The selection process for the People Action Party's (PAP) candidates is "something that we definitely need to review" and improve, in the wake of the 2020 General Election (GE 2020), Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam stated on Oct. 22.
The Jurong GRC MP's remarks were made in response to a question posed by the Deputy Director of Research at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Gillian Koh, on the last-minute change in the slate of Jurong GRC candidates during GE.
Koh was referring to PAP candidate Ivan Lim who was initially part of the Jurong GRC slate. Lim withdrew his candidacy after allegations were made about his past conduct and behaviour.
The question was part of a post-GE virtual forum organised by the IPS, focusing on the vision and plans of political parties in Singapore.
Apart from Koh and Rahayu, Workers' Party Sengkang GRC MP Louis Chua and Progress Singapore Party's assistant secretary-general Francis Yuen also participated in the forum.
Important to appreciate the limitations of the selection processes
Rahayu elaborated on the selection process for PAP candidates:
"I think we've been very open with our processes, I mean it's an open secret how we go about doing it in terms of our engagement with many different people from different sectors."
This consists of, among other things, examining what the candidate has been involved in and whether he or she is aligned with the party's mission and values.
Such issues, she stated, come across through meetings and discussions.
She added:
"We do our best to really put people up, but we realise that the society, public has certain other norms and values that they will judge candidates upon, and it's something that remains open. Whoever we put up, there will be that kind of challenge, and there will be that kind of vulnerability that candidates can be exposed to."
As such, it was important to appreciate the limitations within some of the processes as there is a need to understand how, "things that happen in our past...come back to haunt us."
Rahayu: More value should be placed on what the candidate can offer
This brought up Rahayu's point for more value to be placed on what the candidate can both give and offer.
Here, she stated that the involvement in politics was demanding and a "challenging experience", both in the lead-up to becoming a PAP candidate, and in the actual work of an MP.
In giving her own take on the high expectations that any potential MP must expect to face, she said, "I really feel very strongly for those who have actually put up the hands and put themselves in such a vulnerable situation to be scrutinised."
Such expectations therefore mean that the PAP must continually improve its own processes.
The MP concluded:
"We will have to really do our best to get the best candidates. We're always expected to be whiter than white and that's not always so straightforward. And so that's something that we will need to continue building on within our party."
Top image via screenshot of IPS Facebook video