The Workers' Party (WP) is well known for holding its cards tightly to its chest.
It closes ranks securely with respect to speaking to media, rarely grants interviews with its election candidates (in particular, their leaders), and applies this policy to its dealings with other opposition parties too.
Which is why what Yee Jenn Jong is currently doing will raise many eyebrows.
In case his name isn't as familiar to you as, say, Pritam Singh, Low Thia Khiang or Sylvia Lim (or maybe these days Jamus Lim), Yee is best known as one of the WP's two former Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) following the 2011 General Election (similar to the two NCMPs who now represent Progress Singapore Party in parliament).
Yee came within a whisker of clinching Joo Chiat Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the 2011 GE in his maiden attempt.
In his time in Parliament, he established himself as the male parliamentarian who spoke the most often, and also drilled down on issues like education at all levels — in a few cases even successfully pushing for policy change.
And now, he's written a substantial memoir about his political career, in which he has also opened up, for the first time from an insider with front-row seats to the party's leadership, about the inner workings of Singapore's best-performing opposition party in history.
And here's why he chose now to do this: He has also decided he will step back from standing in future elections, to make way for younger leaders and talent to rise within the party.
It is worth noting, therefore, with all that he shares in it, that this book is for Yee very much a personal — not a party-endorsed — project.
The 55-year-old notably, however, has endorsements on his book from a fascinating collection of people that does include WP chief Pritam Singh, media chair Leon Perera and other WP Members of Parliament (MPs) like Dennis Tan and Gerald Giam.
He also assures us that senior leaders of the party have also been shown the manuscript of his book — at the same time, though, he says to me casually that he will personally bear any "consequences" that may follow his groundbreaking decision to do this.
And the list doesn't stop at opposition figures either — he also has endorsements from former Minister of State Teo Ser Luck, People's Action Party MP Inderjit Singh, former Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Er Kwong Wah and former Nominated MP Calvin Cheng.
These, no doubt, are among a carefully curated (by his own admission) list by Yee so that he will be perceived as a politician who is constructive and respected by people from both sides of the political spectrum.
And let's talk a little about the book, because it is worth doing so
Lousy photo by Jeanette Tan
I'm hopeful, at least, that any consequences Yee faces from doing this will not outdo the meaningful contribution his book will make to literature on Singapore's politics — which is, to my admittedly poorly-read mind, significant and crucial.
Yee's book, titled Journey in Blue: A peek into the Workers' Party of Singapore, goes in depth into:
- party insider thinking on the process of its candidate selection and allocation for the past three elections Yee was part of,
- the real story behind Low's decision to step down from the helm three years ago and back from parliamentary politics this year, and
- the leadership challenge by Chen Show Mao against Low in the party's 2016 Central Executive Committee election.
among a number of other fascinating stories about the party and its people Yee tells from his perspective.
And in a refreshingly candid conversation we sat down together to have one evening last week at the Mothership office, he expanded on some of these stories he covered in his book.
A disgruntled Joo Chiat resident discovers an opportunity
A number of Yee's stories of his three election experiences start with the electoral boundaries review committee (EBRC)'s report, and his first foray into politics started that way too.
But first, we back things up to the year 2009, when Yee sold his business, ASKnLearn (which should sound familiar to those of us born in the late 1980s and the 1990s, at least, because we all used the system for e-learning in school). Up to that point, Yee says the extent of his action whenever he was irked about something was firing missives to newspaper forums, but moving on from ASKnLearn accorded him the space to consider doing more.
"I mean, if you run a business and you had 150 people to feed at one time, so and 90 per cent of our income comes from MOE schools, you know, government projects...
So I left (the business), then I had more time. And then when the election fever started coming, 2010, and you started reading more... So I thought maybe I should but you know, it's like I write and delete the email write and delete the email. Until finally I was like, heck lah, shoot the email lah!"
What email, you might ask? One addressed to the Workers' Party expressing his interest to join, no less.
