As an undergraduate in 2011, Dr Luqman Akasyah was asked a major question that could have changed the trajectory of his life: Would he consider becoming a politician?
That was the first time that the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) had approached him to consider joining politics. He said no then and has continued saying no to the party despite repeated overtures.
“As an introvert, I really can’t see myself all up in the public’s eye. I also value my and my family’s privacy,” the commerce strategic projects manager, now aged 37, said.
“I’m pretty firm about it because in politics, somehow everything you do is just wrong in the public’s eye.”
What reinforced his decision was his experience volunteering for President Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s presidential election campaign last year. He had front-row seats to the scrutiny that candidates and their families faced.
Dr Luqman, who is not a member of any political party, said: “I don’t think I can put myself and my family through that level of scrutiny.”He added that he would rather serve the nation in other ways, such as mentoring underprivileged youth through social service agency Tasek Academy and Social Services.
This was similar to the points raised by a former Workers’ Party (WP) cadre who declined a candidacy invitation in 2019 – a year before the last General Election.
Having been a WP member for nearly a decade, the woman in her 30s said that she did not want to sacrifice her personal and family time, as she has observed how Members of Parliament (MPs) are expected to be on the ground almost 24/7.
“When it comes to public scrutiny, it’s even harder for women. Their looks, dressing and weight are judged,” she added.
“It does not help that whenever you go out, you must be mindful of your behaviour since you’re easily recognisable. It’s stressful that you cannot really be yourself whenever you step out of the door.”
She did not want to be named because she was not permitted to speak to the media, similar to several party members and insiders who spoke to CNA TODAY for this article.
Prospective candidates also declined to be publicly identified, as they work in organisations that do not permit political affiliations or because they did not want to “close the door” on the political party’s overtures.
During the recent PAP conference on Nov 24, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, then the party’s deputy secretary-general, highlighted the challenge of recruitment, noting that former prime ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Goh Chok Tong had faced the same difficulties.
Mr Wong, who was elected the party’s chief on Dec 4, described attracting high-calibre candidates as the “most important, most crucial and the most urgent thing I have to do”.
Singapore must head to the polls by November 2025.
As political parties ramp up preparations, party insiders from PAP and the opposition told CNA TODAY that the perennial challenge of recruitment has become more daunting over time, as expectations of politicians have intensified.
The spate of political scandals last year underscored the amount of responsibility and scrutiny involved in becoming a political office holder, they noted. These scandals include extramarital affairs and court cases against parliamentarians on both sides of the House.
CNA TODAY spoke to several insiders from different political parties to find out their state of play and the efforts that go into drawing high-calibre people to join their ranks.
PAP’S RECRUITMENT
In 2022, just two years after the 2020 General Election, then prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the work to field the “best possible team” in the next General Election was already “well underway”, as he talked about PAP needing people with diverse experiences and backgrounds to represent the aspirations and concerns of different groups in society.
Mr Wong has taken on the task and in April this year, he talked about the need to find new candidates “with potential to hold political office”.
During the PAP conference last month, Mr Wong said again that he hopes to “persuade a few more” candidates with the calibre of being potential office holders to join PAP – indicating that the party’s recruitment efforts for the next General Election are not over.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR
Former Nominated MP Eugene Tan, a law lecturer from the Singapore Management University (SMU), said: “Recruitment mode for the PAP is in an advanced stage but the recruiting efforts now are probably targeted towards persuading individuals to agree to enter politics.”
Party insiders similarly told CNA TODAY that potential candidates earmarked by the party are already walking the ground.
A PAP member for almost two decades said that the party’s branch leaders are likely observing such candidates to see if they make a good fit and can connect with residents.
Last month, incumbent East Coast GRC MP Cheryl Chan told The Straits Times that the party had been deploying members to different locations to test “the vibes on the ground”.
She said this when the media asked about Ms Melissa Tan, a waste management firm boss and long-time PAP volunteer who was walking the grounds at the Fengshan ward.
PAP has already refreshed and put forward its slate of potential candidates for opposition-held constituencies.
For instance, university lecturer Elmie Nekmat has been canvassing the area at WP-held Sengkang GRC since March 2022. In October 2023, one of Assoc Prof Elmie’s teammates Ling Weihong was replaced with communications professional and long-time party activist Marcus Loh.
