* Why the Workers’ Party Didn't Hand Over Marine Parade to Other Opposition

[tobelightlight]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AMjk9MZJ3/

’ - — ,

The Workers' Party eleventh hour withdrawal from - is not just a campaign decision. It is a profound act of betrayal, of opposition unity, of voters’ rights, and of the very spirit of democratic contestation.

The timing of the move, and the refusal to give space for others to contest, makes one thing clear: this was not about resources. This was about control. And it exposes a broader, more troubling realignment between ’s leadership and the very political dominance it once claimed to oppose.

This analysis does not come from hostility toward the idea of . It comes from disappointment at what has become under Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim , a party once feared by the establishment, now folded into its comfort.



- was not lost. It was handed over.
And ’ did it with the kind of precision that made sure no other party could step in.

This is not political strategy.
This is sabotage dressed up as pragmatism.

It was an ambush, not on the People's Action Party , but on the very voters who believed in as a force for change.

—

Let us be fair, redrawn boundaries in - may have presented valid electoral challenges for . Internal calculations could have indicated limited prospects or resource constraints, and party strategists might have opted to concentrate efforts where holds stronger ground.

Such tactical choices are not uncommon. In fact, many observers were prepared to understand if had publicly stepped aside early, allowing another opposition party to step in and carry the fight.

But that’s not what happened.

Instead of strategic transparency, we saw a strategic ambush.

remained silent until the last possible moment, preventing any other party from stepping in, and in effect, locking the constituency in a one-party grip.

So while we may understand the why behind the decision, we cannot and must not excuse the how, because that is where the betrayal lies.

The core issue was not withdrawal.
It was secrecy. It was timing. It was the quiet coordination with the ’s electoral convenience.

And in that, chose to serve the system, not the people.

—

Since assuming party leadership, gradually reshaped ’s posture, from one that challenged power directly, to one that carefully navigated within the boundaries of institutional comfort. The tone of changed.

Public defiance was replaced with managed speeches.
Engagement with grassroots activism dulled.
And now, direct withdrawal from one of the most symbolic GRCs in the East.

, once respected for her sharpness and independence, has become silent in the face of this strategic collapse.
Together, this leadership has led not to the next chapter, but to its expiration date.

- —

Let’s not sugarcoat this:
The didn’t come to win. came to lose.
And the way was cleared by silence, secrecy, and last-hour abandonment.

 

[zeddy]

As a former Tampines resident and with my parents, uncles, aunties and kakis still staying in Tampines let me tell Kapitan Goh the brutal truth since he thinks too highly of himself. The reason GMS and his Mickey mouse NSP team managed to obtain a respectable percentage of votes in 2011 was because many hardcore Oppos in Tampines like me and my family had no choice but to give our votes to NSP. For years many have been yearning for the presence of WP in Tampines. Pritam made the right call. It's Faisal Manap Vs Masagos. WP will probably not win Tampines since Tampines is full of Pappy Lapdogs but Faisal's team will give Masagos's team a good fight leaving GMS and his fellow deluded clowns to feed on the scraps.

 

[Papsmearer]

only WP listen to Pritam, this so call "Official leader of the Oppo" is given by Lee Hsien Loong, all opposition parties never endorse it

He also gave them extra money for being 'Official" oppo. And you are right. WP listens to Pritam. But Pritam listens to Pinky. That is why WP supporters are dumber then PAP supporters. They could have cut out the middlemen and go straight to the PAP

 

[Papsmearer]

Just look at GMS's team, they can’t even deliver a proper speech. Do you really think the Workers' Party would risk having GMS alienate Marine Parade residents and turn them against the opposition?

This is why I say u are PAP cocksucker. This proves it. Only a PAP cocksucker will put down an oppo team even before the team is fielded. Who cares if GMS alienate MP residents. PAP already alienate them even worse. Some oppo, is better then no oppo. Anyone on GMS team is still 10X better the Kate Spade Tin Pei Ling. If she can win a seat in Parliament, even a dumb fucktard dog like u can do it too.

 

[Papsmearer]

As a former Tampines resident and with my parents, uncles, aunties and kakis still staying in Tampines let me tell Kapitan Goh the brutal truth since he thinks too highly of himself. The reason GMS and his Mickey mouse NSP team managed to obtain a respectable percentage of votes in 2011 was because many hardcore Oppos in Tampines like me and my family had no choice but to give our votes to NSP. For years many have been yearning for the presence of WP in Tampines. Pritam made the right call. It's Faisal Manap Vs Masagos. WP will probably not win Tampines since Tampines is full of Pappy Lapdogs but Faisal's team will give Masagos's team a good fight leaving GMS and his fellow deluded clowns to feed on the scraps.

U are another fucking retard. WP is PAP Lite. WP is Wayang Party aka Fake Oppo. What kind of oppo votes in synch with the PAP over 90% of the time?

