In his first speech as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hougang, Dennis Tan wondered out loud if the People's Action Party (PAP) had "gone backwards in time" with its campaign tactics in his constituency.

The Workers' Party (WP) MP said he had experienced "petty and bad politics" during this year's hustings and outlined two separate incidents which he saw as examples of this.

Complaints against campaign posters

The first involved complaints about Tan's campaign posters allegedly being placed below the requisite height of 2.2m.

He recalled volunteers being "puzzled", as they were certain the posters had been installed as per the requirements.

According to Tan, WP volunteers rectified the issue after the first complaint, only for a second complaint to be lodged two days later, involving 12 of the 13 posters that had been complained about earlier.

Furthermore, Tan said that a resident had witnessed the PAP team in Hougang pulling down WP posters from their original height, and showed him where the act had allegedly taken place.

"I have no reason to doubt what she said," Tan added.

Planting of flags around the constituency

The second incident Tan took issue with was the planting of flags throughout the constituency in GE2020.

"In the middle of the campaign, the PAP team planted their flags in front of my banners, effectively, blocking a clean sighting of the contents of my banners," he said.

They had also planted many flags around the coffeeshops in Hougang — something Tan later said would have been "unthinkable to me".

Contrasting this year's campaign to his previous experience as a candidate for Fengshan SMC in GE2015, Tan said that his opponent then — Cheryl Chan — had engaged in a "fair and honourable fight".

"I didn't have negative experiences with Ms Chan," he said.

Tan continued by saying the WP would avoid utilising similar tactics in future elections "lest a tit-for-tat culture manifests itself and creates a divisive political culture that hurts Singaporeans."

"Instead we in this house, have a golden opportunity to evolve our politics positively."

The former NCMP made a call for parliament to test opposing ideas "in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding".

Sparking a back and forth

Tan's speech sparked the one of the first back-and-forths of Singapore's 14th parliament, with PAP MP Murali Pillai questioning if Tan accepted the Elections Department (ELD) would handle such complaints in an "even-handed way" and if so, what was the basis of Tan "suggesting that the PAP would use the power of incumbency against opponents in a fair way."

The opposition MP then replied he had brought up the incident to make a point about the PAP possibly setting a precedent for unhealthy campaigning.

"It raises the wider question of, 'where do you want to draw the line of this kind of behaviour?'"

Referring again to his experience in 2015, Tan said that by his own standards, he would not have planted flags around the market in Fengshan.

Upon prompting from the Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan Jin, Tan then clarified his belief that ELD handled such complaints fairly.

In concluding the exchange — after Murali sought further clarification and reiterated his question — Tan said:

"My point really, is that these are all very petty and bad politics and we shouldn't encourage it."

Debate over divisive politics

The speech and subsequent exchange came as Singapore's parliamentarians debated the issue of divisive politics, seen as a characteristic of GE2020.

The PAP's Lim Biow Chuan — MP for Mountbatten — had earlier decried the seeming extent of division in Singapore during the elections:

"Debate on policies is supposed to result in better policies for Singapore. But instead of debate on policies, the social media goes on a frenzy as political personalities are attacked during the election."

"The amount of vitriol and hate which I read about during the election campaign saddens me," he added.

Tan himself noted that GE2020 had seen voters reject "gutter politics".

"Good politics must entail mutual respect between members of the ruling party and other parties, whether in Parliament or back in our constituencies," he said

We deliver more stories to you on LinkedIn

Top image by © Lim Wei Xiang for Mothership