"When I took over the Workers' Party (WP) in 2001 as SG (Secretary-General), I was the youngest. So that was a very worrying sign. Today, we are less worried because the SG is the oldest...".

This was what WP Sec-Gen Low Thia Khiang told the media as he emerged from the WP's leadership election in high spirits.

How can he not be happy?

Despite the leadership challenge by fellow Aljunied GRC MP Chen Show Mao, Low's leadership team is now younger with an average age of 45.2 compared to 46.6 in 2014.

More importantly, the core of WP's next generation leaders -- 2015 candidates in East Coast GRC and Fengshan SMC - have been elected.

A total of 21 members competed for 12 Central Executive Council (CEC) slots (excluding Sec-Gen and Chairman) at yesterday's election.

Here's how we make sense of what the WP leadership election means for WP:

1. A party in Low's image:

This is clearly a win by Low.

Low's "band of brothers (and two sisters)" emerged from the election relatively unscathed.

A majority of the WP CEC leadership joined WP from 2006 and after. This is five years after Low became the Sec-Gen in 2001.

In other words, the current WP leadership is created (and heavily influenced) by Low and not one that is inherited by Low.

Compare this to the 2014 CEC:

Low's band of brothers and sisters clearly lost with four former office-holders (two organising secretaries, vice-chair of the media team, and webmaster) ousted in their prime.

This time, the only young appointment holder not elected was 2015 East Coast GRC candidate Mohamed Fairoz bin Shariff. He was the CEC’s webmaster and a member of the party’s media team.

Let's look at the much talked about Sec-Gen election, where Low retained his post with 61 votes to Chen's 45.

The anti-Low votes -- 45 of them -- may look substantial but it is not as significant as one thinks.

If one was to garner 45 votes in the CEC election, he or she would not even be a CEC member.

In fact, he or she would have finished 18th in the 21-person election.

2. Chen Show Mao the enigma: 

In the years to come, the Chen leadership challenge will be remembered as part of the WP folklore, especially if one were to author a Men in Blue book.

One of the key narratives of the Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party book was that the late Lee Kuan Yew became the Prime Minister by one vote after its CEC meeting in 1959.

Was Chen really going for a power grab with his Sec-Gen bid or was Chen a stalking horse?

According to Lianhe Zaobao, there was already someone who was mulling a leadership challenge in the 2014 CEC but the plan was dropped in the end.

Chen's comments to The Straits Times after the CEC election also left us none the wiser. ST noted that Chen did not want to elaborate on why he mounted a challenge and added that he looked forward to "the next steps" for the party under Low's leadership.

If Chen was indeed gunning for the top, he must have launched one of the most inept leadership challenges ever.

He was outnumbered, outmaneuvered and outwitted.

The key move that Low made was to induct 28 new cadres last month just before the CEC election. Many of them are young and are likely to be Low's supporters for leadership renewal.

This meant that any challenger to Low would only have a month to convince the new cadres to switch sides, a near impossible task.

To add insult to injury, ST noted party sources saying that the election "has purged the CEC of those agitating for a leadership change".

TODAY noted that when the four-hour meeting ended at about 5pm, Chen and two former CEC members who were not re-elected, L Somasundaram and John Yam, were seen taking their leave shortly before other CEC members.

Even if Chen was to be elected as the Sec-Gen, who is his running mate?

Lim, elected as Chairman unopposed, is surely a supporter of Low having worked with him since 2003.

After five years as an MP, many Singaporeans still do not know Chen well.

We know Chen as WP's star candidate in 2011 and we recalled that he made quite a few inspiring rally speeches during GE 2011.

But many will remember the late Lee Kuan Yew's take on Chen:

“Chen, however, has not turned out to be so brilliant. In Parliament, he makes good prepared speeches, with a written script, but in the follow-up, he is all over the place," Lee said in his last book.

Guess everyone's question in future will be: Is Chen WP's Ong Eng Guan? In other words, will Chen be a political shooting star like Ong?

3. Step aside Dennis Tan and Daniel Goh, Pritam Singh is the one to watch.

Before the CEC election, the media spotlight were on Tan and Goh.

The Straits Times noted how Goh has been helping out at Low’s Meet-the-People Sessions, and observed that Tan has been assisting Low in his administrative duties.

Lianhe Zaobao quoted political analysts who speculated that the front-runners for the Assistant Secretary-Generals as Tan and Goh.

But it was Pritam who emerged top in the 2016 CEC election, leapfrogging Chen who received the most number of votes in 2014 and 2012.

It was also Pritam who flanked Low at the media doorstop alongside Chairman Sylvia Lim.

Before we forget, Pritam was appointed as the Chairman of the new Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) in October last year, taking over Lim.

Pritam also performed well in GE last year. In fact, the word was that Pritam won his own ward in Eunos.

And how old is Pritam? He is 39, much younger than 45-year-old Tan and 42-year-old Goh.

4. Has WP become a more multi-racial party?

There is a perception in the past that WP's key strength is its sway with the Chinese and the Chinese-educated, especially since Low is a Nantah graduate.

But the WP of 2015 is of a more multi-racial mix that is helmed by young professionals. In the election yesterday, two of the top three scorers were non-Chinese -- Pritam and Leon Perera.

In short, the future is bright for WP to be a national party.

As Low said, "there is a younger team in place at the CEC — the leadership core — and that's important".

And the next Sec-Gen and Chairman?

We will know better in the 2018 CEC election.

Top photo via

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