Three political parties running in the General Election 2020 took part in a July 3 live debate organised by Chinese media Lianhe Zaobao and streamed on its Facebook page.

Debate held between three parties contesting the most seats

The hour-long debate was conducted between representatives of three political parties contesting the most seats this GE2020.

They are second assistant secretary-general Chan Chun Sing for the People's Action Party (PAP), vice-chairman of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Hazel Poa and Kenneth Foo, a member of the Workers' Party (WP).

Representatives were to first briefly summarise their party manifesto in two minutes. The host then asked each representative a question, which they had three minutes to answer.

The three would then have a chance to pose questions to each other for three minutes, before proceeding to answer questions by readers.

NCMP seat accepted by WP reluctantly

One of the hot topics mentioned was the issue of the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) scheme.

Chan, who is Minister for Trade and Industry, noted that there are few countries in the world that have institutionalised the need to have a diversity of views in Parliament, through NCMP and Nominated Member of Parliament schemes.

Chan added that there will be a minimum of 12 different opposition voices after this GE, as guaranteed by the NCMP scheme.

Chan said that he cannot speak on the behalf of the opposition parties on whether it is unfair to current MPs since NCMPs have equal voting rights as elected MPs in future.

In response to the topic of whether NCMPs are equal to an elected MP, Foo responded with an anecdote from a Chinese historical novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where a famous general decided to surrender reluctantly on three conditions.

Foo drew parallels to the three conditions to the NCMP scheme, saying that while the party did not agree to the NCMP scheme, they had to accept it for the sake of the people within the restrictions of the situation.

Chan subsequently responded:

"If you think that the scheme is unfavourable to the WP, then the WP doesn't actually have to accept the NCMP seats. You can offer the seats to the other opposition parties."

The NCMP scheme was implemented in 1984.

WP has been offered the highest number of NCMP seats over the years because of its comparatively better electoral performance compared to other opposition parties.

Out of the 12 NCMP seats provided since 1984, WP was offered 10 out of the 12 seats.

WP initially declined the NCMP seat in 1984 but started taking up the seat from 1988 onwards.

In 2015, a former MP Lee Li Lian declined to take up the NCMP seat, and she was replaced by another WP candidate Daniel Goh.

On not sending a WP member to the GE2020 Chinese debate

Foo also addressed a question from a viewer, who asked why the WP did not send a person to the GE2020 Chinese debate, and if it was because the party did not care about Mandarin-speaking voters.

Foo responded that the invitation was received "rather late", and that the team had discussed that the language skills needed to participate in the debate "are of a higher order".

"It doesn't mean that we do not care for our Mandarin-speaking voters. To the WP, whether you are Chinese, Malay or Indian, everyone is equally important. So, we continue to treat each race as equally important", he said.

However, Foo apologised on the party's behalf, if their absence had offended any of their Chinese voters.

The moderator added: "But you're here at the Lianhe Zaobao's debate today", to which Foo responds with a tinge of embarrassment: "You can see that I'm not very good at speaking Mandarin myself."

Chan chuckled and told Foo that "you don't need to be so modest (about your command of Mandarin language), too modest already!"

Observations

The participants' command of Chinese language was significantly more even this time around, compared to the Chinese debate conducted on Channel 8 on July 1.

Both Poa and Foo appeared to be able to convey their ideas and thoughts fluently in Mandarin, despite stumbling on their words occasionally.

This enabled the participants to interact more naturally with each other.

Chan was, however, able to make a stronger impression through his quips and rebuttals, especially on the NCMP scheme and WP's absence in the Channel 8 Chinese debate.

The session was carried out in a more civil, relaxed fashion, with the participants remaining amicable throughout the debate without the cut and thrust seen in the English GE2020 debate.

Chan also responded to certain points such as PSP's proposal to review Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs) and WP's proposal to abolish the GST hike.

Chan said that parties have to think about potential trade-offs of their policies that they want to put forward, as they have to consider the possibility of forming an alternative government when they send their candidates to run in an election.

You can watch the video here.

Top image via WP, PSP's website and PAP.