SDP's first rally at Chua Chu Kang Stadium.

SDP candidates speaking at Chua Chu Kang Stadium on 2 Sep 15. Top to bottom, Dr Wong Souk Yee, Bryan Lim, Damanhuri Abas, Prof Paul Tambyah and Dr Chee Soon Juan.

The crowd, the volunteers and photo taking and autograph signing with Dr Chee.

Watch the rallies live!

Below is a comment by a Bernard Tan on watching rallies live on TV posted in TRE.

‘At 7pm due to heavy downpour & me having flu, I stayed at home to watch WP’s rally at home thru Straits Times Live stream…When it was He Ting Ru’s turn to speak the ‘WP rally’ stream switched to PAP rally & only switched back to WP when her speech ended. On 3 Sep this happened too but much worse. When it was Daniel Goh, Gerald Giam & Sylvia Lim’s turn to speak, the Straits Times stream would fail, no sound, no footage but it would automatically resume once their speech ended…It was then that I decided to take to attend SDP rally (CCK)…it is Dr Chee’s 1^st election rally in 15 years.

Many viewers thought they got the best of both worlds to view rallies of their choice in the comfort of their homes and at their finger tips. What would you be viewing? Yes, you will view what the station decided what they want you to see.

If you want a real feel of the rallies, the moods and the crowd atmosphere, the things that were said that meant dearly to you, you have no choice but to be there at the stadiums or fields. Be there and not be short changed, not be programmed to see and hear the right stuff.

I have attended two rallies and would be attending more over the weekends.

Wasting talents – I dunno what to say

Looking at the generals and commissioners stripped off their uniforms, medals and stars and in civvy in the hawker centres and MRT stations, like selling ‘ma piow po’ is quite pathetic. I just dunno what to say. These are highly trained men where millions have been invested in them to be fighting fit soldiers and policemen, and now they are asked to peddle something that they are not trained for. Do we have so many talents to spare, to take them from their professions to do something that is Greek to them, or something they may not have the temperament for? The move from the uniformed organizations to politics required a total change in personality and style, from authority to servitude, or at least during an election. Now they have to salute to everyone in the streets.

The lost of talents would include losing good medical doctors, lawyers and the professions, with no guarantee that they would do well in politics. Many have proven to be life fish out of water.

Do we really want to do this, to make a fool out of very good men and women, having invested heavily in them  and seeing them excelling in their profession, only to be lured into a profession that they may not be cut out for?

Look at them carefully, after being in the commands of armies and police forces and now begging the men in the street, forcing a big smile so uncharacteristic of their experience and profession, and asking strangers, please vote for me, please vote for me. What a pathetic sight to make them do it. Really, this is a good career change?

At best, the govt would gain a good politician but the forces or professions would lose one of their best. At worst, the professions would lose the service of one of their best and the govt gains a dud, a misfit. We have seen them, talking nonsense without knowing it and achieving nothing in politics, making an ass of themselves.

What a shame! What a misallocation of good and limited talent that we needed so badly. Is this a clever thing to do?

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.