This graphic exaggerates way beyond all proportions. Low Thia Khiang will never be PM. It will take a very long time if ever for the WP to be able to form the government here. He would have retired by then. As opposition the WP is useful. Regarding their effort to foster a First World Parliament, I think they failed. They were not able to get the PAP to play ball. Should I blame the PAP then? No, because they didn't promise anything like that. It is up to WP to figure a way to make the PAP give up their bullying tactics and if they were never confident of doing that then they should never have promised. Therefore if the WP can score 20 seats in the house, there will not be any idealistic first world parliament any more but the gloves will come off. They will conveniently forget about first world parliament and just sell to voters to entrench the opposition. To me we entrench nothing except integrity and competence. Everyone has to earn their place. The way to entrench yourself is to perform.
We have elephant memories on some things. Goh did not deliver his Swiss standard of living.
Since enough people do worry if the WP can keep their promises hence the pun in the picture.
Hi Peng You, I feel some of your comments have been grossly unfair.
ReplyDelete"Regarding their effort to foster a First World Parliament, I think they failed. They were not able to get the PAP to play ball. Should I blame the PAP then? No, because they didn't promise anything like that. It is up to WP to figure a way to make the PAP give up their bullying tactics and if they were never confident of doing that then they should never have promised."
Firstly, WP 2011 manifesto was TOWARDS first world parliament. Electing more dissenting voices with the power to vote is a necessary first step. No one claims it has been achieved, or will be achieved in one single election or even that this journey will be short. I don't believe you ever thot so too.
Its irrelevant whether PAP had promised to play ball or not. Of course they won't. And as you pointed out, they will keep kicking and screaming even when the number is doubled to 20.
But it is NOT WP's job to "figure out a way to make the PAP give up bullying tactics". This is the part I'm most disappointed with in your post. You forgot there's another important party in this picture and this is the people, the electorate. 10 MPs will not make PAP give up bullying tactics. 20 also will not. Even 30. The only way PAP will listen is if the people stand up and say we will not stand for it. It is NOT ok to give stupid, half-hearted non-answers to questions in Parliament. It is NOT ok to sometimes provide data in terms of Sgp citizens, and sometimes in terms of Sgp residents (including PR), depending on how convenient it is. It is NOT ok for Town Councils to rip out its accounting system and the underlying historical database and then ask the TC taking over to get its finances audited without a hitch, with no basis to justify underlying opening balances. That data belong to the people, not to any party. It is NOT ok to politicise upgrading. It is NOT ok for the authorities to be seen to be more lenient towards foreigners commiting offence vs Sgpreans.
In practical terms, the only way the people can step in and say responding with bullying is not acceptable, is to give a chance to deserving opposition candidates when such people put everything on the line by standing up for election. In other words, once every 5 years. You captured this well in a previous post : "Over time this dichotomy of choice will become increasingly obvious. The choice between the boring, predictable good enough but not great and the exciting, full of possibilities alternative but also untested and extremely risky. As the population become more educated and self confident, it is a matter of time they reach the tipping point and take that risk of living dangerously. So the PAP must be the change or be changed. To me they have only made some adjustments when they ought to be thinking of transformation. You don't try to fix the opposition but win the hearts of the people. Don't be chosen because people have no choice because quietly and patiently society will create its choice outside the PAP. Whether voters will make the right choice or not, who knows?"
If you choose to look the other way, all the time, then you are essentially saying that you as a citizen has absolutely no role to play in the democratic process. That you have zero duty to stay informed simply because you are "too busy". Or oh, the PAP is like that, you should have known when you stand for elections. If that is the attitude of we the people (who incidentally is one of the most well-educated in the world), then we do not deserve the likes of Phupinder Gill appearing in the scene when we need them, or qualified decent professionals to risk their reputation, personal time & family life to stand for elections -- what for ?? Go get your fun pack and sit down and vote for the guy who gave you that fun pack.
Thanks JG, your comment is longer than my post.
DeleteThe rational way to read the post is to read it together with my other posts especially when I don't write for the general public to understand. However it takes effort to go beyond the superficial contradictions which I noticed in this instance you have not succeeded.
Politics is brutal and idealism exists as a guiding light more than in practice. Occasionally idealism becomes reality but only for brief periods. On the other hand we need to successfully live through all periods. Have a sense of reality.
Now here is a sense of reality. Recently the retired black US Marine general passed away. If the WP think they had it hard, see the example of Gen Petersen. See http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/us/frank-e-petersen-first-black-general-in-marines-dies-at-83.html?_r=0
The obituary article from NYT begins,
Frank E. Petersen Jr., who suffered bruising racial indignities as a military enlistee in the 1950s and was even arrested at an officers’ club on suspicion of impersonating a lieutenant, but who endured to become the first black aviator and the first black general in the Marine Corps, died on Tuesday at his home in Stevensville, Md., near Annapolis. He was 83.
Hey, suggest you watch this short video clip of Zao Bao's interview with LTK :
ReplyDeletehttp://mothership.sg/2015/08/lianhe-zaobao-scores-exclusive-interview-with-workers-party-chief-low-thia-khiang/
He made many good points. Including one of the point you've always hilited in your blog - if PAP does not know how to communicate, how to sell its policies, it has only itself to blame.
Thanks JG.
DeletePeople don't realize that the PAP often do things the other way round, i.e., think and craft their policies first then figure out how to explain it to the people.
All democracies do it the other way. How to communicate or score political points first to raise their chances of getting re-elected and then see what policies are available.
Sure the PAP only has itself to blame for stumbling over communication but let's also understand why.
In this elections I am brutal to both the PAP and WP. If Low's want to do it like elsewhere where they put what is communicable first ahead of the best working strategies then this is a huge minus.
I allowed myself one parliamentary term to test the practicability of a First World Parliament and decided it is impractical.
A WP with one MP and then seven MPs and they hope twenty MPs. At each stage their behavior change. If the WP were ever to become the government, do you think they will treat a PAP opposition any differently?
LKY was right but I was just too reluctant to give up certain ideals. Everyone has to learn somethings the harder way.