 

[Papsmearer]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AMjk9MZJ3/

’ - — ,

The Workers' Party eleventh hour withdrawal from - is not just a campaign decision. It is a profound act of betrayal, of opposition unity, of voters’ rights, and of the very spirit of democratic contestation.

The timing of the move, and the refusal to give space for others to contest, makes one thing clear: this was not about resources. This was about control. And it exposes a broader, more troubling realignment between ’s leadership and the very political dominance it once claimed to oppose.

This analysis does not come from hostility toward the idea of . It comes from disappointment at what has become under Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim , a party once feared by the establishment, now folded into its comfort.



- was not lost. It was handed over.
And ’ did it with the kind of precision that made sure no other party could step in.

This is not political strategy.
This is sabotage dressed up as pragmatism.

It was an ambush, not on the People's Action Party , but on the very voters who believed in as a force for change.

—

Let us be fair, redrawn boundaries in - may have presented valid electoral challenges for . Internal calculations could have indicated limited prospects or resource constraints, and party strategists might have opted to concentrate efforts where holds stronger ground.

Such tactical choices are not uncommon. In fact, many observers were prepared to understand if had publicly stepped aside early, allowing another opposition party to step in and carry the fight.

But that’s not what happened.

Instead of strategic transparency, we saw a strategic ambush.

remained silent until the last possible moment, preventing any other party from stepping in, and in effect, locking the constituency in a one-party grip.

So while we may understand the why behind the decision, we cannot and must not excuse the how, because that is where the betrayal lies.

The core issue was not withdrawal.
It was secrecy. It was timing. It was the quiet coordination with the ’s electoral convenience.

And in that, chose to serve the system, not the people.

—

Since assuming party leadership, gradually reshaped ’s posture, from one that challenged power directly, to one that carefully navigated within the boundaries of institutional comfort. The tone of changed.

Public defiance was replaced with managed speeches.
Engagement with grassroots activism dulled.
And now, direct withdrawal from one of the most symbolic GRCs in the East.

, once respected for her sharpness and independence, has become silent in the face of this strategic collapse.
Together, this leadership has led not to the next chapter, but to its expiration date.

- —

Let’s not sugarcoat this:
The didn’t come to win. came to lose.
And the way was cleared by silence, secrecy, and last-hour abandonment.

The WP was clearly aiding and abetting the PAP. They are fake oppo aka Wayang Party

 

[rocket]

LT or GMS?

 

[3_M]

It not WP mission to contest for the sake of giving voters a chance to exercise their voting rights.

Looking at the setup of various WP team, it obvious WP is aiming to win.

I believe the party still have the candidates to contest in MP GRC but lack a heavyweight anchor. Plus party's manpower and resources will be spread thin.

Fixated on contesting in MP GRC is missing the forest for the trees.

 

[zeddy]

U are another fucking retard. WP is PAP Lite. WP is Wayang Party aka Fake Oppo. What kind of oppo votes in synch with the PAP over 90% of the time?

Judging by your retarded logic by a senior citizen fucktard like you then you want all Oppos to vote the PAP rather than the giving their votes to the WP. You must be another delusional fucktard high on your anti diabetic medications.

 

[Truthspeak]

very stale rant. the world has already moved on so pl try something fresh. keep harping on the vaccines just like iris koh lol

Are you dumb? You really think there will be no more scamdemic? Lol

 

[3_M]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AMjk9MZJ3/

’ - — ,

The Workers' Party eleventh hour withdrawal from - is not just a campaign decision. It is a profound act of betrayal, of opposition unity, of voters’ rights, and of the very spirit of democratic contestation.

The timing of the move, and the refusal to give space for others to contest, makes one thing clear: this was not about resources. This was about control. And it exposes a broader, more troubling realignment between ’s leadership and the very political dominance it once claimed to oppose.

This analysis does not come from hostility toward the idea of . It comes from disappointment at what has become under Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim , a party once feared by the establishment, now folded into its comfort.



- was not lost. It was handed over.
And ’ did it with the kind of precision that made sure no other party could step in.

This is not political strategy.
This is sabotage dressed up as pragmatism.

It was an ambush, not on the People's Action Party , but on the very voters who believed in as a force for change.

—

Let us be fair, redrawn boundaries in - may have presented valid electoral challenges for . Internal calculations could have indicated limited prospects or resource constraints, and party strategists might have opted to concentrate efforts where holds stronger ground.

Such tactical choices are not uncommon. In fact, many observers were prepared to understand if had publicly stepped aside early, allowing another opposition party to step in and carry the fight.

But that’s not what happened.

Instead of strategic transparency, we saw a strategic ambush.

remained silent until the last possible moment, preventing any other party from stepping in, and in effect, locking the constituency in a one-party grip.

