At the post-election news conference on Sunday, PM Lee lamented to the press that losing Aljunied GRC had cost him two cabinet ministers, which he considers a "heavy loss" to his government. [
link] Privately, he must have considered this a "freak" election result. So what will ruling party do next? Will they change the GRC system to prevent such a result from happening again? Perhaps, but one thing for sure, the PAP would not want to lose anymore cabinet ministers in future elections. And neither would they want to stop bringing in new untested candidates (some of questionable quality) to ride on the coattail of an established minister. [
link] Therefore, could non-elected ministers be on the card now? In 2009, Hri Kumar brought this idea up in a parliamentary session. He suggested that the Prime Minister should be given the power to appoint individuals from outside the rank of elected MPs to his cabinet. [
link] Nothing came out of it probably because the PAP would never imagine that they will ever lose a GRC to the opposition. So now that the impossible has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if Hri Kumar were to bring up his idea to his bosses again. And judging by the sympathetic sentiments for George Yeo, it will not be too difficult for them to persuade the public to accept it, and change the constitution using their majority power in parliament. In the end, the PAP will probably have their cake and eat it. They can leave the GRC system intact without fear of any ministers losing their jobs, while continuing to bring untested people into parliament.
