5/10/2011
How to bring down a GRC?
The opposition parties adopted different strategies in the GE to take on the PAP. Some took the GE as a war and tried to cover every inch of the ground with every man they got. This proved to be very costly and wasteful, and ineffective against a superior enemy. The WP and SDP adopted a strategy that turned weakness into strength. What they did was to concentrate their fire power against a small section of the enemy forces, ie, weak overall, but strength in a small corner of the battle field.
They have studied the Art of War well. Identify the weaknesses of the enemy, and exploit it to their advantage. A GRC is a fortress, impenetrable. But it must have some weaknesses. The PAP has made them almost unsinkable by having one, and now two ministers to helm them. The weakness is the inclusion of one or two weak candidates that they want to sneak into Parliament.
Now get the idea? The opposition can do one better by mounting a team of their best candidates, an A Team against a B Team with a few stragglers attached. This could be the magic formula. And this could win the NSP Marine Parade and Tampines if they had not diluted their strength by spreading too thin.
The SDP was almost there. Vincent could probably be their weak link. Not everyone would accept him as he is, and some organizations would even tell their followers to stay away from him.
Aljunied is a different case. The PAP team was in no way inferior to the WP. They were pitting strength to strength. There were other elements favouring the opposition, and when at par, the votes go to the opposition.
This strategy could be applied in the next GE and the PAP would have to be doubly careful to defend the GRCs. Trying to sneak in weak candidates may no longer be that easy. And if they add another layer of armour, like putting up a genuinely strong GRC team, the weak candidates would be forced to stand alone in SMCs. The PAP would not have the whole battle ground to themselves and can place their soldiers at will. What ever they do, they are going to expose more weaknesses in their line up to be exploited.
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7 comments:
The NSP probably would have helped besieged Singaporeans with cheaper HDB flats if only it could understand battle strategy and concentrate its limited fire power to take Tampines and oust one of the most unpopular politicians out of office and to the meadows of retirement.
Nope, it had to contest with the most candidates and save for a few, enough to score a decisive win in a GRC, it wanted to swallow GRCs from the East to the West. If this sorry episode is indicative of the quality of party stratagem, then they must really revamp their organization and do more lateral thinking out of the box. Utterly stupid.
Better still, disband the party and merge with the WP. Same advice for Kenneth. A man with his type of credentials will do wonders for any well oiled branded party platform.
I have no advice for the SDP. Leave them alone to advocate their brand of liberal western style politics and unconventional lifestyle values. What use is so called true democracy and unfettered freedom if our stomachs are hungry and there are demonstrations and protests all over our peaceful streets. What use is the promotion of unconventional lifestyles if we worry that our children will be led astray thinking it's natural to do something unnatural. Nope, we as an Asian society is not ready for this "Utopian" dream.
For a small little speck of a country and there are so many political parties, an outsider would not be remiss to come to the conclusion that the opposition is not really caring for the people but guarding and promoting their egos and personal ambitions. Truth hurts. Believe you me, it really does!
As an aside, I nearly choked with guffaw while sitting on my throne this morning when I read the ST forum page on insurance agents taking issue with a politician who reportedly said that some opposition were like insurance agents, appearing only once every five years to get the premiums! Talk about infighting amongst one's own species! I am sure her careless "whispers" must have swung all self respecting insurance agents to the side of the opposition thus contributing to a 6% drop in popularity votes.
What an election!
LOL.
Mr. Chua, your analysis is excellent. Thank you. Are you Singapore Sun Tzu? Cheers
Not only do all the self respecting insurance agents swing to the side of the opposition. I think their spouses, parents and grandparents would probably have been persuaded to register their disgust with that politician. They are dependents, and dependents surely would want to send a clear message as well.
I am sure their anger will also be made known in 2016. Never underestimate the Singaporean character. They may be daft, but certainly not very forgiving.
That is why old baggage carried by some Aljunied GRC voters still fester, and hatred for the PAP still remains, however much the PAP tried to carve up pockets of hardcore dissenters.
Next election will be even more telling if the opposition heed the advice of bloggers like Alex Au and Lucky Tan to concentrate all their most formidable firepower on the GRCs with the most dispicable PAP candidates, and half the battle is won. Take a leaf from the strategy of the WP.
*Wally Buffet
Really with what you are advocating, lets all just vote PAP and forget the rest.
every party has its pros and cons and to cherry pick and it just so happens that the ruling party, for allit's trackrecords, has the logest list of cons for the world to see, if they bothered to be a little more curious, inquisitive and perceptive.
The opposition parties are here to present an alternative to what the PAP has bulldozed through for decades. The fact that some chose to present an ideals and principles based on universally accepted standards and codes does not mean they dispensed with policies for the masses. after all even PAP policies for our country and the masses are derived from their basic principe of economic growth and rewards for the elites.
As with some others I would rather vote for the party that gave me a sense of hope for the future, a dream to carry me through rather than worry about when my upgrading would start.
Wally does not know that all empires will rot and fall. The best part is that the rulers would not know that they have lost the mandate.
And welcome to the blog, sloo.
Hi guys.
Please be patient and read my comments carefully. I am not advocating a one party system. Nope. Far from it. I am for a two party alternate government system but the little men with big egos must realise that they should join forces with the now entrenched WP which has the well oil machinery and organisation to present a united front. These petty politicians obviously doesn't believe in the strength of unity.
Wow, it's really hot in this furnace of a country.
Nothing like Lijiang. Nice and cool at 20 C.
There, no frayed tempers like in Potong Pasir. As close to Shangrila as possible.
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