And why enter politics? Yee's professional years in the education sector, coupled with his dealings with the government, made him discover what he felt to be a dire need for more diverse voices in Singapore, which he decided to contribute to.
"Eh, what am I doing here; I'm in Joo Chiat!"
It was a story on the EBRC report he read in The Straits Times one fine morning in February 2011 that finally spurred Yee into action.
"I flipped The Straits Times. Oh, okay, Joo Chiat is left alone. Eh what am I doing here, I’m in Joo Chiat! Maybe I should write to them and say that I’m in Joo Chiat, you know — and I think I know how this can be won. So I just went ahead and tried lah."
And so the plucky Yee fired off his emails to then-party chief Low Thia Khiang and chairman Sylvia Lim — and after not receiving any response from either of them, decided he needed to go another way if he was going to be serious about this.
Not knowing anyone from the WP personally, Yee sought the help of former Operation Spectrum detainee Tan Tee Seng to reach out to then-member Eric Tan. And things moved so quickly from there that within two days of meeting the latter Tan, he found himself gaining an audience with none other than Low himself.
Becoming a last-minute candidate
Photo courtesy of Yee Jenn Jong, via World Scientific
At this point, mind you, Yee says his wife, who had tagged along with him for the meeting with Low, was still none the wiser about his intention to join the party and stand on the WP ticket as a candidate in Joo Chiat.
"I was thinking I could be a candidate. But of course I thought she would agree. I assumed she would agree. That was my mistake. I assumed. But then it’s like if I tell her and nobody even offered me this position, why am I so presumptuous that anybody would want me? So it’s like either or; I ask her first or I ask the party first?
So I said, maybe I should just try because it's such a black box. I didn't know what was going to happen. I just asked, and then everything suddenly happened so fast. Within two weeks, I was offered. I was offered candidacy in two weeks — I said, wah. And then I was told, please reply by a certain date, you know. I think it was like two or three days. You don't reply, we’ll take it away from you."
And in those two or three days, Yee said his wife, caught unawares by the speed at which everything was unfolding without him having first sought her buy-in, refused to provide it.
Funnily enough, out of desperation Yee suggested his wife seek the advice of his staunch Lee Kuan Yew supporter mother-in-law, without any idea what she would say.
Remarkably, she urged her daughter to support Yee in his efforts, particularly if that was what he wanted.
"Son, I beg you to withdraw your candidacy"
A photograph of Yee's family. Yee is on the extreme left. Photo courtesy of Yee Jenn Jong.
Little did Yee know that his wife's resistance would be but a small hurdle compared to the mountain he would have to climb convincing his parents that what he was doing was a good idea.
This effort would turn out to be the most heartbreaking part of his journey. Yee explains that his parents, both Chinese language teachers, witnessed their colleagues get arrested and/or lose their jobs in the time they were working.
He says they initially thought he was invited by the ruling People's Action Party to stand as a candidate, and despite him telling them otherwise, he believes it only sank in when they started seeing him in the newspapers dressed in blue, instead of white.
"They got really worried that something might happen to me... My mom gave him a hard time. That I must pull out. And my dad called me and… he never used that word before. He said, '求求你.' he told me, 'please please please.' Wah, I couldn't take it.
I said I cannot lah. Because I'm already introduced, you know, and all that... Just let me go through with this and yeah, just avoid saying things that will get me into trouble... It was so hard."
What makes all this even sadder is the fact that Yee admits he doesn't actually know if his mother ever changed her mind about how she felt about him being in opposition politics — he says she was already suffering from early-stage dementia by 2011, and a year later, she passed away.
Photo courtesy of Yee Jenn Jong, via World Scientific
His dad did eventually come around, though, and even insisted on following Yee on some of his campaign walkabouts in Joo Chiat, particularly in the neighbourhoods the elder Yee frequented and was familiar with. In his book, Yee mentions a coffee shop owner who stocked his campaign flyers and happened to hand one to his father, who proudly declared, "That's my son!".
