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Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh says his party will fine-tune their candidate selection process.
The Workers’ Party (WP) chief was speaking in the aftermath of the Committee of Privilege’s (COP) report on Raeesah Khan’s untruths at the Feb. 15 sitting of Parliament.
MPs are set to vote on the COPs recommendations, which includes referring Singh and fellow MP Faisal Manap to the public prosecutor.
One part of Singh’s speech in Parliament touched on the issue of selecting candidates.
“No selection process is foolproof and people can change,” said Singh, who explained that it could be “difficult, if not impossible, to test a person’s judgement in all circumstances” before deciding if they should run as a candidate.
“Even PAP MPs have been found guilty of criminal conduct”
While acknowledging his party had previous experience with wayward candidates, Singh pointed out that it was also an issue the PAP even “with its massive resources and far greater ease in finding willing candidates compared to opposition parties” faced as well.
“Even PAP MPs have been found guilty of criminal conduct or forced by their party to vacate their seats for other reasons. Potential PAP general election candidates have also been substituted at the eleventh hour.”
“The point is that even people who exhibit politically attractive character traits can turn out to be unsuitable,” he added.
Will improve candidate selection process
However, Singh said the candidate selection processes can always be better “despite the extraordinary circumstances and the political culture of a one-party dominant state”.
Singh said the party would work towards improving its candidate selection process.
“I will confer with my colleagues with a view to fine-tune the processes in the Workers’ Party as best we can,” he said.
“This would include the absolutely legitimate demands of Singaporeans that the Workers’ Party fields individuals who do not lower the esteem of Parliament, or who do not meet the standards expected of members of parliament.”
Singh said he would “endeavour” to the best of his abilities to ensure that the candidates they choose are “rational, responsible and respectable” and that he, as Secretary-General of the Party, would take full responsibility if any candidate selection decisions are wrong.
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Source: Mothership SG
