How real is the ground shift?

The opposition party rallies often attracted large crowd attendance. This favour used to be for the PAP. In the early years, the crowds were at the PAP rallies. Not anymore. Today, the attendance at PAP rallies were fetched there by chartered buses, mostly the members of RCs and CCs. It is also often cited that attendance to PAP rallies also enjoyed not only free transportation but also comes with free chicken rice and drinks. The attendance at opposition rallies were voluntary, spontaneous and from all over the island, especially to WP’s rallies.

When the crowds started to appear in opposition rallies in the early years, the ruling party had nothing much to worry as they were just that, attendance to hear what the opposition had to say but not translated to votes. It had been so for many GEs.  Then there was Potong Pasir that went to Chiam See Tong’s SDP plus  Bukit Gombak, and a couple of others. Hougang was the only SMC that went to the WP and Low Thia Khiang joined Chiam as the two lonely opposition MPs but nothing much happened for a while.

Attendance at opposition rallies continued to be well attended and there was a joke that there were there for the circus, just for fun but not real impact. Another reasoning was that the people wanted a bigger opposition presence in parliament but would only vote for good candidates. And the reluctantly voted for the PAP when the opposition could not put up good candidates worthy of their votes.

Then came 2011 and the fall of Aljunied GRC. This took everyone by surprise though it should be expected as the WP fielded a good team with Chen Show Mao as their star find supported by Sylvia Lim, Pritam Singh and Manap.  The PAP did not see it coming till the eve of the GE when George Yeo panicked. The rest was history.

The dam was broken and further confirmed by two by elections to prove that there was indeed a ground shift. Would this shift be strengthened, be a permanent feature in this GE? Some noises were still saying that Aljunied and the two by elections were exceptions, aberrations, nothing to worry. The attendance would not be converted to votes. The PAP would still win and with a comfortable margin. Chok Tong has been asking for a bigger mandate. Eng Hen was hopeful of winning more seats, even all 89 seats.

Has anything really changed? Are the crowd real, that the people are shifting away from the PAP? Signs from the last GE said so. When the opposition fielded good candidates, not necessary as clever as those from the PAP’s, they stood a good chance to win. The two near misses in Marine Parade and East Coast spoke for themselves.

Today the slate of candidates put up by the opposition are of reasonable quality, some even better than those from the PAP camp. Also, the PAP has also become a factor with their foul ups and poor performance in running the country, their arrogance and high handedness with unpopular policies that hurt the people badly. Can they still rest on past glories and think all is well?

The attendance in opposition rallies this time round is going to be even more. Would there be a change, has the ground really shifted? If the ground has really shifted, and they are waiting for the good candidates to be presented, and there are many in this GE, the votes going to the opposition cannot be underestimated and it is now a matter of how many GRCs that would fall. The rallies and the support for the opposition is real, genuine, not to watch the circus as in the past. The people are seeking and looking for good opposition candidates to vote into parliament.

The PAP camp can still jeer and make funny remarks about the rallies and the crowds. They would know the truth when the results are out, like George Yeo having to face the hard truth at the polling stations and had no choice but to accept the new realities and his defeat at the polls.

Real or bluff, just wait and see. 12 Sep will have the answers.

GE2015 – East Coast GRC

The PAP team of Lim Swee Say, Lee Yi Shyan, Maliki Osman and Jessica Tan will face Gerald Giam, Daniel Goh, Fairz Shariff and Leon Perera from the WP. East Coast was also a GEC that was closed to being topple in the last GE. The fight here is unlikely to be the drawing power of the candidates of either party. The novelty of Lim Swee Say’s style is growing jaded and the voters are no longer finding it funny or attractive anymore. Swee Say is no longer a factor or a crowd puller. The other members of his team are just so so. The WP’s team other than Gerald Giam are newbies in a way. Gerald Giam is quite a promising young man and is in no way inferior to the PAP candidates.

