PAP leaders call on activists to find new ways to win hearts and minds, while ‘vigorously’ defending party’s beliefs

• PM Lee Hsien Loong and DPM Heng Swee Keat addressed PAP activists at NTUC Centre in its first post-GE2020 party conference
• Party’s post-mortem shows a need to evolve its engagement efforts and resist the polarisation seen elsewhere
• Voters who want alternative voices and also for the PAP to lead the country is a “strange dilemma” for the ruling party
• Noting increased political contests can lead to short-term politicking, PM Lee urged activists to fight hard to defend PAP’s beliefs

SINGAPORE — As the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) seeks to bolster its ground engagement following its dismal results in the recent General Election (GE), it must also be prepared to “fight hard” and “defend vigorously” for what the party believes in, said PAP chief Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday (Nov 8).

“All these years, the people have been with us because they knew we had backbone: We will fight even with our backs to the wall, and we will never let them down,” said the Prime Minister at the PAP’s ordinary party conference held at the NTUC Centre.

The biennial internal party meeting is the first to be held following GE2020, which saw the ruling party’s share of the popular vote fall to 61 per cent from 70 per cent, losing the Aljunied, Hougang and Sengkang constituencies to the Workers’ Party (WP).

The PAP has completed its post-GE review to gather feedback on the party’s performance in the elections.

Thanking activists for their efforts in the hard-fought GE2020, Mr Lee, the party’s secretary-general, said he never believed that it would be a sure-win for the PAP. Instead, people wanted the PAP to see Singapore through the challenges ahead but also wanted more alternative voices.

Said Mr Lee: “This voting behaviour did not arise because people want the PAP out. On the contrary people voted like this because they believed the PAP is the only party that can win and govern Singapore. The outcome is already certain; so no need to make sure of it.

“It is a strange dilemma that we face. But that is how it is.”

In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat stressed on the need for the party to act on feedback it received during the review, which was headed by the party’s organising secretary Desmond Lee.

Said Mr Heng, who is tipped to succeed Mr Lee when the latter steps down: “We must respond to these concerns, strengthen our base and win back lost ground.”

Addressing party activists, Mr Heng, who is also first assistant secretary-general of the party, gave his reflections on what the party must work towards — by resisting polarised politics, harnessing social media better and finding new ways to engage the electorate.

Amid a turbulent future arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the PAP will need to work harder to build consensus and create the political space for it to do the right thing for Singapore and Singaporeans.

One clear sign felt during GE2020 was the desire for greater diversity and for more checks and balances on the PAP, he said, adding that the Opposition will also seek to deny PAP of its two-thirds parliamentary democracy.

With these here to stay, Mr Heng pointed out that a sharper contestation can easily spiral into unstable and divided politics.

He noted how political opportunists in other democracies seek political gains from the extreme ends of issues and appeal to special interests.

Said Mr Heng: “We must take an inclusive approach to serve all Singaporeans and not pit one group against another. If our unity is lost, Singapore will stumble.”

WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS

With a changing electorate that desires a stronger voice and greater involvement in nation building, Mr Heng said the PAP will also need to evolve its engagement efforts.

For a start, its corps of activists must reach out to fellow Singaporeans, including those who disagree with the PAP but have the interests of Singapore and Singaporeans at heart, said Mr Heng.

“Where differences arise, we must find ways to engage them in an inclusive and constructive manner. Working closely and sincerely with fellow Singaporeans is how we will hold the ground and sustain trust in the PAP,” he said.

While face-to-face engagement has been the strength of the party, the PAP needs to complement its ground presence with stronger online outreach, he said.

“Anecdotally, some voters were responding to how opposition parties portrayed themselves online, more so than what they stood for and what they could do,” said Mr Heng, referring to the Opposition’s digital campaigns during GE2020.

The trend towards social media engagement will require PAP to adjust — bad news travel faster and further, and facts and statistics are seen as stodgy on the online space.

Said Mr Heng: “Substance is essential, but we must strive to master the new medium. We must have a stronger presence online… We have been improving, but we must do more and faster.”

On renewing the PAP’s ranks, he called on the party to grow its base of activists in “an even more deliberate effort to recruit people with diverse viewpoints and perspectives who share our passion and values to do right by Singapore and Singaporeans”.

Noting that the party fielded its most diverse slate of 27 new candidates in GE2020, Mr Heng said having such diversity allows the PAP, as “a broad tent that occupies the middle ground”, to champion the concerns of various groups.

DO NOT IGNORE POLITICAL CONTEST

In his speech, PM Lee reminded activists that while the party works to solve problems and strengthen its ground support, the intensifying political contest cannot be neglected.

The WP currently has 10 Members of Parliament, the largest opposition representation in Singapore’s history. Mr Lee had also named WP chief Pritam Singh as the official Leader of the Opposition following GE2020.

Said Mr Lee: “In the new normal, this (political contest) has become more intense.... We must stand ready to face closer scrutiny, both in and out of Parliament.

“Where the criticisms are fair and the suggestions are constructive, we should take them in, and improve our policies and performance. But we should also defend vigorously what we believe in and stand for, take the fight to the Opposition, and persuade Singaporeans of the best way forward.”

The party’s supporters will soon sense if the PAP is unprepared to fight hard for what it believes in, warned Mr Lee. Hence, the party cannot let these people down.

“That is how we have been able to win support for our ideas and plans, and shown Singaporeans that we remain the best team to secure their future,” he said to activists.

“You must have that spunk in that fight. And you may feel desperate, your back may be to the wall, (but) you believe in it, stand for it, and maybe die for it.”

Pointing to the fractured and fiercely contested politics seen in other countries, Mr Lee also warned that such contestation can cause instability and divisions — those in power focus on their short-term political survival as governments come and go.

Exhorting activists to look at the United States presidential election and at the crises in Europe as well as in the region, he questioned whether people want such contestation in Singapore.

“Is it good for Singapore to have these ups and downs, the hurly burly, the unpredictability, the bitterness, the division, the rancour, the splits? It will take many years to heal.

“Or do we want to keep on building on what we have, treasuring what we have achieved, remedying the flaws, the shortcomings, which there will always be, making it a little bit better patiently, year by year, election by election?"