting rights,” he said, referring to the increase in NCMPs from nine to 12.

He noted that WP has also taken full advantage of the NCMP scheme in the past.

Former WP NCMPs include WP members past and present Dr Lee Siew Choh, the late Mr J B Jeyaretnam and Associate Professor Daniel Goh; current WP candidates Mr Yee Jenn Jong, Mr Gerald Giam, Mr Dennis Tan and Mr Leon Perera; and WP chairman Sylvia Lim, who was an NCMP from 2006 before becoming an MP at GE2011.

Mr Heng said: “I urge voters to ask yourselves: If it is really a matter of principle that the WP is opposing the NCMP system, why have they taken up the NCMP positions all these years? Is it really extinction that the WP fears? Or is the real motive of the WP to expand, to win more seats in Parliament?”

Over the years, WP’s parliamentarians have made known their resistance to the scheme.

In 2016, when former Punggol East MP Lee Li Lian declined an NCMP seat, WP nominated Assoc Prof Daniel Goh to replace her and take up the non-elected position.

Former party chief Low Thia Khiang said in 2016 that the WP will "work within the system", in the same way that the opposition party had contested several GRCs even though it did not support the GRC scheme.

Former NCMP Mr Perera, who is now WP’s candidate in Aljunied GRC, said of the dilemma he faced when accepting the NCMP seat after GE2015, despite his objection to the scheme: “It was a very difficult decision to make. But I decided that, on balance, I could make a constructive contribution... that would help in the longer term cause of political balance in this country.’’

On Sunday, Mr Heng said the WP’s opposition to the scheme was part of its election strategy, and not a matter of principle.

“At least Dr Tan Cheng Bock of the Progress Singapore Party has been upfront. He has declared that he will not accept an NCMP seat if offered one. But he may have forgotten that in 1984, when the scheme was debated in Parliament, he supported having NCMPs,” said Mr Heng.

Urging the WP to answer the two questions he raised — whether it would accept an NCMP seat and if it agreed the scheme ensured that there could be no opposition wipeout — Mr Heng said the WP reiterated that the WP needs to account to the voters.

“The WP talks a lot about transparency and accountability. (Addressing the two questions) is what they need to do to be transparent and accountable to voters,” he said.

WHAT IS A STRONG MANDATE?

Mr Heng also questioned Mr Singh’s statement that the PAP would have a strong mandate even if the opposition holds a third of the elected parliamentary seats.

“Think carefully about what this means. Mr Singh is effectively saying: ‘Don’t worry, the PAP will still have a strong mandate, even if the WP wins four GRCs and two SMCs’. What would Singaporeans think if they wake up next Saturday to find that the PAP has lost four GRCs and two SMCs? What would investors and other countries think?”

He questioned whether people would think the PAP still has a strong mandate, or if they would see a “a government severely weakened, a people divided, and a nation whose confidence has been shaken” if such an outcome were to happen.

Urging Singaporeans to vote for the next government of the country, and not just for an MP speaking up in Parliament or looking after town council matters, Mr Heng said such a government is the team that can steer Singapore through the worst economic crisis in decades.

“So do not be taken in by the claims of Mr Singh and the WP. The opposition voices and alternative voices in Parliament are guaranteed in our Constitution, through the NCMP and Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) scheme,” he said. “Opposition voices will not be wiped out.”

NMPs are representatives from various industry and societal groups who are nominated by a parliamentary committee and appointed by the President, and are considered non-partisan and unelected MPs. They have similar rights to MPs, but cannot vote on constitutional amendments, motions of confidence, and bills involving public funds.