Opposition united front? It’s ‘asking for too much’

The Workers’ Party (WP) did not respond to an invitation from the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) to discuss the opposition’s strategy in the Punggol East by-election. SMU Assistant Professor of Law and NMP Eugene Tan commented that having an opposition united front is probably asking for too much, "given the personalities involved and the rather different methods of politics that each opposition deploys". He added that the WP "tends to be less confrontational, playing shrewdly by the rules, while SDP is known for its more confrontational approach". Assistant Prof Tan also noted that trust "an important premium" is "sorely lacking between the WP and SDP".