And over at PAP-held Jurong GRC where a parliamentary seat lies vacant after Mr Tharman stepped down to run for presidency, consultant orthopaedic surgeon Hamid Razak has been spotted with MPs there.
Notably, both Assoc Prof Elmie and Dr Hamid spoke at the 2023 PAP convention. Many new faces who spoke at past conventions have typically been fielded for the General Election.
WHAT THE OBSTACLES ARE
When asked, PAP did not elaborate on whether candidates’ considerations to commit have changed in recent times, acknowledging only that there are the perennial concerns about entering politics.
“There are sacrifices involved, for example, in terms of time and privacy, and family support is critical,” the party said.
Mr Teo Ser Luck, a former central executive committee member of PAP and a three-term MP until 2020, said that party members who have retired from active politics such as himself still do their part to encourage people with the potential to step forward to serve.
“Honestly, in the last couple of years, it has been tougher to encourage (such) people,” he added. Mr Teo’s last political office was minister of state for manpower until he stepped down from the post in 2017.
Political observer and former PAP MP Inderjit Singh said that recent high-profile departures and court cases involving politicians from PAP and WP may deter people from stepping forward to contest on either side of the aisle.
Mr Singh, who stepped down in 2015 after almost two decades as a parliamentarian, said: “The extra scurrility is keeping some away from wanting to join.”
Former PAP MP Zainal Sapari recalled that during his two terms until 2020, the scrutiny on MPs did not usually extend to people around them.
“If they have any criticism against me, they don’t drag my children into the picture.”
Not so now, some prospective candidates told CNA TODAY, noting that in recent years, children of politicians have been subject to scrutiny and allegations. They added that they would not want to subject their family members to this.
For example, talk about Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam’s son being allegedly involved in government contracts made their rounds online last year, prompting Mr Shanmugam to make a statement in Parliament in July 2023 to “leave my family alone”.
Social media enables this culture, but there is no way to avoid being online since political parties need to use these platforms to engage with their constituents.
Furthermore, prospective candidates who declined PAP’s offers to hop aboard said that having seen up close the amount of time that current MPs have to commit to their grassroots work, they decided that it was not something they would want for themselves.
A private sector professional in his 40s who has declined PAP’s overtures more than once in the past few years said: “Meet-the-people session is just one day of the week. But every weekend, every night, an MP would have something on. A decision to go into politics is a sacrifice for the whole family, there’s no doubt about that.”
He is not a member of any political party.
Separately, the PAP member of about two decades said she has noticed that the expectation for MPs to be on the ground has grown over the years.
Volunteers and party members have tried to fill the gaps so that MPs do not need to visit their constituents almost daily, but she noted that some constituents will demand to see their MP in person.
“They’ll say things like, ‘I voted for them so they should meet and help me’, even though we explain that the MP has other commitments,” she added.
There is also a career opportunity cost that comes with dedicating time and energy to political work.
“You’re doing part-time politics and part-time work. And I know many MPs who have sacrificed their careers,” the private sector professional in his 40s said.
“They lose out in terms of progression, in terms of performance bonuses, because you just can’t perform to the same level with the amount of time you spend (with political and grassroots work).”
These considerations play out differently for specific demographic groups, making some talents harder to field than others, party members and political analysts observed.
During last month’s PAP conference, touching on the subject of attracting younger talent, Mr Wong mentioned the long runway needed to learn the ropes in government and how it would be difficult to “parachute” new members into ministerial roles.
Younger potential candidates may be more reluctant to enter politics because they may have young children or are climbing their career ladders.
The party must also consider whether younger candidates have enough life experience to relate to the wider electorate, observers said.
Young PAP, the party’s youth wing, accepts members aged 40 and below. In the last election, 12 out of 96 of the party’s candidates (12.9 per cent) were of this age range.
Attracting women to politics is a major challenge, too.
Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, a former PAP MP for two terms until 2020, noted an increase in the number of women MPs but added that Singapore “can certainly do with many more”.
“Currently, we have around 30 per cent of our MPs (elected or otherwise) being women. There is still some way to go if we desire parity in gender representation,” she said.
Ms Joanna Portilla, a member of the PAP Women’s Wing and former vice-president of the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisation, said that female candidates and MPs come under harsher scrutiny.
She pointed to MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling who has long attracted comments about her youthful appearance, which has no bearing on her work as an MP.
“And there is still expectation for women to take on the main caregiving role for their own families,” Ms Portilla said.
