Leader of the Opposition: What It Means
(Commentary/Opinion Piece by Editor)
Post originally published on 12 July 2020 in Facebook and Instagram.
[This post garnered the largest outreach in our record so far, with a total reach of more than 31,700 in both Facebook and Instagram, and more than 7700 engagements.]
After the Workers’ Party won an unprecedented 10 seats in Parliament at the 2020 General Elections, PM Lee announced that WP Party Chief Pritam Singh will be formally designated as “Leader of the Opposition”, and will be provided with the appropriate staff and resources. What does this mean? While it is premature to speculate what the designation entails, the local News reported that it could come with an additional salary on top of the MP’s allowance and more interestingly; an official secretariat and formal office. Why is this happening?
The position of Leader of the Opposition, based on the UK Westminster system, is usually given to the party leader of the Opposition with the most elected seats. The Leader of Opposition acts as the ‘Prime Minister-in-waiting’ if the Opposition has enough seats to form an alternative government, in the event the ruling party loses its majority.
To give a simple example in Singapore, let’s say the PAP holds 51 seats out of 100 seats and WP holds 49. If for some reason PAP loses 3 seats (due to by-elections, resignations, or defections), WP will hold the most seats and will thus form the new government. The WP Party Leader, as the Leader of the Opposition, will become the new Prime Minister.
As such, Singapore’s “Leader of the Opposition” has always been unofficial in nature because prior to 2011, there were only mere 1 or 2 Opposition members in Parliament, the most being in 1991 with just 4. This was the reason former WP Chief Low Thia Khiang refused to be named Leader of the Opposition even though his party had at least 6 elected members from 2011 onwards. Pritam Singh however appears to be accepting this designation.
The photo is taken from Sylvia Lim’s Instagram post in 2018 when Pritam Singh officially took over Low Thia Khiang as Party Leader, which explains why he is now sitting at the Front Bench of Parliament. Thus in effect, Pritam Singh was actually already Leader of the Opposition as of 2018. Now that this position will become an official role, what is the significance?
- PAP recognises that Opposition in Parliament is here to stay
The announcement by PM Lee after WP won the record 10 seats means the PAP now acknowledges that the Opposition presence in Parliament, specifically the Workers’ Party, will be a permanent state of affairs. Gone are the days where the PAP can easily win 100% of the seats (1968 to 1980) or where they need to contend with merely 1 or 2 Opposition members (1981 to 2010). It is possible that the PAP is signalling that they are now ready to cooperate with alternative voices in Parliament in debating policies, instead of ‘fighting’ them all the time. Opposition is here to stay, and the PAP is accepting that reality in today’s Singapore.
2. The Workers’ Party is the future of the Opposition
It is no secret that the PAP considers WP and Tan Cheng Bock to be its biggest challenge in this year’s elections. This was evident by the way PAP deploys its ministers and candidates, and the overall elections strategy they adopted. Tan Cheng Bock’s Progress Singapore Party (PSP) did not win any seats and it remains to be seen if the party will grow further or stagnate. The WP on the other hand, has experience of running a GRC for close to a decade. Now it has 10 seats with 2 GRCs and the Hougang SMC stronghold. WP members and volunteers will only continue to grow exponentially. A party can only grow if they have seats in Parliament so WP is indeed the Opposition force to be reckoned with. And PM Lee wants its leader’s position to reflect that, though not so much to add opposition legitimacy, but perhaps to hold them more accountable in the days to come.
3. Leader = Opposition unity or disunity?
If indeed the formalised position of “Leader of the Opposition” comes with its own secretariat, office and considerable government resources, it will likely evolve to become a coveted title in the Opposition camp. While WP has undeniably dominate the Opposition, will having a formal Leader promote Opposition unity or disunity across the board? WP party leadership will definitely use the new resources to its full advantage. They are known to be able to make full use of what limited resources given to them, just like how even though they reject the NCMP scheme in principle, they still took it up to gain experience and visibility in Parliament, which was what Sylvia Lim and Gerald Giam did.
But for what it’s worth, one hopes that the “Leader of the Opposition” will not be an empty title that does not mean anything. But hey, even NCMPs will now be given full voting rights where previously they couldn’t. So once the Opposition has enough seats in Parliament to numerically matter, who’s to say the Leader of the Opposition can’t be Prime Minister one day?
