Zenra2003 of Sammyboy's forum writes:
Hello all:
The GE 2006 has just passed and I believe many here have some opinions regarding the party they support, with the benefit of 50/50 hindsight. Let me start the ball rolling by giving my 2 cents take on every political party. Interested forummers can feel free to contribute. Lets do away with all the personal attacks between supporters of different opposition parties and have a fruitful discussion.
SDA: It's commonly agreed that Mr Chiam should start to groom a successor, given the fact that he will be well into the seventies by the time the next General Elections come around. Thus far, I think Mr Chiam has done a decent job in lobbying for more improvements in education whilst he was MP, and he should continue doing so. The retirement of Steve Chia is unfortunate, given the fact that he is one of the better speakers and experienced stalwarts in SDA. I believe it's going to be a long road ahead for Mr Chiam to groom a capable successor. Regarding the party, SDA itself, I think they should try to use the ample amount of time to sort out any form of squabbles, given the fact that they are an alliance. The squabbles will affect their grassroots activities as it was mentioned that it was hard to decide who walks the ground at a certain location.
SDP: Very unfortunate that they are the prime target of the establishment. What happened to SDP lends credence to the words of a senior PAP political leader - anyone who challenges the system is considered a threat. It is unfortunate that individuals who call for systemic reformations, wholesale systemic changes, etc are prosecuted and incarcerated. Known to all and sundry, SDP is mired in a law suit. I personally believe that Dr Chee and his sister should walk the activist route altogether because in a political contest, they will always be painted in a bad light. We know that the opposition face media bias. Full time activists are NOT politicians in the sense that they are not the ones who contest for wards, hence they have higher immunity to the dirty traps, snares and tricks of politics. In fact if SDP is no more a political entity, they will be free from all the red tapes that is holding back political parties - limitations on party political films, information propagation, public entertainment laws, party funding transparency and what-not. They could be running Internet forums a la SBF, which I think will be popular or doing video blogging and podcasts. All these so-called restrictions may affect a political party's growth and plans to spread their message, but an activist organication or activist group is immune to it. In fact, immunity to such restrictions gives Dr Chee and company more room to achieve their goals and spread their views.
WP: During GE 2006, WP did an extensive coverage on healthcare. Now, they have an NCMP and MP in parliament, they should continue the debate on healthcare because our healthcare system has its fair share of faults and questionable policies. The other issues, e.g. education, manpower should also be addressed. On to the election proper, with a 50/50 hindsight, we now know that Miss Sylvia Lim is not fated to win a GRC. Based on hindsight, I believe she should anchor the team in Ang Mo Kio GRC. No doubt the "suicide squad" attained 33%, but we must do well to remember that among older and middle ground voters, they will have reservations about voting a group of new candidates. I believe that besides having some young and new blood, they should have an anchor in Miss Sylvia Lim and a familiar face in Dr Tan Bin Seng. Miss Lim is an ex-civil servant, and has a clean record, with an approval rating amongst Singaporeans. For Dr Tan Bin Seng, we must remember that he contested in Cheng San GRC with JBJ, and is a familiar face there. With Miss Lim and Dr Tan in the Ang Mo Kio GRC team, they would definitely do better than the 33% that the suicide squad has attained. Even if this Ang Mo Kio team of WP doesn't win, they still have a chance of being best losers and attaining a credible result. In fact, I think such a team can achieve a good result that it is considered an egg on the PM's face, embarrassing him. I believe that if Miss Sylvia Lim attained a credible result against the PM, she would have attained greater political mileage and raised her political profile further than she did in her Aljunied contest.
PAP: I leave it to forummers to fill in. I am sure the PAP also has policy institutions, political science experts and analysts to help them out.
Cheers to all
Sylvia vs Loong? Like egg go hit rock. Sure die one. After that, her boss at the poly will testify she took an extra bottle of liquid paper and hence of questionable character. Or something stupid like she never washes her cup before she goes home - therefore not hygienic enough to tackle health issues. What they should have done was to take on yeo cheow tong. that was the weakest link. how come no one thought about that?
ReplyDeletethe chees to walk the activists line? haha. nice try. after that kena challenge to step into the ring. if not, sure kena sue nonetheless.
aiya, no point talking about election lah. pap will win till the day old man dies. till then, let's get ready to pay more for erp, water, medicines...
PAP, with the help from the media and the entire government mechanism, will continue to try to lead Singaporean to whatever direction they deemed favourable for their continued existence...next election we'll see the Aljunied GRC being "cut and paste" by the boundary committee into a more pro-PAP composition as compared to the current...chance missed=chance gone.(GC)
ReplyDeleteDo not despair. When LKY dies, there is hope of multi-party government in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteThe WP's fielding of young and inexperienced candidates in the Ang Mo Kio GRC was deliberate and well planned.
ReplyDeleteThe voters in Ang Mo Kio who voted for the WP team most likely casted their vote as a vote against the establishment, than a vote of confidence on the calibre of the WP team there.
AC
Fielding a 'better' team is pointless as the WP lacked members to match the calibre of the PAP team.
Fielding a young and nameless team will capture pretty much roughly the same amount of votes, while it's a lose lose situation for the PM as anything less than a landslide victory is considered a loss given the gap between the strength of the teams.
Fielding a young and nameless team frees up candidates like Sylvia to be deployed elsewhere - the better question would have been whether she could have made the difference in another GRC, or whether she could have captured another single seat by herself.