The nice thing is, though, Yee's three children, while not too politically inclined, do read his blogs and are supportive of his cause. His eldest daughter Faith and his son Harel both participated in Yee's magician act in the WP's "Bricks in Blue" fundraising show, and they were all happy to go along for the ride when their dad broke the news of his candidacy to them.
Being vocal, not bitter, about political bugbears
Naturally, one's time in opposition politics is bound to involve numerous experiences that an opposition politician may view as unjust, unsavoury and perhaps even with bitterness.
Yee mentions things like the challenges the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council is going through, the PAP's longtime upgrading-for-votes policy and also the Action Information Management (AIM) saga regarding the withdrawal of Aljunied Town Council's IT system, but is the first to stress that his five years spent in Parliament have not left him bitter or resentful at all.
"Not bitter at all. I mean, the PAP has to do what it has to do, you know? Of course the parts that I don't like are those… I mean, if it's just policy arguments and they don't agree with me, I'm fine with that.
But of course, I cannot stand what happened in Aljunied Town Council, and all the unfair things. I mean, come on. If the people didn't vote, then you just have to hand over that thing and let them run right — if we slip up, we slip up, but not because we don't have a good IT system or not because you know, of all these other things. I think that is not good for Singapore.
I think this is something that still irks me, and I don't think Singapore should develop that way. I mean, if we mess up, we mess up. But don't put banana skins or some poison pills and stuff like that."
On Yaw Shin Leong, and reciprocal treatment
One thing that isn't unequal in terms of consequences on both sides of the aisle, though, is the slightly touchier matter of personal indiscretions.
And we did touch on this, in particular with respect to what happened with Yaw Shin Leong, a rising star within the WP who was unceremoniously expelled from the party and later vacated his seat in Parliament, after an affair he had was exposed in early 2012.
Yaw's dismissal was one event that affected Yee quite badly — the young, talented politician and former Hougang SMC MP was, after all, the first and only fellow candidate who approached Yee offering personal guidance and help in his campaign, and Yee describes this moment as the "most painful" in his journey with the WP.
In Yee's book, he writes about an evening where Yaw went to his home to role-play the candidate campaign visit process so the rookie Yee would have the chance to practise his approach in knocking on residents' gates and doors and introducing himself to them.
Yaw acted as the resident, and I, the candidate. His experience showed. He would point out every fault — handshake not firm enough, hand was released too fast; I was not direct to the point; I did not sound sincere enough; and so on. We went on for about half an hour.
That session left me with much to think about... I remain grateful to Yaw for helping a rookie like me in politics get started. It was a short but very effective 30 minutes of guidance. He was a seasoned campaigner and I was a new candidate, eager to learn how to do the visits effectively.
Yee and Yaw would again work closely together in the party's central executive committee (CEC) as treasurer (Yaw) and deputy treasurer (Yee), and Yaw's untimely departure propelled Yee into the treasurer's seat.
"It happened very fast. I would describe the feeling as, I mean, imagine you're in a war, you're a soldier, and you're out there in the trenches, and then you see one of your comrades get shot and killed. It’s that kind of feeling of fighting together and then suddenly this guy got killed? And then you realise how brutal politics is. How ugly it can get."
Yee noticed how the issue had affected both WP and the ruling party, and reflected on how the ruling party "tried very hard to bring us down on that. And they succeeded. Then it hit them back twice (with Michael Palmer and David Ong)".
"And then he was forced out because of that issue. And then after that it happened to them, they have to do the same thing. And then Lee Li Lian got in!"
He had high praise for Yaw, though, and what he could have achieved had he been able to stay on within the party:
"He joined right after his graduation, he was with the Workers’ Party in early years. He led the Suicide Squad, and did well against the Prime Minister, then he was in Hougang.
And he's a true blue politician. So he's very good with the grassroots. You know, he recruits a lot of people. I mean, I only mentioned two, but I know he recruited quite a number of others. So yeah, I mean, he was the only one who even come to me and say you need any help or not... I didn’t even ask, I don't even know who to ask for help. Then he was the one who volunteered and say if you need help I come over and help... it was all just unfortunate."
