CNA Explains: The secretive world of Singapore's political party cadres

SINGAPORE: During the ongoing trial of Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh for allegedly lying before a Committee of Privileges, a former party cadre was called up as a witness.

The term will once again pop up in the news next month, when cadres from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) convene for their party conference.

There has been much online chatter from curious netizens wondering just what a cadre is.

Singapore’s four biggest political parties – the PAP, WP, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) – all follow a cadre system of party organisation.

How did the cadre system come about?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “cadre” came about in the late 1700s.

It has its roots in French, referring to a group of military officers in charge of training the rest of the unit.

In the 19th century, cadre parties developed in European politics and dominated the political landscape, using electoral and parliamentary means to exercise power in a period of great social and economic upheaval.

In a political context, cadres are people trained, typically in socialist states, to carry out the goals of the party-state and to spread and enforce the official ideology.

For instance, the African National Congress in South Africa, which has governed since the end of apartheid in 1994, deploys cadres in strategic positions at various levels of government. China’s Communist Party has about 40 million cadres across the country, placed in positions in the party, state, military, business and other organisations.

The cadre system was introduced into the Singapore political landscape because early leaders like Lee Kuan Yew and David Marshall were educated in the United Kingdom and exposed to the politics there, noted NUS associate professor of political science Bilveer Singh.

They then brought back what they learnt and socialised the concept into the Singapore system in the 1950s, he said.

Why is the cadre structure important?

Assistant Professor Elvin Ong, from the National University of Singapore's political science department, said a cadre system helps a party “maintain its internal organisational coherence, in terms of ideology, loyalty and discipline over the medium to long term”.

“It is a tiered membership system that prevents hostile takeovers,” said Associate Professor Daniel Goh, associate provost for undergraduate education at the National University of Singapore and a former Non-Constituency MP from the WP.

“It is a good thing to maintain a degree of stability for a democracy built around political parties competing with each other for electoral votes.”

He noted that, for instance, the PAP’s cadre system was introduced in 1958 after an attempt by left-wing members to gain control of the party.

The WP too has been a cadre party since its formation in 1957, said Assoc Prof Singh.

Asst Prof Ong said: “We should expect party leaders to only select members who profess to believe in the party’s mission to be cadres.

“Promoted cadre members who are entrusted with the voting rights are, in turn, expected to be more loyal to the party and less susceptible to defection than ordinary members.”

Cadres are also expected to act in accordance with instructions from the party leadership, and “be less fickle than ordinary members”, said Asst Prof Ong.

“This will help the party be more resilient to electoral setbacks in the short term and survive over the longer term.”

What does a cadre do?

The constitutions of some political parties here provide an insight into what a cadre member does.

Cadre members have the right to cast votes for the party’s central executive committee (CEC). This means they hold the power to decide who enters the party’s highest decision-making body.

They are also eligible to stand for election to the CEC themselves.

“Members who have proved their loyalty and service to the principles and objectives of the party and members who, in the opinion of the central executive committee, are fit and proper persons, shall be eligible for appointment as cadre members,” the PAP’s constitution states.

At its most recent party conference in November 2022, more than 3,000 cadres gathered at the Resorts World Sentosa Convention Centre.

Similarly, the WP’s constitution lets its CEC appoint cadres, emphasising that the member must be deemed “a fit and proper person”.

Its Cadre Members’ Conference is held at least once in two years, during which cadres will elect the party’s executive body, while “guided by the need for diverse representation”.

Special conferences can also be called at any time by the chairman or a CEC member, or “10 per cent of the cadre membership or at least 20 cadre members of the party (whichever is higher)”, it states.

“One was expected to contribute to the cause by participating and volunteering actively in party grassroots activities, party-building work, supporting the MPs for their parliamentary work and election campaigns,” said Assoc Prof Goh.

Workers' Party has around 100 cadres, according to former members. Assoc Prof Goh estimated that about a third of the party members are cadres.

In the SDP, cadres are appointed by the CEC “typically in small, carefully curated batches once every two years, in tandem with the Ordinary Party Conference cycle”, a spokesperson told CNA.

The party currently has slightly over 50 cadres, forming around 15 per cent of the party’s membership, the spokesperson added.

There are no publicly available lists of cadres for any of the parties. 

“It is confidential and quite closely held, and understandably so, as it represents the inner circle of the party,” said a PAP member, who has been a cadre for about six years.

“It is possible that some members do not even know that another is a cadre.”

Those who become cadres do not have to pay additional membership fees.

How does one become a cadre?

The SDP spokesperson said party cadres “are usually long-serving members whose contributions have been deemed suitably valuable to the well-being of the party”.

There is no fixed duration that they have to be an ordinary member for, but the appointment would have to be unanimously approved by the CEC, said the spokesperson.

For PAP, there seem to be “no fixed rules” to qualify for cadreship, “but what the party looks out for is consistency and effort”, said a cadre.

“Ultimately, the cadres are the ones who choose the CEC, so they have to be trusted. In a sense, they are the more senior members of the party and form the inner core of the rank-and-file,” he said.

PAP cadres told CNA it typically takes at least five years for a member to become a cadre.

The former WP cadre who took the stand in Mr Singh’s trial, Mr Yudhishthra Nathan, had been in the party for six years before he left in 2022. He became an ordinary member in early 2016, before becoming a cadre in the middle of that same year.

Assoc Prof Goh, who left the WP in May last year, said the duration it takes for one to become a cadre varies, as it depends on each member’s contribution and trust from the CEC, adding that his was “quite fast”.

“I suppose the CEC believed that I contributed significantly to the 2011 GE and as a grassroots and policy research volunteer for around two years after it. The reasons were not explicitly given when I was elected as cadre member in early 2013,” he said.

The PAP cadre explained: “Every now and then, there’s a nomination for cadre membership, and branch chairs and branch secretaries will make their recommendations.”

These assessments are based on the member’s performance during branch and party activities, such as general election campaigns.

The PAP regularly refreshes the cadre ranks, so as to inject fresh blood, which also naturally replaces long-serving members who pass on, said the cadre.

“Any cadre member who is absent for two consecutive party conferences without having given prior notice may have his cadre membership terminated by the central executive committee,” the PAP’s constitution states.

The member will have an opportunity to explain his or her absence to the CEC. If the cadreship is eventually terminated, then the member returns to being an ordinary member, it says.