🇸🇬 It's PAP vs. not in Singapore's presidential race

Hello friends!

Another election freebie today as the campaign period for Singapore president draws to a close tomorrow. The vote will be held Friday and it’s a bit juicier than expected. Singapore media doesn’t do the explicit hinting at who is expected to win which makes things a bit harder for outsiders. But I do think if Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a former deputy prime minister, doesn’t win things will get very interesting. 

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I’ll see you tomorrow for a whip around the Mekong!

Erin Cook

It’s election time! Singapore will vote for its next president on Friday with Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ng Kok Song, and Tan Kin Lian contesting. It’s ostensibly a non-partisan position, but given Tharman’s prominence in the PAP over the years… well. 

The candidates took part in a very civilised television forum (compare this to the Republicans the other day!) last night and Yahoo News has done a great job of compiling the answers here. Tharman did a good job leaning back on his immense experience in public life over decades, hitting every talking point. I found his appreciation that the Singapore of the future will inevitably include more diversity in political views and it kinda made me excited for an unleashed Tharman.

I’m impressed with Ng Kok Song. “I think the emphasis in the past has been to do much more caring for our own racial or religious communities. But it'd be wonderful if we can move into the next step of encouraging members of one's communities to care for members of other communities,” he said when asked what, beyond the ceremonial commitments of the job, he wants to do to unify the country. 

Rebecca Grace Tan, a political scientist at NUS, told SCMP that many voters see the president as a counterbalance to PAP dominance. Despite the opposition picking up 40% of votes in 2020, that turned into just 10 seats out of parliament’s 93, SCMP reports. “These sentiments of not being able to adequately express their feelings about the political system within the ‘appropriate’ channels like the general election lead to voters looking for alternative avenues of representation, such as the presidential election,” Tan said. That could spell an upset for PAP. 

This is a really good piece, I’ve quoted a lot today from CNA but for those looking for a broader overview of the issues at hand and how the election itself works, definitely click through.

Things are looking weird for Tan Kin Lian. The second-time candidate (he bottomed out in the 2011 race on just shy of 5%) is dominating the campaign in some ways after an enormous trove of sexist and racist commentary posted to his social media was revealed. CNA reports that his comments about “pretty girls” have ‘ignited debate about whether his comments objectify women.’

There’s no room for ‘debate’ here at all and I’m shocked at the suggestion that there would be. He has reviewed eateries and other public places across Singapore and Malaysia, noting the ‘quality’ of women he saw there alongside the prices of his kaya toast. That is textbook objectification!

The Association of Women for Action and Research last week released a statement slamming his comments and noting that candidates should be considered for their “wider societal impacts,” not just financial management qualifications. They’re not alone. One TikTok user was stunned: “He does this all the time. (I don't know) why (Elections Department) can pass him haha.” 

Tan now feels under attack from news outlets and a women’s organisation he declined to name. “I did say there are some pretty girls, but the pretty girls take the effort to dress up to be attractive. When I say that they are attractive, most of them actually feel quite happy. I don't know why somebody would want to use that as a negative point,” he said last week, per the above CNA piece. 

Among the social media posts that have gotten him into trouble he also posted a photo of men of Indian background along with a caption saying he feels like he’s in Mumbai.

With just a couple of days left in the campaign period, he’s taken a step back. He won’t be doing walkabouts anymore and instead has tapped volunteers to hand out for him. He also won’t do any more interviews. I can’t tell if it’s over for him, or if he’s just keeping his head down and hoping for the best.

I also want to flag some other comments he’s made that have made my jaw drop. On Friday, flanked by wife Tay Siew Hong, he said: “I want to introduce her so that the people of Singapore will also have a choice of the 'first lady'. There are three 'first ladies', so you can have a choice. My wife, like me, we were born in Singapore. We are blue-blooded Singaporeans.”

“Of course, we respect other people from other countries who come to Singapore to become citizens. But I think deep down, our locals would prefer at least a chance to have the President and the 'first lady' to be true Singaporeans from birth,” he said. 

This is presumably a thinly veiled swipe at front-runner Tharman Shanmugaratnam, whose wife Jane Yumiko Ittogi was born in Japan though raised in Singapore. Dangerous! What counts as ‘true Singaporean’ when Singapore has always been multi-ethnic and scrambling to fill the gap in a decreased birth rate? For his part, Tharman isn’t too concerned, writing it off as “tactical statements.” 

But that’s just one Australian woman’s view (and I’ve always been, in the Australian masculine euphemism for it, ‘strident’). 

Despite it all, Tan Kin Lian enjoys support from opposition figures and others. Tan Cheng Bock, founder of the Progress Singapore Party, endorsed the candidate on Sunday, according to the Straits Times. That’s along with Singapore Democratic Party member Tan Jee Say, Peoples Voice boss Lim Tean and People’s Power Party chief Goh Meng Seng.

NUS sociologist Tan Ern Ser told the outlet that the race is “no longer about the qualities and suitability of the three candidates for the role of president but between two options: the PAP and non-PAP. This shouldn’t be the case, but it has shaped up to be so, especially with the appearance of an opposition slate.” 

It is certainly the case that the struggle between PAP and non-PAP is the defining feature of Singaporean politics since the 2020 election. But it is striking that these vocal supporters are all men of Chinese-Singaporean background. I’m looking forward to seeing how the votes themselves break down. 

Elsewhere, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is in Vietnam calling on counterpart Pham Minh Chinh where they’re considering upgrading the relationship between Vietnam and Singapore to comprehensive strategic partnership. We’ll care about that next week, Mr Lee!