If one is to read the deluge of articles in the main media on the AHPETC
saga, one would get away with the impression that PAP has won both
rounds. The first Round was several pages of the AGO’s report on all the
breaches committed by the AHPETC. The second Round was in Parliament
when Shanmugam spoke like a
God scolding the WP and accusing them of being unlawful and losing
public money and many other things. And Boon Wan joined in to withhold
$7m of subsidies for S&CC that should be given to AHPETC until they
clean up the mess.
With these two victories and perhaps more to come if the AHPETC were to
be charged in court for criminal breaches, it would be 3 successive
rounds of victories for the PAP. It would also look like PAP has
demolished the WP and would easily win the GE hands down. But this is
only one side of the story.
Reading the social media the mood and temper changed sides. The issues
were bullying tactics, unfair tactics, abuses of the system, etc etc
that were leveled at the PAP by the netizens. There was outrage, cries
of infamy! They were not interested in what the PAP was accusing the
AHPETC for, dismissing them as pure hypocrisies. They totally ignored
these as part of politicking to discredit the WP, nothing more, nothing
less. They were angry by these and many other attacks on the WP.
The question now is what would all these mean in the GE? Would the
voters be won over by the PAP for their righteousness in discrediting
the WP? Or would all the tactics and actions of the PAP be seen as
unfair bullying and be translated into sympathetic votes for the WP?
Would the voters be so pissed that they would stand up for the underdog
against the Goliath swinging his sledgehammer? There are bound to be a
lot of cynicism and many were saying that the PAP were winning battles
but losing the war. The hearts and minds of the voters are shaken by the
strong and heavy hand tactics of the PAP in its dealings or fixing of
its political enemies.
On the other hand the PAP and its supporters would be smiling at how
clever they bashed or fixed up the WP and whitewashed it to oblivion and
congratulating themselves for a job well done, and waiting to pop
champagne after the GE. There must be a lot of optimism and praises in
the PAP camp. They won, or shouts of ‘We won’ can be heard though the GE
is still waiting to happen.
First the PAP threw out the goodies to sweeten the ground. Now they hung
the strongest opposition, in a way sealing the fate of the WP,
untrustworthy, could even be charged in court and disqualified. What is
there left to be done than to call the GE? Oh, wait, more goodies coming
from the Budget and viola, what a piece of cake, time to eat the
pudding.
The social media and the lunatic fringe are just that, kpkb and making
noise in the wilderness. What do you think? Great strategy? One camp
crying foul and another popping champagne. Who would ultimately triumph
in the GE? Who is the devil and who is god must be pretty clear to both sides and the bystanders.
"First the PAP threw out the goodies to sweeten the ground. Now they hung the strongest opposition, in a way sealing the fate of the WP, untrustworthy, could even be charged in court and disqualified."
ReplyDeleteRB
101% tiok.
And this can only make PAP win even more votes next GE than they got in 2011.
Must be PM in waiting and PAP master strategist Kee Chiu's strategy, I suspect. Simply brilliant, after first drawing blood from Aung Juan Soon Chee. Who's next on the blood list? Hainan Ah Ko?
Wha !
DeleteYou so so early today.
Then, as usual,
after your standard repetitive template,
I don't have to read the other comments anymore ..
Haha ah chek, welcome to the blog.
ReplyDeleteThis anonymous is a permanent resident here. He is helping me to guard the blog from undesirable characters: )
TkU bro redbean.
DeleteCongrats ��
Yr helpful PR doing a great hatchet job !
ReplyDeleteJust look around you.
There are fresh news everyday.
It is really very wonderful and very very exciting to live in
this tiny city state.
Just look around you again.
PAP is working very very hard on
the ground including our PM after
the 2011 GE lost votes.
PAP is active everywhere. They
are turning everyday into
the "PAP DAY". They have the
political will to recapture the
lost votes!
The ground for PAP is much much
sweeter than 2011 GE.
The on-going AHPETC saga and
the "too many" not-so-active
opposition parties may cause
the "swing votes" towards PAP.
Right now, my fair GUESS of the
results of the coming GE:
PAP 68% vs 32% OPPS
What say you?
"KONG HEE FATT CHOY"!
From this AHPETC Affair, the PAP may have scored a lot of points in Parliament. But the records in the Hansard will serve future Singapore Political Leaders well.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that the PAP Ministers have vigorously spoken their heart and mind, whether consciously, sub-consciously or unconsciously.
I feel and believe that there is a certain degree of Divine Intervention, or what others would say Karma. The force of Karma makes these people unwittingly commit themselves to deliver certain messages for the common good of the powerless common people to use in the future, when the time is ripe....
On the surface of things, WP may be seen as the loser, scapegoat or the punching bag of the PAP, but many of the points/issues brought up by both PAP and WP Members are enlightening and useful to the public/voters/commoners. They will serve the public/voters/commoners very well in the future.
The Chinese people may say
Tien Yi!
(The Meaning of Heaven, The Way of The Divine, or God's Will).
Thank you very much PAP Ministers and WP MPs.
I must thank my PR here. He is working very hard for free to keep this blog alive: )
ReplyDeleteAs for Tien Yi, many would agree with me that what Shanmugam had said is really a SOP. All the political parties must copy that and use it whenever they need to ask questions about conflict of interests, husband and wife affairs, transparency, accountability, where the money is going, taking money from the poor and give it to their friends, just to quote a few.
The work is made so much easier. No need to reinvent the wheel. Just substitute the names of the person or organisation and you have a great piece of oratory in Parliament. You can even mimic the style and tone of deliver for maxmimum impact.
You can't be sue for plagiarism or libel or copyright in Parliament I think.
Use it as a template. It is really good. It can be used over and over again.
Round 2, round 3, round 4 and so on.
ReplyDeleteYes, win all the battles, but lose the war.
Pyrrhic victory.
Agree with RB. Shanmugam just handed the WP a template to use in Parliament. They should say thank you to him. Actually all the MPs are helping to add more meat to the template. No need to work so hard anymore. Just use the template and read it out when applicable. No need to be shy about such a good manual.
ReplyDeletePAP is working very hard. But if you give them 100% support, don't cry father and mother when they resort to poo-ing and pee-ing on you after their resounding victory.
ReplyDeleteThen, crying father and mother will do us no good.