3/07/2006

ge round 9: opposition muted

we have heard several rounds of salvos from the pap but practically nothing from the opposition. they could have been very busy mapping out their strategies and the avoidance of a 3 corner fight. there is also this view that they are keeping their cards close to their chest, like what steve chia said. what we hope is that when they start firing, they would not resort to any wild and unfair allegations. let the pap set the tone. so far the pap are banging on their comparative advantage of being the incumbent, the ruling party and with their huge resources to comb the ground. and they are trying to pin the image of a opposition that appears only during election. the second point about sincerity of the opposition is very subjective and can also be asked in their direction. we will have to wait to see how the opposition take their stand.

5 comments:

Speedwing said...

Hi Redbean

I posted this n my blog today,

" Here I am again, back in Singapore for another 2 months or so. The flight back was OK and as always British Airways flight was full, with most of the passengers on their way to Sydney.

I am just wondering if I would be lucky enough to witness a Singapore General Election during my two month stay. I have heard that the General Election here is like nowhere else in the world. I am still puzzled by many of the aspects of the way things are done here, for instance,

Why do you have to redraw electoral boundaries?

Why do you have GRC?

Why are there so many walk-overs?

Anyone out there willing to enlighten me? "

Anonymous said...

Official statement for redrawing boundaries was to have 1MP serve about 20000 citizens or something like that. (but look at Potong Pasir, 16000++ only)

GRC is to achieve better planning and development for the CDC's. (If true then why serangoon gardens is in Marine Parade in the GE2001, where Marine Parade is i the SOUTH and Serangoon is in the CENTRE?)

But the real reason as to all the above is quite obvious, right?

As for walk-overs, many factors are involved.
1. PAP's strong hand of law and order forming a deterrent to anyone interested in politics.
2. Weak Opposition(we never had an actual opposition that can match in numbers ever since BS was crushed in Operation: Cold Store)

These are just my opinions though... :D

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

welcome back speed.

i am sure you will enjoy the speeches put up by the opposition. they normally get quite a lot of followers in the rally. the things they said are quite refreshing as compare to ruling party. the latter, you have heard it all. but they will get their supporters in the busloads to listen, with free refreshment provided, i heard.

as for the grcs, the original intention was sound, to institutionalise the presence of minority representatives in case the majority vote on racial ground. i support this, but not 5 or 6 candidates in a gigantic grc. might as well have only ONE.

the redrawing of election boundaries and why? read the articles by chua lee hoong and chua mui hoong on the cynicism and jokes about it and the official explanation in the papers over the last 3 or 4 days.

and listen to abao as well: )

Speedwing said...

Thank Redbean and abao for your kind explanation. To a foreigner the Singapore election system is just mystifying. I guess to the Singaporean it is all quite normal. I look forward to follow the run-up speeches. I only hope that I will still be in Singapore for the BIG day!!

Looks like it is going to be an interesting show. I also look forward to my kopi bet with Redbean.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

sure. we will have kopi together. and all those who wants to join us will be invited. we will fix the date.