Step Up book launch: Yee Jenn Jong on WP's evolution, candidate challenges, and the road beyond GE2025

Former Workers' Party (WP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Yee Jenn Jong launched his new book, Step Up: The Workers' Party of Singapore 2.0 — The Road to GE2025 and Beyond, on 3 June 2026 at Book Bar.

The book, co-authored with political historian Loke Hoe Yeong and published by World Scientific, examines the WP's transformation across more than two decades, tracing its evolution from a party that could only field two candidates at the 2001 general election to one that polled at approximately 50 per cent across every constituency it contested at GE2025.

The launch was moderated by academic Dr Walid Jumblatt Abdullah and live-streamed on Instagram via the Teh Tarik with Walid platform.

Among those present was Paris V Parameswari, a former United States Navy security administrator who resigned her position to contest East Coast GRC under the WP banner at GE2025, and fellow East Coast running mate Jasper Kuan, a payments and fintech industry executive and former Ministry of Education teacher.

Why 2.0

The book's subtitle reflects Yee's assessment that the party has crossed a qualitative threshold.

"The reason is that if you look at the last election, the candidates we fielded are of a quality able to challenge the ruling party in a way that was very difficult in the past," he said.

"We are still at a very significant disadvantage. But the party has come to a point that it is able to challenge."

Yee traced the WP's development through its four secretaries-general: David Marshall, who founded the party; the late J B Jeyaretnam, who made its first parliamentary breakthrough; Low Thia Khiang, who rebuilt and systematised the party; and current secretary-general Pritam Singh.

He reserved particular credit for Low, under whom he served.

"He took over in very difficult times. The year he took over was the year we only managed to contest two SMCs, back in 2001. He put certain respectability back into the party and allowed it to snowball to where it is now."

Yee described Low's most significant achievement as organisational rather than electoral — building a system capable of outlasting its founder.

"To be able to build up a system that after you leave, your successor can carry on, and the system still runs — that is a very good achievement."

On Singh, Yee noted that he had presided over a second GRC breakthrough and had come close to winning two further constituencies at GE2025, describing the result as strong given the broader electoral environment.

When asked about Singh's leadership position ahead of the 28 June special cadres conference, Yee was brief and direct: "My vote is not secret. I'm going to support Pritam." He did not elaborate further on the matter during the book launch discussion.

Candidate selection and recruitment

Yee was candid about the persistent difficulty of assembling a full slate of candidates, noting that the WP had declined to contest Marine Parade GRC and Bradell Heights SMC at GE2025 because it could not assemble teams it was sufficiently confident in.

"There are people who are not ready for various reasons. It could be family, young families, career," he said.

He described the structural asymmetry between opposition and ruling-party recruitment bluntly.

"I can only offer you all these problems. I can offer you arrows. You can go into the gladiator ring, you can fight — that is what we can offer. But I'm so glad that people are still coming in."

He added that some prospective candidates had in the past been told to choose between their employment and contesting — a constraint with no equivalent on the ruling party's side.

Yee noted that the party had become significantly more selective in recent elections, and argued this was the correct approach.

"We are at around 50 per cent in every seat we contest, meaning we can possibly win every seat we contest. Whoever contests will possibly be an MP. So that has to be the mindset."

He joined the WP ahead of GE2011, contesting Joo Chiat SMC, where he obtained NCMP status after losing by 388 votes — a margin of 2.04 per cent, the narrowest of that election before the constituency was absorbed into Marine Parade GRC. He was later fielded in East Coast GRC at GE2025. 

He described his own entry into the party as something of a gamble on the party's part.

"I joined quite last minute in 2011. The party took a gamble on me. I hope it was a good gamble for them."

He also reflected on the painful experience of watching colleagues depart involuntarily, including the late Yaw Shin Leong, the former Hougang MP who was expelled from the party in 2012 following his non-response to the party's queries about an alleged affair, and who passed away in November 2023.

