This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 SINGAPORE 003001 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2014 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM SN
SUBJECT: SINGAPORE'S OPPOSITION 
 
REF: 02 SINGAPORE 4218 
 
Classified By: Amb. Franklin L. Lavin, Reasons 1.4 (b)(d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary and Comment: Singapore's political opposition 
is disunited, dispirited, and incapable of offering a 
credible alternative to the ruling People's Action Party 
(PAP).  Along with the internal problems and institutional 
obstacles that have stunted its development, the opposition 
has also been consistently outmaneuvered by the PAP's 
pragmatism, which has made it difficult to develop a coherent 
ideological critique of its policies.  There are few rewards 
for joining the opposition and the PAP has successfully 
co-opted some of its brightest critics.  While the PAP has 
the ineffective opposition it wants, Singapore's sterile 
political culture has also robbed it of the risk-taking, 
creativity and entrepreneurship that the PAP recognizes 
Singapore will need if it is to continue to thrive.  End 
Summary and Comment. 
 
The Few, the Unhappy Few 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (C) Singapore's political opposition is disunited, 
dispirited, and incapable of offering a credible alternative 
to the ruling People Action Party (PAP), which has utterly 
dominated the political scene for almost four decades.  Along 
with a host of minor parties, there are four main opposition 
parties: the Workers' Party, the Singapore People's Party, 
the National Solidarity Party, and the Singapore Democratic 
Party.  In the last general election in 2001, the opposition 
won 2 seats out of 84 and 25 percent of the popular vote in 
the districts it contested.  In fact, in most of the 
multi-member electoral districts, the opposition didn't field 
any candidates at all.  (Note: There are nine single member 
districts and 14 multi-member districts.  End Note.)  The 
opposition parties only contested 29 seats as part of a 
deliberate strategy of trying not to challenge the PAP's 
eventual victory.  The logic was that more people would be 
willing to vote for a select few opposition candidates if 
they were assured that the PAP would still be in power. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Opposition parties are small in size and have 
limited financial resources.  For example, the Workers' Party 
has only about 500 members, according to its Chairman Sylvia 
Lim.  It has no permanent staff and must rely on volunteers, 
who cover a variety of issues and don't have the depth to 
specialize.  The party relies on dues (USD 2 per year), small 
donations, and the sale of its newspaper "The Hammer." 
Despite its name, the Workers' Party has limited contacts 
with Singapore's trade unions.  The National Trades Union 
Congress is closely allied with the PAP.  In fact, the NTUC 
website actually trumpets the "benefits of symbiotic ties" 
between the PAP and NTUC.  In December 2002, a union 
affiliated with the NTUC sacked and expelled a branch 
chairman because he had taken a leadership position in an 
opposition party (reftel).  Opposition parties have made 
little, if any, headway with other social organizations in 
Singapore. 
 
Who Will Take Up the Challenge? 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) The biggest challenge to the development of the 
opposition in Singapore is the PAP's highly successful track 
record.  It has consistently delivered peace, stability, and 
rapid economic growth for four decades, while avoiding 
corruption and mainly avoiding cronyism.  It maintains close 
contacts with all levels of Singapore society and seeks 
feedback -- on its terms -- on how government policies are 
working.  Besides active constituency contacts by MPs and 
other politicians, the PAP and the government also rely on a 
very extensive grassroots intelligence network which provides 
"very complete, analytical and frank assessments of the 
public's thinking about government policies," according to a 
senior ethnic Malay leader.  Even without the checks that a 
vibrant press or opposition would provide, the PAP has also 
been able to avoid the pitfalls of corruption, which would 
tarnish its reputation.  Furthermore, in a small city state 
susceptible to external shocks and surrounded by much larger 
neighbors, few people are willing to trade the able and 
experienced hands of the PAP for the untested opposition. 
 
