SINGAPORE - Singapore's tiny opposition showcased a prominent corporate lawyer on Monday as an election candidate, making him among the highest-profile figures in decades to take on the risk of challenging the long-ruling People's Action Party (PAP).
Chen Show Mao, a corporate lawyer who advised on China's biggest IPO last year, said he will contest the May 7 election on the Workers' Party ticket.
The PAP has ruled wealthy Singapore since independence in 1965 and there is no suggestion the party could lose power. But its share of the vote could weaken as the opposition looks set to contest most if not all of 87 seats in parliament for the first time in two decades.
"I am a Singaporean and in the second half of my life, and I would like to give something back to my country," Chen, 50, said at the Workers' Party office in a shophouse in one of the city's old bazaars.
"If we had a stronger opposition presence in parliament, it would be good for all Singaporeans."
Singapore's opposition has always found it difficult to attract quality candidates, not least because of the worry of lawsuits.
Several of Singapore's best-known opposition figures have faced legal action at some time by prominent PAP members.
"There is unspoken worry and fear among people in participating in opposition politics," said Workers' Party MP Low Thia Khiang. "It doesn't help society to grow and develop.
"I think we have to ponder as a society why this should happen over generations."
Chen, managing partner in the Beijing office of US law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, advised Agricultural Bank of China on its $22 billion initial public offering in 2010, then the world's biggest IPO.
In April, he was named one of the American Lawyer publication's 2010 "Dealmakers of the Year" in recognition of his role in the AgBank listing and his involvement in many of China's multi-billion-dollar floats.
ELITE
In contrast to the opposition, the PAP usually fields highly educated candidates who have worked in top jobs in the civil service or the military. In a society that places a high emphasis on education, this works well at elections.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for example holds a first-class honours degree in mathematics from Cambridge and a masters in public administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean hails from Imperial College, while Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam studied at the London School of Economics. Both men also hold masters degrees from Harvard.
But this year, the opposition is trying to find at least some candidates who can match that.
Besides Chen, who has degrees from Oxford, Harvard and Stanford, candidates include Ang Yong Guan, former head of the Psychological Care Centre at the Singapore Armed Forces and an active member in government-funded community groups, and Tan Jee Say, an investment adviser and former senior civil servant.
The PAP however has questioned whether Chen would be a good candidate after spending the majority of his life overseas.
"He now turns up and asks Singaporeans to elect him as a member of parliament," said Ng Eng Hen, a cabinet minister and senior PAP member, in a letter to the Straits Times newspaper.
"Surely, voters have a right to know from the Workers' Party if such a candidate can identify with the aspirations of Singaporeans and has a stake in our future? These questions should not be brushed aside and deserve a direct answer."
Chen dismissed suggestions that he was not a suitable candidate.
"This is home to me," he said. "We will be back in Singapore whether or not I get elected into parliament."