Then, there are other concerns and considerations when scouting for and fielding a minority candidate, adding yet another hurdle.
Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst with consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore, said there is an “unstated rule” that potential minority race candidates must be able to speak the mother tongue of the minority group and connect with the minority community and their particular issues.
This is above the engagement they do with their respective constituencies and speaking up on behalf of the masses about national issues, which is expected of all other MPs.
With an already shrinking pool of potential candidates, finding someone who fits these additional criteria will become increasingly difficult, he added.
THE OPPOSITION’S RECRUITMENT
Opposition parties acknowledged that they are facing the same challenges as PAP in recruiting new talent, but did not elaborate on whether these have affected their preparations for the upcoming election.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR
Opposition parties have typically been guarded about revealing their game plans ahead of an election, as the incumbent PAP could get a leg up by fielding political heavyweights in wards where they know certain opposition candidates might be able to swing the needle, current and former members said.
WP did not respond to queries.
So far, only one name has surfaced as a likely new candidate for WP: Senior Counsel Harpreet Singh has been walking the ground with WP in Marine Parade.
Observers noted that WP, like PAP, has been affected by an extramarital affair between its more prominent former members and an ongoing court case, and these may have had an impact on its recruitment process.
In response to CNA TODAY’s questions, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) did not reveal its progress so far in preparing a line-up of candidates for the next election.
However, it sounded an upbeat note, particularly about diversity, saying that it has not experienced trouble fielding minority candidates in past elections, and its slate has “always been remarkably diverse – cutting across ethnic, professional and cultural lines”.
The party’s chairman Paul Tambyah hinted during SDP’s election campaign launch in May this year that SDP’s treasurer Surayah Akbar could be a candidate in the next election.
Last election, about a third of candidates from WP, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) and SDP were racial minorities.
PSP and SDP also fielded a minority candidate each in a Single Member Constituency (SMC): Dr Tambyah of SDP contested in Bukit Panjang and Mr Kumaran Pillai, a former PSP candidate, contested in Kebun Baru.
PAP fielded 25 racial minorities in the last election, making up about 26.9 per cent of their candidates. One, Mr Murali Pillai, contested in an SMC – Bukit Batok.
PSP’s secretary-general Hazel Poa said: “It is premature for us to decide on the number of candidates to be fielded given that there is no visibility on whether the GRCs or SMCs we intend to contest will exist in its current form during the upcoming General Election.”
The Non-Constituency MP was referring to the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, which recommends changes to electoral divisions.
PSP’s potential candidates are expected to walk the ground alongside the party’s members and volunteers to interact with residents and understand ground concerns, Ms Poa added.
Several notable names have been featured doing so on PSP’s social media, such as former WP candidate Angela Oon and Mr Lawrence Pek, former secretary-general of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation.
Former WP MP Leon Perera has been spotted with PSP, but the party said in July that he has been “volunteering … but is not a member”.
“Not all new faces walking the ground are potential candidates,” Ms Poa said, adding that the party will be fully ready “when the General Election is announced”.
WHAT THE OBSTACLES ARE
Opposition party insiders said that job security was a top-of-mind concern for potential candidates who fear stunting their careers by joining the opposition ranks.
They cited WP’s Faisal Manap as an example. The Aljunied GRC MP told Yahoo News in 2015 that he had been “put out of job” because of his involvement in politics. He had been a family counsellor for a voluntary welfare organisation.
Former PSP candidate and now SDP member Kumaran Pillai said of running as an opposition candidate: “If you have to leave your job and you don’t get elected, you’re in the wilderness for five years.”
Several political analysts including Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian of National University of Singapore (NUS) noted that he has a point: “A visible number (of candidates) from PAP who lose office or leave office tend to have stable and successful careers, often with entries linked to the Singapore state. There are few similar comparisons from the other political parties.”
Insiders said that becoming an opposition candidate is difficult for those with little financial means because some parties require a monetary contribution towards campaign efforts.
CNA TODAY understands that this sum ranges from S$8,000 to S$10,000. This is on top of the election deposit that a candidate has to make, which was S$13,500 during the last election in 2020.
Money aside, some of these candidates have little family support as well due to the fear of facing potential persecution.
WP member and former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong told CNA TODAY that for many mulling joining an opposition party, this is a common hurdle.