So what is going to count in this GRC? In a way the dramatics of the AHPETC saga could affect the voters here depending on how they see that saga unfolding and what is real and unreal about it. More important is the losing faith in the PAP and a rising star in the WP that is the promise of tomorrow. How much has the ground shifted away from the PAP in East Coast? This is a battle of the PAP brand versus the WP brand and the future each party is offering to the voters. Would the voters be seduced by the meats or by the champagne and caviar thrown at them by the WP and PAP respectively?

My feel is that this is a 50:50 case with a little up side in favour of the WP.

The importance of GE2015

How important is this GE? Some touted it as the GE to elect the leaders to take the nation forward in the next 50 years. Some diminished it as a GE to elect town council administrators. Some want to elect leaders to make the change, to chart a new course for the nation, to change policies. Like it or not, it is still important, or it must be important for the people of a country to march to the Polling Stations to cast their votes. Their future and the future of this country depend on this election. It must be important.

In another way it is unimportant or it is important enough to deserve only 9 pitiful days for the candidates to make their points and appeals and for the people to judge them and their worth. In these miserable 9 days, the people are going to make the most important decision in their lives, to understand the policies of the contesting parties, to read the characters of the candidates offering themselves to represent the people. That is how important this election is, 9 days!

The main media will be giving the parties and their candidates a chance to tell the people what they stood for. And the biggest party is given 13 minutes to tell the people on how good they are to deserve the trust of the people. The smaller parties are given 3 mins to 5 mins to say their piece. This is how important this election is, less than the time a person needs to shit.

The media could only spare the parties and candidates a few minutes each to talk to the people, to convince the people, to let the people judge their worth. The GE is to elect 89 representatives to determine our future, our lives, the lives of our children and the direction the country should take, and the media could only offer them a few minutes each to impress upon the people who and what they are.

Is this GE so meaningless, so unimportant that the media can only find it worthy of a few minutes of their time while hours could be spent on crappy and meaningless programmes? Is this GE another non event that it deserves only 9 days for the parties and their candidates to show cause to the people why they should be elected to represent them?

What do you think? Important or not? Ridiculous or not? Serious or not? How to judge whether a person is honest, trust worthy, got integrity, incorruptible and not another koyok seller?

Chee Soon Juan – They came to listen to him

 

In the far flung corner of western Singapore the people came, a kilometer from the Yew Tee MRT station, they walked to Chua Chu Kang Stadium to listen to the SDP’s  first rally. The crowd was given a taste of what SDP is about by 4 lecturers including Wong Souk Yee and Paul Tambyah. The mood was serious but cheery, and the crowd listened intently. They were presented with a party that is serious and purposeful in wanting to serve the people.

When Chee Soon Juan’s name was called upon to speak to the crowd they rose spontaneously and welcomed him with a loud applause. They surged forward to have a closer look at this man they have been waiting for,  whom they had not seen or heard for a long time under circumstances beyond his control.

Chee started with a light introduction on how he got to learn Mandarin, not in Singapore, not when he joined politics, but in a little town in the USA called Georgia. He needed to brush up his Mandarin to court a Taiwanese lass. He then went on from Mandarin to Hokien, Teochew and Cantonese to connect with the people. He did not stop there, he added in Malay and even a few quips in Tamil. The crowd warmed up to him before he spoke for the most part of the night in English.

This man has been cast away, thrown into the dungeon but came out more mellowed, like a good aged wine. That may be his destiny, to live among the people to experience their little angst in life, about why they needed to check the price of everything in the supermarkets. He had to think very carefully to want to buy a tub of ice cream for his 3 beautiful and talented children. He gave a miss to Haagen Das and all the branded marks and settled on Walls. His Taiwanese lass, now his wife, would put the ice cream back and told him to wait for a sale.

Both were PhD holders and would even be able to afford a $50k culinary class in Paris if he had not chosen the road to politics. Now any ‘cai tau kueh’ would do as long as the price is right. No need to drive all over the island to hunt for the best XO ‘cai tau kueh’ in the island. I have not tasted any of these XO stuff and not sure if it is XO ‘cai tau kueh’ or ‘char kuay teow’.  The ordinary people would have to think very hard whether to eat in a hawker stall or a food court.

