5/11/2011
The feedback that PAP needs
Two letters in the ST forum today by a Anthony Oei and a Chan Jia Huan conveyed all the things that the govt likes to hear. These are the type of feedbacks that the govt badly needed to legitimize its style of governing. It is a testimony of the people’s desire for the type of govt they want, and the type of govt they deserve.
In Anthony’s letter, it was all congratulatory, that it was a big victory for the PAP for winning 81 out of 87 parliamentary seats. It was a big lost to the opposition for losing Potong Pasir. He added, The PAP’s performance is a clear indication that the majority of Singaporeans still want the party to govern, despite the party lost its first GRC and Hougang, and suffered a drop in the overall share of the vote.’
If the ground is thinking the same way, PAP should pat itself on its back and say well done. The people are all behind the PAP, and there is no need to make nonsensical talks about listening to the people or serving the people. The results showed that the PAP had been listening to the PAP and serving the people well and that’s how they got the convincing win in the GE.
Chan Jia Huan was more or less repeating what the PAP had been saying all the time. We are too small, cannot afford a two party system, all system will break down, bickering, rioting, MPs fighting in Parliament, impasses, and everything that is wrong in a two party or multi party system. What music to the ears of those who advocate for a one party dictatorship?
This kind of feedback must be what the PAP needs. And the ST is printing it in its pages. It is the voice of the people. I think the people who voted for the opposition must be regretting their mistakes and will definitely vote for the PAP in the next GE, with overwhelming majority. The PAP can now be at ease that the people are against the opposition and against a multi party political system.
Excellent feedback. Reality check, solid PAP victory.
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8 comments:
There are really two kinds of citizens on this Island.
Those who made good and those who don't.
Those who, through providence or fortuitous circumstances have things going their way will have very laudatory things to say about the ruling party and advocating the status quo.
Those who, through unfortunate adversity and broke back bad luck will be cursing the ruling party and clamouring for change.
In both instances, we must take what we read with a pinch of salt. Nay, with a teaspoon of salt.
Everyone has a viewpoint. Who is to say that one or the other is the right one?
LOL.
Wally, you forgot the third group that knows the danger of absolute power in the hands of a few.
There are no angels among human beans. Each will be thinking of his own good first.
All good things will turn bad in time. Only fools will believe that there is no need for checks and balances and the 'good' can check themselves. That is delusion.
Mr. Bean,
I didn't forget.
Beans like you and I are the vociferous third minority but we are really an infinitesimal minority and hence our voices are mostly drowned by the other two groups.
Economic performance and well-being is an important yardstick, albeit, not the only important ones, unless we are purely a business focused solely on profitability.
However, we are a country and unfortunately at this stage, there are many who are stakeholders who needs much education and guidance to know a more complete and bigger picture of the stakes, not just for themselves, but also for their generations after them.
Me too, I am against power being concentrated in one Party. It is autocracy, nothing less. And I have done my part, as a resident of Hougang, in keeping to this belief.
We should never allow Singapore to degenerate into autocracy while embracing democracy only in name. We should not live in repentance only when it is too late.
And that calls for the need to have more alternative voices, a second driver to steer the boat should the main driver attempt to veer too far off course. I hope the WP does not mind my using their analogy.
The last 5 years have shown us how much citizens have already lost their voices, despite crying to be heard, and how much our leaders have lost touch with the ground, notwithstanding their proclamation that they know our concerns. Do they?
Getting the kind of feedback that the 'Straits Times' knows our leaders love to listen to, which are all praise and nothing else, is not going to change their perception of what the real issues are on the ground. On the contrary, it makes them blind as well, apart from being deaf.
The fact that one GRC fell means that the GRC system may not be as 'exclusionary' as most people just accept it to be.
Politics is multi-furcated and reflexive – meaning a that there are many filters to look through and cause causes effects which in turn affect the original causes. Complex systems, non-linearity, chaos, randomness but also mixed in with predictability. To put it in simple language: it is a big uncertain mess.
It has now been proven that a GRC can ‘fall’. What then is the nature of ‘absolute power’ now? I would suggest that power is not so ‘absolute’ anymore. It is becoming more and more clear that the people are in charge.
And because they ARE in charge, ultimately, then that is just another proof that The People Get The government They Deserve.
echoing Wally: the government is a convenient whipping boy and scapegoat to blame if one has experienced some negative events. It is only human (default setting) to blame an external agent for ‘bad things’ and to take personal credit for ‘good things’.
Check and balance is the key to good governance. But, most Singaporeans do not understand this. A well informed and educated society will demand for check and balance. The fact is that such check and balance is possible only for a multi- or two-party political system. One-party system has flaws. GRC system, NCMP and NMP are flaws in the constitution. Current constitutional amendment process is flaw too. Ask yourself: will PAP as a ruling party abolish these flaw to benefit the country before the party? My guess is NOT. Only time will tell however. Just another 5 years. Singaporeans deserve the present situation - No change!
Imagine politicians standing up on the rostrum and trying to convince the people that there is no need for checks and balance because he is honest and can check his own excess?
Ludicrous! And Singaporeans believe that such an honest man exists! Are Singaporeans daft or the cheats are just too clever?
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