“They may face objections from family members, who may believe that opposition candidates will face repercussions or persecution,” he added.
“I personally encountered this when I first made that decision to contest in 2011’s General Election and have remained grateful for (my family’s) eventual fervent support.”
He said that he has seen more people in recent years willing to join opposition parties as volunteers, though whether they eventually run as candidates is a separate matter.
SDP agreed, saying the lack of family support that potential opposition candidates have to deal with “largely stem from witnessing opposition figures land on the receiving end of lawsuits, jail terms and other tools of disempowerment”.
The party added that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) – a statute to curb fake news introduced in 2019 – has been “regularly cited and is commonly perceived” by prospective candidates as an example of a way “to prevent opposition parties and opposition figures from engaging in open debates and constructive discourse”.
“This would naturally deter Singaporeans from joining opposition parties, let alone contest as a candidate of an opposition party,” SDP said.
The Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Digital Development and Information had previously told CNA TODAY that the law generally only applies when the comment “relates to public institutions or the discharge of some government function”.
“People often involved in such commentary are themselves people who are politicians or political commentators,” they added. “There are many political parties and many politicians, but few have been issued with POFMA orders.”
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
It may be getting tougher for political parties to recruit potential candidates, but analysts said that parties and people interested in joining politics have to adapt to this reality.
Assoc Prof Walid Jumblatt Abdullah from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) said that candidates could try to reduce public scrutiny by “cleaning” their social media pages through careful curation of what they post.
“I think in doing so, they probably would lose a little bit of themselves in terms of their authenticity. And I’m not sure whether everyone wants to do such a thing,” he added.
It may be necessary, though, since Singaporeans expect their MPs to be morally exemplary, Dr Mustafa of Solaris Strategies Singapore said.
Dr Mustafa, also an adjunct senior lecturer at NUS College, said that expectations regarding a politician’s morality have risen over the years alongside increasing expectations of an MP’s performance.
“Unless the paradigm changes right now – it may well change – I think it’s inbuilt into political service that morality matters.”
Assoc Prof Walid said that parties should not “cancel” a candidate because they might have said something “awkward or silly” previously.
Should such standards for perfect politicians become a norm, most people would not be eligible to become candidates.
Political office holders might also only post social media content that is “mundane, ridiculous or nonsense stuff online because they are afraid to be cancelled”.
It does not help that all parties will likely be clamouring to attract the cookie-cutter ideal of a politician: A highly educated, successful and charismatic person who is in touch with people on the ground.
With the increased competition, Assoc Prof Tan of SMU said that potential candidates will ultimately be drawn to a party that aligns with their policy ideals.
When asked about candidate diversity, Dr Felix Tan from NTU, a political observer, said that parties might be hesitant to field candidates from under-represented groups such as those with disabilities or from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, unless they are confident that the electorate will support these candidates.
“There’s also a question of whether people from these communities would want to put themselves out there and face the public scrutiny. Remember, you will be questioned to no end,” Dr Tan said of the public scrutiny and judgement.
The professional in his 40s – the one who has turned down the PAP’s invitations to join politics – said that like many others, he believes in giving back to society, which is why he does so in his own capacity such as by sitting on the board of non-profit organisations, among other activities.
To step into politics would involve a sacrifice for himself and his family, which he is unwilling to make.
“This is why I have immense respect for people who make this sacrifice, because the amount of work, patience expected of you day in, day out, is immense.”
By hook or by crook, though, political parties will just have to negotiate and convince potential candidates to put their names on the ballot, the analysts and insiders said.
Mr Charles Chong, former deputy speaker of parliament, is one such man who has been at the receiving end of this cajoling – and caved.
He told CNA TODAY that his career with Singapore Airlines was just taking off when he was approached by the PAP, and it took much persuasion from his boss and from then-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew for him to relent and become an MP in 1988.
“(Mr Lee Kuan Yew) offered to talk to my wife for me. At this point I surrendered,” he recalled.
While he might have been able to rise to a higher position in Singapore Airlines, or perhaps seen more of the world, Mr Chong, 71, said that he tries not to think about the what-ifs.
After all, he was assured that he could quit politics after one or two terms if he did not find politics “suitable”. In the end, he found himself serving the nation for seven terms till 2020.
What drove him, and what still plays in his mind, are words from former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew: “He said if everyone just thought about himself and his family, then Singapore would not be a better place for their children and their grandchildren.”