10/06/2005

opposition parties

hsienloong and several bigwigs of the ruling party have been going on their rounds, visiting constituencies and meeting the people. the press has been busy covering such visits and flashing pictures of happy faces. it is a clear message that the general election is around the corner. what is missing are the opposition parties. where are they, what are they doing? there have been so many issues affecting the people. but intentionally or otherwise, there have been very little comments coming from the opposition camp. are they dead, or they did not have anything to say? or are they collecting all the grievances and waiting to blast out during the election campaign? presumably they must have worked out some strategies with respect to how to respond to all the issues raised. not saying anything now may be misread as not interested. raising the issues now may end up talking the issues to death and no longer novel or exciting during a general election. so many things have happened over the past few months. there must be a lot that the opposition parties would like to say but not saying. how are these going to affect the outcome of the coming general election? whatever it is, the opposition parties seem to be keeping their cards close to their hearts.

3 comments:

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

with so many issues at hand, opposition parties must be salivating and anxiously waiting for the general election to be called. the general unemployment problem has not really been resolved, the nkf and peanut issues still awaiting an outcome, falling property prices, and now the bus cheat and jailing issues, the substandard window rivets, bus and mrt fares, buangkok, president election, school fees, foreign talents, dengue, cpf, etc there gonna be a lot of interesting things for the opposition parties to say.

would the opposition parties be able to take advantage of all these issues and come up on top, making a bigger inroad and breaking the strangle of the ruling party on the electorate? or will they mess themselves up again this time? if only one of their key candidates had not turn himself into a hooligan during the last round, i think the opposition should be able to fare better this time round.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

from the interview with hsienloong reported in the papers today, the ruling party is very confident of another clean sweep in the coming general election. as far as they are concerned, there are no outstanding or sticky issues for the people to gripe about. or put it in another way, all the issues have been resolved amicably and the people are satisfied with all the outcome.

the result of the election will be the best proof of whether all the recent issues are willingly accepted by the people. if the ruling party again wins by a clean sweep, then it would mean the following:

1. people have accepted the nkf episode in their stride.
2. people have accepted that the bus fare increases are fair and reasonable.
3. people have accepted that the jailing of bus cheats is a good and right thing to do.
4. the ruling that the hdb flat owners must pay to change their window rivets is a reasonable ruling.
5. the people have understood the reasons given not to open buangkok station.
6. the people are happy about the election procedure for an elected president.
7. the people do not mind their cpf being locked up without their consent.
8. the people are all happily employed and willingly accepted their jobs being taken over by foreign talents.

these are just some of the implications of what a clean sweep will mean in the next general elections. and it will also confirm that the ruling party understands the mood and expectations of the people. then both the rulers and the being ruled will all live happily ever after.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

the white elephant saga proves one important point. there is a need for opposition party.

the residents at buangkok wanted the station to be open. the mp and grassroot leaders also agreed. but they just could not go against the decision of the mrt or the minister of transportation. funny, is it a decision of mrt or the transport minister to open the station?

if low thiakiang or chiam seetong were the mp, maybe they could sit out their protest and spend a night in jail for their residents. opposition party mps can do that but not mps from the ruling party.