The only politically active former NCMP who did not go on to be elected MP
Yee in 2011. Photo courtesy of Yee Jenn Jong
We swiftly approach an awkward fact — that although Yee was among six WP NCMP parliamentarians (the other five being Lim, Gerald Giam, Leon Perera, Daniel Goh and Dennis Tan — Goh withdrew from the GE2020, and so is no longer active) in the past two decades, he is the only active WP member who has not managed to win the electoral contests he stood in.
We touch a little on his Joo Chiat contest, and he offers this insight as a possible reason for his 1 per cent loss (a mere 388 vote difference):
"... honestly, I think I lost because PM (Lee Hsien Loong) apologised. If he didn't apologise, Joo Chiat would have been lost. Because the middle class voters can’t stand cockiness. So that will easily swing a few per cent away, because aiya, this fella, he's so repentant. Given him a chance lah, one more try lah. Yeah. Some of them told me actually they wanted to vote for me, and they were very honest, 'actually I wanted to vote for you but PM apologised'."
Following this, the SMC was collapsed into Marine Parade GRC, never to be revived again.
This development, of course, didn't come as a surprise to Yee at all — just perhaps one that brought a good dose of disappointment — because his subsequent contests in the same area would be far more formidable, against super-heavyweight Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, as well as popular former cabinet minister and Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin.
The WP's GE2015 Marine Parade GRC team. Photo courtesy of Yee Jenn Jong, via World Scientific
And even though he believes the team he assembled to contest Marine Parade in the 2015 election was a strong one, he reflects in his memoir that he felt pretty crushed by the starkly poorer showing in votes across the board that year.
WP's GE2020 Marine Parade GRC team. Photo courtesy of Yee Jenn Jong, via World Scientific
Regarding the NCMP position itself, Yee believes one should only occupy it for one term at most — if there is a benefit to the NCMP scheme, he opines, it helps a prospective opposition MP profile themselves, and show voters he or she can do parliamentary work well. Beyond that, one should gun for the elected MP role ("if you're in politics, you have to try to win").
And now he's done — what next?
Photo courtesy of Yee Jenn Jong, via World Scientific
With all the ways in which Yee invested time, energy and effort into political campaigning, ground work and volunteering to support residents in need (take that hugely intensive food distribution programme he started during the Circuit Breaker period earlier this year that's still active), I asked Yee what he's going to do with all his newfound time, and whether he has found closure in his decision to step back from trying to be an MP.
"It's closure as far as I'm not contesting. So when you're not contesting it takes a certain burden off you, because if I plan to contest, I would behave a bit differently or do things a bit differently.
So I'm still in the party, but because I'm not contesting I don't need to be so conscious of a lot of different things and I can set my time for other things. I don't need to worry about what's the timeline for the next election? Who are the people I'm going to bring with me?"
That being said, he stresses that he isn't resigning from the WP — he's still open to helping out wherever he might be needed, just that he will not stand in Marine Parade GRC again, or lead any teams of candidates, or be a candidate himself unless there is a certain particular need for him to stand somewhere.
And then he shares — he will write. He spent three intensive weeks banging out the 10 chapters that form Journey in Blue, and already has ideas about other aspects of his life he would like to consider future books about, like his entrepreneurship experiences.
He still owns a tuition centre, a childcare and a company providing learning programs to schools, and as recently as a month ago, he and his wife were approved to be foster parents.
All things that are in equal parts fulfilling and enough to keep one busy, I do think — and apart from the inroads Yee takes personal pride in achieving, policy-wise in Parliament through his insistent lobbying (you'll be able to read quite a lot about that in his book), his very act of writing this book is, at least in my view, certainly a significant enough contribution on his part to Singapore.
Journey In Blue: A Peek Into The Workers' Party Of Singapore, published by World Scientific, is now available at all major bookstores and here.
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Top photos by Angela Lim; Rachel Chew for Mothership