¶5. (C) Given its bleak prospects, what makes someone join the 
opposition?  Singapore People's Party MP Chiam See Tong 
observed that most members join because they have been hurt 
by some PAP policy.  Examples include people dissatisfied 
with the compensation awarded them for land expropriated by 
the government or those who have been forced to pay 
government fines.  (Comment: The PAP is sometimes derisively 
said to stand for "Pay and Pay."  End Comment.)  Others, such 
as Sylvia Lim, find something intrinsically wrong with the 
PAP's domination of the political scene.  Academics and 
opposition figures note that university students are hardly 
bastions of idealism or critical views, though.  Most 
students are focused on launching their careers rather than 
on political protest.  The opposition doesn't seek power and 
doesn't consider itself a credible alternative to the PAP. 
Its goal is to serve as a modest check on the PAP's power, to 
prevent corruption. 
 
The Silent Treatment 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Limited coverage by the mass media, which carefully 
hews to the government line, frustrates opposition figures. 
The press occasionally runs an article noting opposition 
criticism of a government policy or an angry letter to the 
editor, but these are few and far between.  (Comment: The 
docile press even draws the scorn of some members of the 
elite.  One senior MFA official reportedly threatened to 
demote any official he found reading the Straits Times.  End 
Comment.)  Long time opposition stalwart Joshua Benjamin 
Jeyaretnam ("JBJ") told us that friends often ask him why he 
has been so quiet recently.  He tells them he has been 
active, but the media just doesn't cover it.  Due to this 
limited media coverage, the Workers' Party sends its 
volunteers door to door to meet voters and its one MP holds 
weekly sessions with his constituents. 
 
Friendly Fire 
------------- 
 
¶7. (C) While the PAP is extremely disciplined and presents a 
common front to the outside, the opposition is divided and 
sometimes feckless.  As one opposition MP noted, they have 
too many leaders and not enough followers.  Some of the 
parties have authoritarian streaks and revolve around a 
single personality, several academics observed.  At the same 
time, the media is eager to jump on the foibles and missteps 
of the opposition.  Steve Chia, a young Non-Constituency MP 
(NMP) from the National Solidarity Party, was publicly 
embarrassed last December after his wife revealed that he had 
taken photographs of their maid topless. 
 
¶8. (C) The PAP prevails by its pragmatism and ruthless 
pouncing on misstatements by opposition members by suing them 
for defamation.  This tactic has forced several figures into 
bankruptcy and prevented them from running for public office. 
 For example, during the 2001 election, opposition figure Dr. 
Chee Soon Juan followed then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong 
around at campaign events using a bullhorn to ask him about 
an alleged $17 billion loan to Indonesia.  The courts 
subsequently ruled he defamed Goh.  Damages haven't been 
awarded yet as Chee has drawn out the judicial process -- he 
missed one hearing scheduled some six months in advance 
because he reportedly was visiting relatives in Taiwan. 
 
Ideology?  Not in Singapore 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) A unique aspect of the Singapore political system is 
the almost complete absence of ideology.  Seemingly 
controversial issues such as free trade, the death penalty, 
and military service are not issues here.  Rational 
pragmatism reigns supreme and the PAP has done a masterful 
job of adopting any ideas or policies that it thinks will 
work for Singapore, even if the ideas come from the 
opposition.  MP Chiam See Tong told us he spent years pushing 
for smaller class sizes in schools and longer compulsory 
education, which the PAP eventually adopted without 
attributing it to Chiam.  This environment has made it 
difficult for the opposition to launch any sustained 
critiques of government policy and has created a parallel 
lack of ideology in the opposition itself. 
 
Taboo Subjects 
-------------- 
 
¶10. (C) Even though Singaporean society is an amalgam of 
Chinese, Malay and Indian groups, ethnic and religious 
cleavages have not been used to foment political activity. 
The PAP has worked hard to prevent this possibility from 
becoming a reality.  Citing race riots in Singapore in the 
1960's, the PAP has decreed any political discussion of race 
or religion to be out of bounds, or "OB" in Singapore's 
political parlance.  For example, in August, PM Lee Hsien 
Long announced an easing of the requirement for police 
permits for indoor gatherings, unless they touched on 
sensitive issues such as race and religion.  The PAP uses 
government housing policy to discourage the development of 
minority districts by setting racial quotas for each block of 
apartments. 
 
