The Road Less Travelled by: Conversations with Singapore's Opposition Community

Via detailed personal interviews, this paper canvasses the views of leading Singaporean opposition politicians and activists about the state of play in Singapore politics and likely developments over the next ten years. The role of internet activism is also explored. We also look at how and why the individuals became politicized on the opposition side. The two highest profile opposition parties have contrasting approaches, with the Workers’ Party of Singapore (WP) being a disciplined and restrained political machine which has a primary goal of winning more seats at elections and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) operating more like a western or Hong-Kong based NGO with its post-early-1990s emphasis upon human rights, democracy, and strategic civil disobedience. Our interviews show that the Singaporean opposition activist community, while small outside of election campaigns, is passionate and committed to taking the city-state away from the right-wing authoritarian pathway. We obtain direct and personal access to Singapore’s opposition community, including people that are not party leaders and who are difficult to access.