SINGAPORE: Party cadres from Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) will choose members for the party's highest policy-making body, the Central Executive Committee (CEC), when the party holds its biennial conference on Sunday.
It will be the first PAP conference after the May 2011 General Election.
All eyes are on how
far the party has transformed itself and on its postmortem of the
party's performance in the last General Election, said Nominated MP,
Assistant Professor Eugene Tan from the Singapore Management University.
Asst
Prof Tan said: For me, one of the major things I look at is how well is
the party going to address diversity -- the diversity of views -- the
fact that people no longer look to the PAP as the answer for all their
problems.
"There is now the increased competitiveness in our
political landscape and Singaporeans see the value in a more competitive
landscape.
"In a way, they have internalised what the PAP
government has always preached, that good governance is of vital
importance and for many Singaporeans, their view is that good governance
would require the political landscape to be a lot more competitive and
diverse."
On their part, PAP MPs said there has been more engagement with party members on the ground.
MP
for Chua Chu Kang GRC, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, said: "This is where I think
that a change in the approach in terms of having engaged the branches,
going to party seminar and then going to party convention, the approach
is a lot more different from the past, because in the past, the
perception of the PAP is top down.
"There is a lot more engagement today.
"There
is a greater need for consensus not just with Singaporeans, but also
within the party in terms of how we want to shape our future together."
Trade
and Industry Minister of State Teo Ser Luck said: "It is also very
important that the voices of the people are heard and also when it is
heard, (whether they are) taken seriously and how can it be a channel of
feeder of opinions into the revision of policies.
"That's very
important because the demographics are slowly changing as well. We have a
greying population, but at the same time the younger generation have
their point of view -- they are more well informed and shape their own
thoughts differently."
Apart from Party Secretary-General and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, several other party members, are also expected to speak.
Elections
to the CEC are held once every two years and political watchers feel a
good number of those expected to form Singapore's fourth generation of
leadership team would be vying for places in the CEC.
And the
decision as to who will make it to the CEC is in the hands of the party
cadres, who will cast their votes at the start of the day's proceedings
on Sunday morning.
- CNA/lp
PAP selects Central Executive Committee members
SINGAPORE: Cadres of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) have elected members of the party's highest policy-making body, the Central Executive Committee (CEC).
Twelve were elected to the CEC, while two were co-opted.
The 12 who were
elected are Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Mr
Teo Chee Hean, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Mr Lim Swee Say, Mr K
Shanmugam, Mr Chan Chun Sing, Ms Grace Fu, Mr Gan Kim Yong, Mr Heng Swee
Keat and Dr Ng Eng Hen.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin and Dr Vivian Balakrishnan were co-opted.
The election was held on Sunday, when the PAP held its biennial conference.
- CNA/xq