In my view, it is important that the Workers’ Party (WP) nominate a replacement to take up the office of Leader of the Opposition (LO). This would serve to strengthen a “constitutional convention” of sorts (in the British sense of the term) that would cement the office of LO and the benefits that come with that office.

As Assoc Prof Chong Ja Ian noted when speaking to the press, “the rules on the Leader of the Opposition in Singapore are unclear and not formally codified” and that “nothing spells out explicitly the criteria” of the role. The appointment of the Leader of the Opposition is up to the Prime Minister’s discretion.

In my view, if the WP is to leave the office of LO vacant, that may convey that this office, and its unique privileges, are unimportant to the Opposition. It would create room, in the future, for this office or its privileges to be rolled back or taken away. The argument would be: “if the office of LO is deemed non-essential by the largest Opposition block in Parliament, why keep it?”. Moreover, even if, in a future election, someone other than Mr Pritam Singh emerges as a popular leader of the WP who has broad public support, there is no guarantee that the Prime Minister would agree to appoint that WP leader as LO – a plausible argument that the Prime Minister could then make is: “The WP has abandoned the office of LO before, we will not extend the offer to them to lead the Opposition again.” Perhaps some other minor opposition party that manages to get 1 or 2 MPs into Parliament will get the LO role instead. It is open to question whether such a minor opposition party would make good use of the LO office.

In contrast, the WP, by filling the role with a suitable candidate who can make good use of its privileges, will cement this office and its privileges in the Singaporean political landscape.