Nothing left to chance in PAP selection process: Ng Eng Hen
Much at stake, says PAP leader in charge of recruitment
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110330/p20.jpg
By Elgin Toh
Dr Ng said the PAP talked to people from all sectors, looking for individuals 'you would trust your future with'.
FOR every new candidate the People's Action Party (PAP) introduces to Singaporeans, there were about 10 who did not make the cut.
Nothing was left to chance: Thousands of man-hours were devoted to a 'stringent' and 'exhaustive' selection process that began just six months after the previous General Election in May 2006, PAP organising secretary (special duties) Ng Eng Hen disclosed yesterday.
Senior PAP members conducted nearly 200 tea sessions, to which more than 260 individuals were invited.
The reason? More is at stake today, said Dr Ng. He is the PAP leader in charge of the recruitment process before the coming General Election.
With a $300 billion economy and a population in which nine in 10 own their homes, 'we have more to protect'.
'We wanted to offer to Singaporeans the best possible team to preserve what we have and to take us forward into the future,' he said.
Dr Ng, who is also Education Minister, was speaking at the unveiling of the latest batch of three new PAP candidates.
The trio included two lawyers: Mr Edwin Tong, 41, a partner at law firm Allen & Gledhill, and Mr Vikram Nair, 32, from law firm Norton Rose.
Mr Nair is the second Indian PAP candidate to be introduced, after Dr Janil Puthucheary. He speaks Tamil and Malayalam.
The third is Mr Ang Hin Kee, 45, chief executive officer of the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). He is fluent in Mandarin and English.
Shedding light on the process that yielded yesterday's trio and others from the final line-up of more than 20 new candidates, Dr Ng said the PAP started talking to people from all sectors of society, with the view of drawing up a list of individuals 'you would trust your future with'.
The nets were cast wide, he said, and included workers with voluntary welfare organisations, professionals, academics, civil servants, businessmen and community leaders.
PAP leaders then met those shortlisted in groups or individually. More than half of the 260 or so people on the list attended two or more such sessions.
Some even had to go through 'intense eight-hour psychological profiling'.
The results from the interviews and tests were cross-referenced with reports PAP leaders received from people who had interacted with the candidates, either at work or when they volunteered at grassroots level.
'We assessed candidates over a period of time, for some indeed years. Some tea participants or candidates we saw through changes in jobs; some got married, pregnant, delivered. So we saw them in various forms - antepartum, postpartum,' said Dr Ng with a smile.
The party leaders looked out for 'four essential qualities', he added.
First, they must be 'activists' with the ability to put plans into action.
Then they must have the 'heart' for Singapore and be able to connect with Singaporeans.
Third, they had to stay committed to a course they knew to be right, and not 'succumb to populist sentiment'.
And finally, they must have the integrity to handle 'projects worth billions' and make decisions not for personal gain, but for the good of Singapore.
In particular, Dr Ng pointed out that agreeing with the PAP's policies was not part of the criteria. The diversity of candidates, he said, helped the PAP effect change 'from within'.
'Would we field candidates who disagreed with our policies? The answer is yes, if they could give a rationale why they believe their system... would work better,' he said.
When pressed on whether the PAP would field a candidate whose beliefs were at odds with fundamental PAP principles, such as a candidate who supported welfarism, he said: 'If somebody believes so fundamentally in a system that's different from Singapore's, it would be hard for him to accept how we do things.'
From yesterday's batch of three, Mr Nair stood out for stating openly, when asked, an existing policy he disagreed with. He did not believe in the need for a statutory retirement age.
'Once a person hits 62, that doesn't mean they can no longer perform the functions,' he said. 'If you take away the retirement age, then what you have is a system that basically says, yes, people can work as long as they want.'
Yesterday's introductions bring the total number of new PAP candidates to 12 so far. Dr Ng said that figure is 'somewhere about half', suggesting there may be 24 new candidates, the same number as in the 2006 General Election.
If introductions continue at the current pace of six a week, they should conclude by mid-next month, which makes possible an election by early May.
The next step after introductions is for the PAP to unveil its election manifesto.