Stacking the Deck 
----------------- 
 
¶11. (C) The PAP makes full use of the powers of incumbency to 
hamper the opposition.  In 2001, it called a snap election 
with only 16 days notice and at the same time announced a new 
electoral map which had been extensively gerrymandered.  The 
PAP has also consolidated most single member districts -- the 
opposition has had some success in the past in knocking off 
weak individual PAP candidates -- into five- or six-member 
Group Representative Constituencies (GRCs).  (Note: Parties 
have to field teams of five or six candidates, which is much 
more difficult for the opposition.  The PAP justifies the 
GRCs on the grounds that they promote minority participation 
in parliament since every GRC slate must include at least one 
ethnic Malay or Indian.  End Note.)  As noted above, the 
ruling party also keeps a close hold on the media and uses 
defamation suits to batter opposition members.  The PAP uses 
an array of carrots and sticks for the voters.  The PAP has 
offered subsidized housing upgrades to opposition wards that 
switched to the PAP and threatened to leave new subway stops 
in opposition districts closed. 
 
If You Can't Beat Them ... 
-------------------------- 
 
¶12. (C) The PAP has co-opted some of the government's best 
and brightest critics, using an array of scholarships, 
positions and sinecures at its disposal.  For example, 
Raymond Lim founded the Roundtable, a civic policy discussion 
group.  The PAP later recruited him to run for parliament in 
2001 and he is now the Acting Second Minister for Finance and 
Second Minister of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 An opposition figure commented that the PAP's successful 
co-optation strategy has fomented mistrust in the opposition 
camp by causing them to suspect each other's motives.  The 
PAP has also used Non-Constituency MPs (NMPs) to bring in 
fresh views and specialized talent into the parliament. 
(Note: NMPs are chosen by a special government committee, 
serve for two and a half years and have restricted voting 
rights.  End Note.)  The NMPs give representation to various 
social groups in Singapore and can critique government 
policies.  They also have the effect of crowding out the 
elected opposition by taking on some of its legitimate role 
in the political process. 
 
Creativity by Fiat 
------------------ 
 
¶13. (C) Recognition is growing here that Singapore's 
continued economic competitiveness and prosperity will be 
hampered by its lack of risk-taking entrepreneurs and 
creative industries.  At an intellectual level, the PAP 
recognizes this is a problem.  It is unclear, however, if it 
will loosen its tight grip on the levers of economic and 
political control to create a more hospitable environment for 
creativity.  On the one hand, PM Lee has publicly been 
exhorting Singaporeans to be more daring and to speak up.  On 
the other, government officials express their disdain for the 
"messy" style of democracy in the West or Taiwan.  At the 
same time, PM Lee has said the government will not subsidize 
start-up ventures (which have little access to venture 
capital much less bank financing), while the government 
investment holding company, Temasek, continues to use its 
vast financial resources to gobble up major Singaporean 
companies.  (Note: Temasek is run by Ho Ching, wife of PM 
Lee.  End Note.) 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14. (C) In contrast to the PAP's phalanx of bright ministers 
and MPs, the opposition lacks dynamic figures adept at 
working the system or winning over public opinion. 
Opposition figures appear more interested in bemoaning their 
fate than planning how to build viable organizations. 
Furthermore, the opposition makes careless mistakes with the 
facts and uses tactics that backfire badly.  There are 
undercurrents of dissatisfaction in Singaporean society -- 
such as among older workers concerned about job security. 
However, they haven't reached a critical level beyond the 
PAP's ability to handle or that the opposition could exploit. 
 
¶15. (C) Without a charismatic leader to galvanize the 
opposition or a sustained economic slump that would shake 
people's trust in the PAP, the opposition is unlikely to make 
progress toward becoming a credible alternative.  Entering 
opposition politics offers few rewards and many possible 
problems.  One opposition figure compared Singapore to the 
movie The Matrix -- though everything looks fine on the 
surface, serious problems lurk beneath.  The PAP has exactly 
the isolated and ineffective opposition that it wants.  What 
the PAP fails to grasp, however, is that Singapore's lack of 
risk-taking and its dearth of creativity and entrepreneurship 
are in fact the logical results of its sterile political 
culture. 
LAVIN