So while we may understand the why behind the decision, we cannot and must not excuse the how, because that is where the betrayal lies.

The core issue was not withdrawal.
It was secrecy. It was timing. It was the quiet coordination with the ’s electoral convenience.

And in that, chose to serve the system, not the people.

—

Since assuming party leadership, gradually reshaped ’s posture, from one that challenged power directly, to one that carefully navigated within the boundaries of institutional comfort. The tone of changed.

Public defiance was replaced with managed speeches.
Engagement with grassroots activism dulled.
And now, direct withdrawal from one of the most symbolic GRCs in the East.

, once respected for her sharpness and independence, has become silent in the face of this strategic collapse.
Together, this leadership has led not to the next chapter, but to its expiration date.

- —

Let’s not sugarcoat this:
The didn’t come to win. came to lose.
And the way was cleared by silence, secrecy, and last-hour abandonment.

This fellow don't know what he is saying. There is no opposition unity to speak of. If there is, we won't be seeing so many MCF.

 

[Truthspeak]

very stale rant. the world has already moved on so pl try something fresh. keep harping on the vaccines just like iris koh lol

 

[Truthspeak]

Hope the next scamdemic comes faster and see how the vaxtards going to react lol

Keep taking shots like a lab rat lol

 

[Papsmearer]

Judging by your retarded logic by a senior citizen fucktard like you then you want all Oppos to vote the PAP rather than the giving their votes to the WP. You must be another delusional fucktard high on your anti diabetic medications.

u are incoherent again, u piece of dog shit.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

A Game of Boundaries: Why WP didn’t contest in Marine Parade
In this opinion piece, Roy Ngerng reflects on his initial frustration over WP not contesting Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. After analysing past election data and boundary changes, he concludes that WP’s strategy was necessary, and urges Singaporeans to stay calm and focus on strengthening the opposition.


Published

on

26 April 2025
On nomination day, when I saw no opposition party contesting in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, I immediately messaged a friend and said, “Why didn’t WP contest in Marine Parade! There is no minister there, it would have won!”

After things had settled, I thought back to try to understand what had happened. I was one of those people who felt betrayed, thinking, why did WP not run in Marine Parade? But I had no meat in the game, I don’t even live in Marine Parade, but I felt I had the right to feel indignant.

I was on the computer looking at live updates of the nomination, so I decided to make sense of why WP did not run in Marine Parade, and I looked at past election data. Marine Parade was always the most difficult constituency for the WP to garner votes in. So, it started to make sense.

But what many people forget was that, it wasn’t only WP that was missing from Marine Parade (or other opposition parties). For the elections, the PAP generally sends a minister to helm each GRC (except 3 in this election; there’s not enough ministers to go around, and the PAP was not about to waste a minister in Aljunied and Sengkang GRC, after it lost its minister at Sengkang GRC in the last election.)

At 10am at the nomination centre, Gan Kim Yong, the minister helming the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, had also not yet turned up. Tan See Leng was also not yet there. The PAP had already announced that both of them would stand in the respective GRCS.

But there were also some GRCS where the PAP had not yet announced their candidates—East Coast GRC, Punggol and Tanjong Pagar GRCS.

The thing is, hindsight is always 20/20. The most analytical people could have guessed why the PAP had not shown its cards before nomination day for these GRCs. I did not, it took some time for my entitled indignant self to understand. It is possible that the PAP was likely waiting to see which constituencies the WP would contest in, before it decided how it should deploy.

And this is why The Worker’s Party and Pritam Singh made the decision not to reveal their slate until nomination itself—they knew what was at stake.

In Singapore, the nomination of candidates for election lasts only for an hour. It makes it difficult for the opposition parties to decide last minute to send a candidate to another constituency to run, unless you can fly from one end of Singapore to another. But equally, it can thus be challenging for the PAP to move its candidates to different constituencies. So, others are trapped, but you are trapped too.

And so, the WP and Pritam had to keep their cards very close to their chests. Now, other than the Aljunied and Sengkang GRCS, the WP also ran in 2 other GRCS in the last election—East Coast and Marine Parade GRCS, and it nearly won in East Coast.

So, in this GE2025 election, both East Coast and Marine Parade GRCs have been broken up, so it’s now more difficult for the WP to contest them. But, the Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC from GE2020 was also broken up, so that the new Pasir Ris-Changi GRC can absorb part of the former East Coast GRC. This also created the new Punggol GRC.


So, the question is, would the WP take the bait and continue to contest in the now Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, or will it take the other bait and try to contest in the Punggol GRC? The new Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC includes the former MacPherson SMC where PAP won 71.74% of the votes in GE2020.


