I have no say in choice of successor: Low Thia Khiang

SINGAPORE — Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang on Wednesday (Feb 14) dismissed suggestions that he has a hand in deciding who his successor will be, stressing that it is up to the party cadres to pick the next leader.

Mr Low’s incumbent deputy, WP assistant secretary-general Pritam Singh, has emerged as the favourite in recent days, with several WP central executive council (CEC) members publicly throwing their support behind him.

Nevertheless, the WP CEC members stressed that Mr Singh, 41, would have to be voted as the next secretary-general at the CEC elections in April.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of his Meet-the-People Session at Bedok Reservoir, Mr Low said: “The party’s cadres will have to vote and decide who is the next secretary-general. That is our procedure and we will go through that.”

Mr Low, 61, had announced last November that he will step down as party chief and not contest for the top post in the CEC elections.

Asked whether he could still run for other positions on the council, Mr Low was non-committal. “You will know when the results are out at the next CEC election...Suffice to say party cadres will have to decide,” he reiterated.

With WP set to have a new leader when Parliament reconvenes after a mid-term break in April, Mr Low was also asked whether he will put in a request to Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin for the party’s new leader to take his seat in the front row of the House.

Pointing out that the decision lies with the Speaker, Mr Low nevertheless said he will inform the Parliament “what the party decides and the Speaker should (then) decide”. “Whether it’s important politically to have the new leader sitting at the position… as Speaker of Parliament, I’m sure he will look into all these important symbolism of parliamentary democracy,” said Mr Low, who is the de facto Opposition leader in Parliament.

On Monday, WP CEC members Dennis Tan, Leon Perera and Gerald Giam said they will support Mr Singh if he runs for the top post, after another CEC member Daniel Goh gave his backing to Mr Singh on Facebook.

However, a veteran party member who declined to be named told TODAY it is “not really a guarantee” that Mr Singh will succeed Mr Low. He claimed that the majority of the older members still prefer Mr Chen Show Mao — who mounted an unsuccessful leadership challenge at the last CEC elections in 2016 — because he is “his own man and has independent ideas”, while Mr Singh is seen as being too closely aligned to Mr Low.

WP chairman Sylvia Lim has also ruled herself out of the running as the next party chief, saying she was not keen on succeeding Mr Low and will again contest the chairman position at the coming CEC elections. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Ms Lim also stressed that the CEC has not held any meetings to discuss this, and it will be left to the cadres’ vote.