Quora Answer: If the PAP Loses Its Grip on the Legislature, Would Their Leaders Try to Flee like Malaysia’s Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “If the PAP loses its grip on the legislature, would their leader try to flee like Malaysia’s Mohammed Najib bin Abdul Razak?”

In the unlikely event that the PAP were to lose an election, and the ability to form the government, the former ministers have no reason to run.  People may disagree with policy decisions and issues, but that is a far cry from impropriety on the scale of Mohammed Najib bin Abdul Razak’s kleptocracy.  They have only lost an electoral mandate, not their integrity or credibility.

In fact, they have every incentive to fight the next election.  Whichever party comes to power has a steep learning curve.  At the moment, even a coalition of all the Opposition parties do not have enough people of calibre to sit in the Cabinet.  And those who have substance have some credibility issues.

Secondly, we have to consider the fact that the Opposition cannot get along among themselves.  We would likely end up with a hung Parliament, and one or more of those parties will approach the PAP to be a partner in a coalition government.  That is a backdoor for the PAP to come back into power.  Losing an election is not the end of the world.  And a new government has bigger issues than a witch hunt based on personality clashes.  That would affect their credibility, and guarantee a loss in the very next election.