[email protected]
Much at stake, says PAP leader in charge of recruitment
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110330/p20.jpg
By Elgin Toh
Dr Ng said the PAP talked to people from all sectors, looking for individuals 'you would trust your future with'.
FOR every new candidate the People's Action Party (PAP) introduces to Singaporeans, there were about 10 who did not make the cut.
Nothing was left to chance: Thousands of man-hours were devoted to a 'stringent' and 'exhaustive' selection process that began just six months after the previous General Election in May 2006, PAP organising secretary (special duties) Ng Eng Hen disclosed yesterday.
Senior PAP members conducted nearly 200 tea sessions, to which more than 260 individuals were invited.
The reason? More is at stake today, said Dr Ng. He is the PAP leader in charge of the recruitment process before the coming General Election.
With a $300 billion economy and a population in which nine in 10 own their homes, 'we have more to protect'.
'We wanted to offer to Singaporeans the best possible team to preserve what we have and to take us forward into the future,' he said.
Dr Ng, who is also Education Minister, was speaking at the unveiling of the latest batch of three new PAP candidates.
The trio included two lawyers: Mr Edwin Tong, 41, a partner at law firm Allen & Gledhill, and Mr Vikram Nair, 32, from law firm Norton Rose.
Mr Nair is the second Indian PAP candidate to be introduced, after Dr Janil Puthucheary. He speaks Tamil and Malayalam.
The third is Mr Ang Hin Kee, 45, chief executive officer of the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). He is fluent in Mandarin and English.
Shedding light on the process that yielded yesterday's trio and others from the final line-up of more than 20 new candidates, Dr Ng said the PAP started talking to people from all sectors of society, with the view of drawing up a list of individuals 'you would trust your future with'.
The nets were cast wide, he said, and included workers with voluntary welfare organisations, professionals, academics, civil servants, businessmen and community leaders.
PAP leaders then met those shortlisted in groups or individually. More than half of the 260 or so people on the list attended two or more such sessions.
Some even had to go through 'intense eight-hour psychological profiling'.
The results from the interviews and tests were cross-referenced with reports PAP leaders received from people who had interacted with the candidates, either at work or when they volunteered at grassroots level.
'We assessed candidates over a period of time, for some indeed years. Some tea participants or candidates we saw through changes in jobs; some got married, pregnant, delivered. So we saw them in various forms - antepartum, postpartum,' said Dr Ng with a smile.
The party leaders looked out for 'four essential qualities', he added.
First, they must be 'activists' with the ability to put plans into action.
Then they must have the 'heart' for Singapore and be able to connect with Singaporeans.
Third, they had to stay committed to a course they knew to be right, and not 'succumb to populist sentiment'.
And finally, they must have the integrity to handle 'projects worth billions' and make decisions not for personal gain, but for the good of Singapore.
In particular, Dr Ng pointed out that agreeing with the PAP's policies was not part of the criteria. The diversity of candidates, he said, helped the PAP effect change 'from within'.
'Would we field candidates who disagreed with our policies? The answer is yes, if they could give a rationale why they believe their system... would work better,' he said.
When pressed on whether the PAP would field a candidate whose beliefs were at odds with fundamental PAP principles, such as a candidate who supported welfarism, he said: 'If somebody believes so fundamentally in a system that's different from Singapore's, it would be hard for him to accept how we do things.'
From yesterday's batch of three, Mr Nair stood out for stating openly, when asked, an existing policy he disagreed with. He did not believe in the need for a statutory retirement age.
'Once a person hits 62, that doesn't mean they can no longer perform the functions,' he said. 'If you take away the retirement age, then what you have is a system that basically says, yes, people can work as long as they want.'
Yesterday's introductions bring the total number of new PAP candidates to 12 so far. Dr Ng said that figure is 'somewhere about half', suggesting there may be 24 new candidates, the same number as in the 2006 General Election.
If introductions continue at the current pace of six a week, they should conclude by mid-next month, which makes possible an election by early May.
The next step after introductions is for the PAP to unveil its election manifesto.
[email protected]