"The most difficult thing I had to experience in my term in Parliament was having to watch Yaw Shin Leong go. It was painful, but it was just a reality of politics — like you are in a gladiator ring, and sometimes you watch your comrades fall."

The spending gap

Figures declared to the Elections Department illustrate the financial disparity Yee described. Across the eight constituencies contested by the WP at GE2025 — Aljunied, East Coast, Hougang, Jalan Kayu, Punggol, Sengkang, Tampines, and Tampines Changkat — the People's Action Party (PAP) declared total election expenses of S$2,780,322, compared to S$1,636,728 for the WP, a ratio of 1.70 to 1.

The gap was widest in Punggol GRC, where PAP candidates declared a combined S$541,854 against the WP's S$265,695, a ratio of 2.04 to 1. The disparity there was driven primarily by online advertising, with each PAP candidate declaring approximately S$75,488 in that category, against nil for each WP candidate.

In East Coast GRC, where Yee himself contested, the PAP declared S$602,866 against the WP's S$313,200, a ratio of 1.92 to 1. On a per-candidate basis, PAP candidates in East Coast declared between S$98,122 and S$150,562 each, while each WP candidate declared a uniform S$62,640.

The narrowest gap was in Sengkang GRC, where the PAP spent S$338,440 against the WP's S$265,284, a ratio of 1.28 to 1.

These figures cover the formal campaign period only, as defined under the Parliamentary Elections Act. They do not include expenditure channelled through People's Association grassroots activities or constituency improvement works, which fall outside the Elections Department returns framework.

"The cost to run in East Coast is not cheap. The cost to run anywhere is not cheap. It is in the couple of hundreds of thousands. The PAP outspends us more than two times," Yee said.

Fifth-generation leadership

When asked about the WP's fifth-generation leadership, Yee said it was too early to identify individuals but that the party's depth gave him confidence.

"It was not obvious when Pritam went in in 2011 that he would be the one. Somebody will emerge. There is nobody obvious at the moment, but there are enough people moving forward."

He said that if a leadership transition were required, he would prefer to see it come from the current fourth-generation cohort — someone with more than one parliamentary term. He cited Dennis Tan, Gerald Giam, and the Sengkang GRC team of Louis Chua, He Ting Ru, and Jamus Lim as members of that cohort, without expressing a preference among them.

Fixed election cycles and national sentiment

Yee argued that electoral timing was the single most consequential variable in Singapore politics, and one entirely outside the opposition's control.

"After running four elections, I come to one conclusion. The most important factor is national sentiment, and the party in power has the upper hand — they call the elections and they look at the events and decide."

He cited GE2020 as an example of poor timing on the government's part, suggesting that had the election been held six months or a year later, after the COVID-19 situation had stabilised, the outcome might have been different.

On the deployment of senior ministers against WP-targeted GRCs, Yee noted the escalating cost to the PAP of that strategy.

"They sent Heng Swee Keat, they sent Gan Kim Yong. It is not just any ordinary minister, but very good ministers. If we contest eight GRCs, are they going to deploy very good ministers in all eight? That is a problem for them."

For the future, Yee said the WP's ten-year goal should be modest but meaningful — one or two additional constituencies, built on a continued commitment to candidate quality and a clear sense of who the party is fighting for.

"The party cannot lose focus on who we are championing and who we are fighting for. That is the first and fundamental thing."

A definite retirement

Yee confirmed that his retirement from electoral politics was final, and was unhurried in explaining why.

"I am the same age as Singapore. The next election will see me at 65. I have four grandchildren. There are different seasons for different phases of our life."

He pointed to his community work with Red Collective, a vegetable rescue and redistribution initiative, as the direction his public service would take going forward, describing it as work he was genuinely passionate about.

"I have not changed in that I want a better Singapore. It is just a different way of doing it. I just do not feel that it is necessary in politics anymore. There is already a Workers' Party 2.0. There are enough people moving forward."