By Warren Fernandez
SINGAPOREANS will elect 83 MPs in 15 Group Representation Constituencies and nine single-seat wards, the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee has proposed in its report, which the Government says it accepts and will implement in the coming General Election.
Six new GRCs have been created, six enlarged, two made smaller, one unchanged and six scrapped or renamed.
Four of the GRCs will be six-member teams, six will have five MPs, while another five will have four MPs on the slate.
All four opposition-held wards -- Potong Pasir, Hougang, Bukit Gombak and Nee Soon Central -- remain as single seats.
But parts of Nee Soon Central have been hived off to be included in Ang Mo Kio GRC.
In a major redrawing of the boundaries, all constituencies, except Ayer Rajah, Bukit Gombak, Hougang, Potong Pasir and Sembawang GRC, saw changes made to them.
These were in line with population shifts across the island, as well as the recent move by the Government to allow for bigger GRCs of up to six MPs to promote community ties.
The number of single-seat wards has been set at nine, one above the legal minimum. Fourteen of the existing 21 single-seat wards have been merged into new or existing GRCs, while two new single-seat wards have been created.
These are Kampong Glam and MacPherson.
The latter is aimed at keeping Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's pledge to allow a one-on-one fight between Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan and the People's Action Party's Matthias Yao.
But asked yesterday if he would stand in MacPherson, Dr Chee repeated his previous statement that it was up to the SDP's Central Executive Committee to decide.
The five-man boundaries review committee, chaired by Mr Wong Chooi Sen, secretary to the Cabinet, submitted its 11-page report to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on Nov 6.
This has been presented to Parliament as a White Paper, which was made public yesterday.
The report is widely seen as a sign of impending polls as elections have usually been held within weeks to a few months after it is published.
MPs and leaders of political parties contacted yesterday said they would be meeting soon to study the boundaries and work out their battle plans.
Changes
The boundary changes will result in 89 per cent of MPs in Singapore's ninth Parliament being elected through GRCs, up from 74 per cent in 1991.
Single-seat wards will account for 10.8 per cent of MPs, down from 25.9 per cent in 1991.
Parliament amended the law last month to raise the maximum number of MPs in a GRC from four to six.
The minimum number of single seats was also reduced from a quarter of all seats in Parliament to eight.
As the number of GRCs has remained unchanged at 15, this means that there will be at least 15 MPs from ethnic minority groups, assuming the parties field only the minimum of one minority candidate in each GRC.
In line with Mr Goh's plan to expand GRCs to facilitate the setting up of Community Development Councils, as well as to force the opposition to field teams with plans for the wards, four "mega-GRCs" with six MPs to a slate have been created, including Marine Parade GRC.
Workers' Party secretary general J B Jeyaretnam will thus have to field a six-man slate against Mr Goh's team if he is to take up the Prime Minister's challenge to stand against him.
Mr Jeyaretnam declined comment yesterday on whether he would do so.
The committee also noted in its report that the number of voters would rise to 1,880,560, up 11 per cent from 1991.
It proposed that each single-seat ward should have an average of 23,000 voters.
In line with past practice, the number of voters in a ward is allowed to deviate by up to 30 per cent.
Ten single-seats and three GRCs were found to be either too large, or too small, and so had to be redrawn.
These included single seats Chua Chu Kang (58,088); Jurong (55,458) and Nee Soon South (31,441).
Eunos GRC had 170,038 voters, nearly double the 95,740 voters in 1991.
The GRC has been divided to form the new Pasir Ris GRC and East Coast GRC, while other parts will go to Tampines GRC.
Contacted yesterday, opposition MPs and candidates described the boundary changes as moves to benefit the ruling party, adding that they were not surprised by this.
But PAP MPs welcomed the changes, saying that the new boundaries would facilitate town council operations and help foster community ties.
15 Group Representation Constituencies:
* Six new ones: Bishan-Toa Payoh, Bukit Timah, East Coast, Kreta Ayer-Tanglin, Pasir Ris, West Coast.
* Six enlarged: Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio, Hong Kah, Marine Parade, Tampines, Tanjong Pagar.
* Two made smaller: Cheng San, Jalan Besar.
* One unchanged: Sembawang.
* Six scrapped/renamed: Bedok, Brickworks, Eunos, Kampong Glam, Toa Payoh, Thomson.
* Four GRCs with six seats: East Coast, Marine Parade, Sembawang, Tanjong Pagar.
* Six GRCs with five seats: Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan-Toa Payoh, Bukit Timah, Cheng San, Hong Kah.
* Five GRCs with four seats: Jalan Besar, Kreta Ayer-Tanglin, Pasir Ris, Tampines, West Coast.
Nine single-seat wards
* Two new ones: MacPherson, Kampong Glam.
* Four unchanged: Ayer Rajah, Bukit Gombak, Hougang, Potong Pasir.
* Two made smaller: Nee Soon Central, Chua Chu Kang.
* One enlarged: Boon Lay.
* 14 scrapped: Braddell Heights, Bukit Batok, Bukit Merah, Bukit Timah, Buona Vista, Changi, Jurong, Kreta Ayer, Leng Kee, Mountbatten, Nee Soon South, Tanglin, Ulu Pandan, Yuhua.
* Total number of MPs: 83 (up from 81)
* Total number of voters: 1,880,560
The above article was first published in The Straits Times, Nov 22, 1996.
Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.
