Singapore govt plays on record, clout in election

By John O'Callaghan

SINGAPORE, Oct 20 - We've been doing it for 36 years and we're the ones to tide you through tough times -- that's the message to voters from Singapore's ruling party.

While campaigning for the snap November 3 election does not officially begin until nomination day on October 25, the government has come out swinging with a hefty stimulus plan, a manifesto of more spending and a well-oiled party machine.

Opposition parties, often strapped for cash and candidates, are scrambling to get ready for a vote less than two weeks away that will centre on rising unemployment, the listing economy and Singapore's security in a suddenly more uncertain world.

"The current situation is the worst we have seen," a 26-year-old engineer who asked not to be named said on Saturday.

"I believe Singaporeans in general have confidence in the government to get us out of this, but that is not to say that the opposition can be written off completely."

Some of the 22 opposition parties are pooling resources to target single-seat wards and a handful of the multi-candidate constituencies that have helped the People's Action Party (PAP) keep its lock on parliament since independence in 1965.

IN TOUCH WITH THE PEOPLE?

The PAP's 25 new candidates include young bankers, doctors and other professionals as the ruling party courts voters with its track record, more spending and promises of economic recovery.

With almost no natural resources beyond the minds and muscle of its four million people, Singapore depends on a healthy global economy, demand for electronics and regional stability.

A burgeoning China looms as both a threat and an opportunity, while the geopolitical arena is complicated by Muslim anger in Indonesia and Malaysia as the United States retaliates over the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Faced with the worst recession since 1964, the government unveiled a $11.3 billion ($6.2 billion) stimulus package last week and is stressing Singapore's unwritten "social compact" of benevolent policies in return for popular support.

"Place your trust in us again to take Singapore safely into the future," Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in a letter to the city state's two million voters.

But some commentators wonder whether the PAP is missing the mark by focusing on uncertainty and the shape of the future when people are worried about jobs, healthcare and the cost of living.

"It articulates ideals no one can seriously quibble with, but it misses out on one thing -- people will find it hard to connect with them," Chua Lee Hoong, a columnist in the pro-government Straits Times newspaper, wrote on Saturday.

PAP IN PLACE

After growing nearly 10 percent in 2000, the economy has reversed course as electronics demand slumped and key trading partners like the United States suffered downturns of their own.

But even with the outlook gloomy well into next year, the PAP is unlikely to lose more than a few seats and instead looks most intently at the barometer of the popular vote.

In the 1997 poll, the PAP won 65 percent of the ballot to take 81 of 83 seats.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong -- also chairman of the central bank and son of elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew -- has criticised opposition parties for not declaring their candidates.

But opposition member of parliament Chiam See Tong sees similarities in the PAP strategy.

"We have announced the constituencies we are standing in but not the candidates," said Chiam, who leads the four-party Singapore Democratic Alliance. "The PAP has not announced all the candidates and not where anyone is standing."

The Workers' Party, which declined to join the alliance, hopes to strike a nerve with its focus on the "new poor" as citizens accustomed to one of Asia's highest standards of living feel the pinch of recession.