Chee Soon Juan has been cast to live among the people to know what is the meaning of money not enough, what is the price of everything and when to save a few dollars to afford a tub of Walls ice cream for his children.

He has come back. The people in the crowd loved him and connected with him. They made him felt welcome, that his sojourn to live among the average Singaporeans would not go to waste. The crowd did not believe in the controversies and negativities thrown at this man. He has risen to the challenge and is back to do the work he is destined to do.

While in the wilderness, he is blessed with 3 beautiful children and a charming Taiwanese lady, now a Singaporean mother of his children, to stay on his side through good times and bad times.

The crowd at the stadium did not come in vain. They saw hope in him to lead them to better times. They thronged at him to shake his hands after his speech, to take pictures with him. A long queue was formed waiting patiently for him to autograph on the books he wrote that they bought. They have faith in him.

In the crowd were Dr Wong Wee Nam and presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock. They came to see him, to welcome him, to show support to the man that would bring hope to an alienated people looking for a true leader to a better future.

Chee Soon Juan has lived among the people and is back with the people.

Lawrence Wong riding the tiger 骑虎难下

When Lawrence Wong came onto the political scene as a fresh face minister there was so much promise in this young man. After 4 years in the job he is still looking fine until the live debate on TV with leaders of the opposition party. His boyish charm soon disappeared and he revealed a side of him that many viewers were taken aback. He came prepared to dig into Chee Soon Juan’s past and demanding an apology that he thought Chee should make in 1996.

This attempt shows a dark side in him that many have not known. His posture and indignant expression were shocking to the viewers in that what appeared on the TV screen was a totally different man, a man carrying a knuckle duster taking on another man that he hardly knew and a past that had nothing to do with him. The aggressiveness and hostility were abrasive and many viewers took a dislike to them. Their views of this man have changed. Mine too.

The politics of the last few decades must not be allowed to overflow to affect the new generation of leaders and politics of today. We had a rough start when life was nasty and short. Politics then was a different ball game. It was a game of survival of the fitness. In the wrong camp, or ending as losers could be a life and death situation, could be put behind bars for life. Informers that were exposed could be taken down.  Today when the cover was blown, nothing happens. Politics was vicious, rough and not much difference from gangsterism then.

Do we want that kind of politics to continue today and into the future? Our young politicians have no reason to adopt that kind of politics and style. And they must not forget that this is a democracy, not a monarchy or dictatorship. Today one is in office, in power, with all the trappings of power and calling the shot. Tomorrow one may have to come down to earth and walk the streets like any ordinary people.  Politicians should not think they will be there forever and could act and behave like they are nobles and aristocrats, 公子 or皇亲, above the common people.  To behave as thus is like riding the proverbial tiger and dismounting means to be eaten by the tiger, 骑虎难下.  Not many politicians could survive under the protection of power and depart in one piece. Many politicians, dictators, would have to face their abuses of position and power when they fell from grace. It is good to behave a bit normal, to give one a way out when one is no longer in power.

The days of knuckle duster politics, of putting political enemies in the dungeon are over, or should be over. The politics of today must be given a fresh start, be cleaner and less vicious, less personal and less vindictive. A politician that thinks it is ok to continue with the knuckle duster style must be up to it, believing that he can be in power till death do us part, and better be that way. The knuckle duster way can lead to a very unpleasant and humiliating end if one cannot stay in power all his life.

Young politicians are well advised to take note that this is a democracy, a republic and political power can change hand like the weather, and every 4 or 5 years one can be brought down to earth to face the harsh reality of being an ordinary person.

Fear is dead and should be consigned to history. We need a more congenial political climate, more human and humane, for the good of everyone. This is the way forward.  Live by the sword die by the sword. There are very few exceptions. A little humility is good for the soul. What is past is past. Leave the past to the past. We have to progress and be more civilized.

PS. Do not underestimate the power of social media. No one is infallible or flawless.