Under that proposal, two constituencies would be paired, with two Members of Parliament contesting together, one of them from a minority community. It was met with strong objection from some Cabinet members, including then-Environment Minister Ahmad Mattar.
“I am not in favour of the idea. We should avoid it if we can. As a Malay, I don’t think I would like to contest in any elections where my victory is guaranteed – not because I am a ‘strong’ candidate but because I have a so-called ‘strong’ twin brother to lean on,” Dr Mattar wrote in a letter to Mr Goh Chok Tong, who had sounded him out as Mr Lee requested.
Prof Jayakumar then proposed nominating minority MPs. “We could empower the president, whenever there were insufficient numbers of Malay or minority members, to nominate Members of Parliament to make up certain numbers,” he said.
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