Singapore's People Action Party (PAP) is in just such an unusual position. When the November election results were tallied, the party founded by Lee Kuan Yew walked away with 82 of 84 contested seats, while the opposition retained its token presence of two.

It was a fresh endorsement of Southeast Asia's most successful electoral force. PAP has dominated the political scene for more than 30 years, while the opposition is fragmented, weak and, judging by the election results, commands little appeal with the city-state's two million voters.

Quite simply, having vanquished the opposition in successive elections decade after decade, the PAP leadership is now looking at plans to generate ''alternative'' views from within the party itself. Mr Goh has dubbed the scheme the People's Action Forum.

''The victory was decisive but we accept it with humility,'' Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said after boosting the PAP's. Only one in four of those who had to cast ballots in November put a cross beside a party other than the PAP. More telling is that only one in three of the country's electorate needed to vote at all, as the remainder lived in constituencies where no opposition party had the will or resources to confront the ruling party.

During the contest most attention focused on rival prescriptions for the recession-hit economy and a spat that broke out between Mr Goh and Mr Lee and opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, of the Singapore Democratic Party. Both PAP grandees threatened legal action against Mr Chee for remarks at an election walkabout.

Now that the dust has settled, commentators are turning their gaze on one of the more intriguing refinements of the political system for many years.

Under the plan, 20 PAP members of parliament will be all but freed from the party whip to vote as they please on legislation. The single exception will be debates touching on constitutional affairs, when all 82 PAP representatives will be required to toe the line.

There has even been talk of a shadow prime minister.

''We will pursue the idea of an alternative-policies group,'' Mr Goh said just days after the election. ''Call this the People's Action Forum. They can speak their mind, vote against us. The stated aim of the new initiative is not to preclude the evolution of a genuine alternative to the PAP - however distant a prospect that may seem at present - but to improve the standard of debate in what has become a very dull parliamentary chamber.'' [See correction below.]

Mr Goh and his lieutenants also have expressed the hope that their in-house alternative's caucus will improve the quality of public policy-making.

''We must always allow the possibility of a good [opposition] team emerging, but we [the PAP] cannot set out to create that,'' the Prime Minister said last month.

''I hope it will not just be a critique of government policies; I hope to get alternative ideas how to solve problems.'' Mr Goh has yet to name the group's line-up but has said that its efforts will be backed by the resources of the Institute of Policy Studies.

Those seconded will serve two-year terms, just under half the length of a standard parliamentary term, then return to backing the administration.

The idea has sparked much comment locally. ''And still the [PAP] continues to throw up new innovations,'' wrote Chua Lee Hoong, the lead commentator in the pro-government the Straits Times.

''The latest is the idea of a People's Action Forum ... The aim, evidently, is to ensure that the PAP retains its sharp edge in policy-making.''

The forum will be the latest in a string of changes to ensure that the Singapore legislature retains a minimal ability to keep tabs on its powerful government. In the 1980s, the PAP endorsed a system of 11 parliamentary committees scrutinising the output from government departments each headed by a senior backbencher.

Later years have seen the introduction of nominated members of parliament and non-constituency members. The former are nine citizens nominated by the president to contribute a wider range of views.

The latter puts the best-losing opposition candidates into the House, ensuring some non-PAP voices are heard.

Compared with these moves, however, Mr Goh's People's Action Forum is a bolder stroke altogether, seeking as it does to create an ''alternative'' force with PAP politicians.

If it works, it could perhaps be the ultimate political refinement, bolstering the ruling party's ability to govern by mimicking the actions of those who oppose it.

However well or badly the experiment turns out, the Prime Minister knows the venture will not threaten his government.

''I can allow a free vote,'' Mr Goh said of the new forum. ''At the same time I am confident that, as a government, I have enough control over my backbenchers that nothing will go wrong.''

Correction: Goh Chok Tong
December 17, 2001

In an article published last Friday (''PAP stirs debate from within'') Singapore's Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, was quoted as saying: ''The stated aim of the new initiative is not to preclude the evolution of a genuine alternative to the PAP - however distant a prospect that may seem at present but to improve the standard of debate in what has become a very dull parliamentary chamber.'' We wish to make it clear that Mr Goh did not make these comments. The remarks were those of the reporter and were wrongly attributed to Mr Goh due to a production error.