Singapore dissolves parliament, polls set for Nov. 3

Asian Economic News, Oct 22, 2001

SINGAPORE, Oct. 18 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING ELECTION DATE)

Singapore dissolved its parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a general election to be held on Nov. 3, the government said.

''The president, on the advice of the prime minister, has dissolved the parliament on Thursday,'' said the statement, referring to President S.R. Nathan.

A subsequent statement said the election day will be on Nov. 3, a Saturday, which will be a public holiday.

In Singapore, general elections are held every five years. The current government was elected into office in January 1997.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's decision to call for snap elections even though the deadline is August next year is mainly due to worries that the economic outlook, already grim now, might deteriorate further after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Winning the election is almost a certainty for the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), which has won every election since 1959 and in the 1997 election captured 81 of the 83 parliamentary seats.

However, Singapore is facing its worst economic recession with the government projecting gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink 3% this year due to the impact of the U.S. economic slowdown.

Support for the PAP has been falling from a high of 86% of valid votes in 1968 to 65% in the last general election in 1997, mainly because better educated younger voters were unhappy with the PAP's authoritarian style, and the lower-income Singaporeans have felt increasingly alienated in recent years.

The government has just unveiled an S$11.3 billion ($6.2 billion) economic stimulus package on Oct. 12 to ride out the current downturn, which include infrastructure spending, tax rebates and giving away special shares to Singaporeans, especially the lower-income group -- apparently a move that is expected to woo voters.

More than 20,000 people have lost their jobs this year and this number is expected to soar to 80,000 by the end of this year, officials have said.

Younger Singaporeans are disgruntled with the government's policy of attracting foreign professionals to work here, especially those less developed countries such as China and India who command lower wages and compete with the locals for jobs. But the government confirmed recently that it will not budge from this policy.

The other gripes are the rising cost of living and healthcare, and the high remuneration of cabinet ministers, who command some of the highest salaries in the world compared with their peers.

On the other hand, Singaporeans might rally around the PAP due to the current unstable political situation after the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. as the party is seen as a force of stability for the city state, which has enjoyed economic prosperity and political and social stability during its more than three-decades rule.

Singapore has a majority Chinese population, with a minority Malay and population, and most of the populace is wary of the current unrest among its predominantly Muslim neighbors on the issue of terrorism and U.S. retaliation against Afghanistan. Many still remember the bloody racial riots in the 1960s between Chinese and Malays.

Opposition parties have also been weak and fragmented in the past and has not been able to present a credible alternative to the ruling party. This time, however, some opposition parties have formed an alliance.

They accuse the government of brainwashing Singaporeans through its tight control of the media and depending too much on foreign investment while not giving enough focus on nurturing local entrepreneurs.