WP's Harpreet Singh responds to Petir articles on his comments about the possibility of a minority PM

Workers' Party (WP) candidate Harpreet Singh has responded to a pair of articles published in People's Action Party (PAP) publication Petir, posting a social media post with a link to the Yah Lah But Podcast where Singh had made his initial comments, asking Singaporeans to "judge for themselves what I actually said".

Petir's articles had claimed that Singh's comments in the podcast had "presented a distorted and one-sided picture" of PAP leaders' comments about the possibility of a minority race Prime Minister.

Singh's reply

On the evening of Apr. 20, Singh took to social media to address an article entitled "Mr Harpreet Singh misrepresents our views".

He also quoted the opening lines of the article he named where the Petir article said: "This is another about Mr Harpreet Singh's suggestion that the PAP doesn't think a minority can or even should become Prime Minister. He presented a distorted, one-sided picture of what PAP leaders have said recently on this score."

Singh responded by saying "that does not reflect the words or purport of what I said."

He then continued: "Fair-minded Singaporeans can judge for themselves what I actually said (and did not say) at 1:07:15 onwards" and provided a link to the Yah Lah But Podcast.

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His comments in the podcast

During the podcast, published on Apr. 10, the hosts questioned Singh about the perception that the WP was just "PAP lite".

Singh disagreed but first laid out a number of things that he felt all Singaporeans agreed on:

"First, let's talk about the things we agree with. As I said, there are many things in Singapore that I and the Workers' Party agree with, that we will preserve, and that will not change.

Our system of meritocracy, our commitment to incorruptibility, race relations, a world-class civil service, etcetera etcetra, the ideals in our flag. Those are all givens.

Any responsible, sensible political party will take that as... part of Singapore's rich legacy; that's non-negotiable.

But that doesn't make us PAP Lite."

He then brought up his first point of difference between the WP and PAP.

"You remember when the PAP said Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam will not be put up as PM because some Singaporeans are just not ready for a non-Chinese PM?

That, I think, was a slap on every Singaporean's face.

It went against our principle of meritocracy, went against our principle of equality of all races; you will never, ever, ever hear that from the Workers' Party.

We are committed to multiculturalism, committed to, you know, multiracialism, meritocracy, and the best man or woman for any role will be pushed forward.

And that's why you see Mr Low Thia Khiang passing on the mantle over to Mr Pritam Singh, a Teochew man to a Sikh gentleman."

He then named a number of other points of disagreement with the PAP, such as on constitutional amendments, education, and housing.

Petir's double responses

On Apr. 20, Petir responded by publishing two articles on his comments.

First article

Petir's first article, titled "Position on non-Chinese PM", alluded to Singh's comments on the podcast.

It said that Singh had claimed the PAP had "gone against the principles of meritocracy and equality of all races by not putting Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam as Prime Minister", which the publication said was "untrue".

It went on to say that Tharman had ruled himself out of the running for PM several times, quoting his first refusal in 2016:

"Just to be absolutely clear, because I know of this talk that's going around, I'm not the man for PM. I say that categorically. It's not me. I know myself, I know what I can do, and it's not me… I'm good at policymaking; I'm good at advising my younger colleagues, and supporting the PM – not being the PM. That's not me."

Petir repeated comments that Tharman had made in 2023 about not wanting the position when he said he "never liked being centre forward; I didn't particularly like being the person who scored goals."

Petir went on to say Tharman was now the president, and that his name "should not be bandied about misleadingly to make tendentious political points" and that "we must respect the presidency."

Second article

Petir's second article, titled "Mr Harpreet Singh misrepresents our views" said that it was "another post" about Singh's "suggestion that the PAP doesn't think a minority can or even should become Prime Minister".

"He presented a distorted, one-sided picture of what PAP leaders have said recently on this score."

The article then listed the comments of four PAP leaders, beginning with the Deputy Prime Minister's 2019 comments on the matter.

Petir said DPM Heng had shared his observations that segments of Singapore's population, especially older Singaporeans, were not ready for a non-Chinese PM and were "acknowledging the different mindsets of our diverse population, not endorsing their views".

Petir then shared comments made by then-DPM Lawrence Wong in 2021 when he clarified the PAP government's view, saying he "would welcome the prospect of having a PM from a racial minority and looked forward to that day."

It continued:

"While a minority should be aware of prevailing attitudes on the ground – e.g. surveys do indicate that some Singaporeans felt more comfortable with someone of their own race as PM – Mr Wong emphasised that such mindsets should not be accepted, and we must work hard to change them."

In 2022, Petir said, K Shanmugam told the BBC in an interview that it was inaccurate to say that a racial minority cannot be PM in Singapore.

Shanmugam said that, on the contrary, it was entirely possible and should not be ruled out.

Shanmugam conceded that race was a factor in politics but added that a good candidate from a minority race could bridge the gap if fellow MPs felt confident that they could lead them and win elections.

Finally, Petir quoted Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong saying in 2024 that "We must have the best leader. And the best leader—he may be Chinese, may be Malay, may be Indian, may be some other race, may be Eurasian. It does not matter — if he can win Singaporean support and mobilise Singaporeans and command respect in the world, he should be the Prime Minister."

Top image via Yah Lah But/YouTube