The new Punggol GRC includes the former Punggol West SMC, where the PAP won 60.98% of the votes. So it made sense for the WP to focus its resources on the new expanded GRC in Punggol. If the boundaries had not changed and there wasn’t a new Punggol GRC, the WP may have continued to run in the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

However, the WP has limited resources, and if it ran for more than one-third of the election seats, we know how it went the last time, when fear was used to dissuade people from voting for the WP.


Before nomination day, the PAP had preemptively released its slate for the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. But it stayed silent on the East Coast and Punggol GRCS. You know, that’s the force of the WP, and it even threatens the ruling party. Or if you look at it the other way, the ruling party feels that it has been so weakened that it feels threatened.

So, all eyes were now on nomination day. For the PAP, it seems that the more senior the minister, the more he or she is relied on to hold onto a GRC. After Lee Hsien Loong, Shanmugam is the only other person to have entered parliament before 2000, and he singlehandedly took in 4 new MPs in the Nee Soon GRC.

There are three ministers who entered parliament in 2001. One of them is Indranee, who has been moved to the Pasir Ris-Changi GRC, to try to secure it after Teo Chee Hean left. This leaves Gan Kim Yong and Vivian.


In GE2020, the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC was contested by SDA, but now that Punggol has been separated into its own GRC, who will take on the GRC? (The SDA has moved to contest in the Pasir Ris-Changi GRC.) So, should the PAP protect the East Coast or the Punggol GRC? Their bet could have been that the WP will try to hold on to the East Coast GRC, and the WP taking on Punggol GRC may have caught the PAP by surprise.


On nomination day, the PAP then made the sudden switch to move Gan Kim Yong—one of the ministers who entered parliament the earliest—to safeguard Punggol. Lawrence Wong said as well—The Straits Times reported Lawrence Wong as saying that Gan Kim Yong was deployed to Punggol GRC as the PAP needed a “senior office-holder of similar stature” to take over from Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean.

Since the Marine Parade is now uncontested, it looks like Tan See Leng was shifted to replace Gan Kim Yong in Chua Chu Kang. Half an hour into the nomination, Gan Kim Yong rushed to the nomination centre in a white BMW, and Tan See Leng via a motorcade—a motorcade, mind you!

On hindsight, and again hindsight is 20/20, but the WP really gave the PAP a run for its money. For all my misplaced indignation, I wouldn’t have been able to come up with such strategies. I could analyse it after it happened, but so can anyone.

But it’s not easy to build up a political party, and especially one that needs to sustain itself in a challenging political landscape, and yet be able to try to expand, in spite all the difficulties.

For people who have been with political parties before, you know how much work is required. And I’ve been with parties where even in the midst of elections, the party’s top leaders have no planning, no strategy, and were just sitting around and waiting for the election to be over.

So, like many Singaporeans, I only trust the 3 big opposition parties because they have proven themselves, they do the work, walk the ground, and come out with policies.

In their speeches, you keep hearing WP candidates talk about the need for resilience, because you need a lot of stamina to gain credibility to run.

One reason why the WP insists that its candidates should have joined them in walkabouts and Meet-the-People Sessions is because this is a way you can seive out how committed someone is, and whether they have the stamina to go to parliament, be humiliated in front of the whole nation by their opponents, and then spend their nights for the Meet-the-People Sessions, and their weekends on walkabouts.

I don’t think most of us have such stamina, and most of us wouldn’t intimately know how the change in electoral boundaries completely messes up your strategy, and that just a few weeks before election, you have to quickly rethink your strategy, and change your plans.

Sometimes, the years of walking on the ground may end up broken when boundaries completely shift.

Meanwhile, your opponent is ready with various scenarios of how you may redeploy your candidates for the redrawn electoral boundaries, and then prepare various methods to smear you in the media—again, you need to have been in the direct line of their public attacks to understand how they strategise their attacks against you.

And unwittingly, for the many of us indignant selves who were angry over the WP not contesting in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, and who join in the chorus to lament how we are unhappy, angry, upset or what validation we needed, this is exactly the trap that has been set for us, for us to voluntarily smear the WP and weaken the opposition’s position.

But it’s a war the WP is fighting, and this is why they do not discuss with other parties their plans. There are many mole parties or candidates, and I’m sure the WP have had their share of experience with them, and have had to remove them from the party, who then go on to other smaller parties.

But the WP has to focus and carry on. They have their strategy, and they stick to it—that’s how they survived. And it’s because they survived, we have a chance to complain about them.

We talk about opposition unity, etc, or some grand idea. But at the end of the day, it is the WP’s strategy that actually gives us a chance to have different voices in parliament. It’s not our indignation. It’s also useful to stay calm, reflect on what happened, and then focus on the larger game, not miss the forest for the trees.

Share this:

 

[zeddy]

u are incoherent again, u piece of dog shit.

Listen here you Merdeka Generation Diabetic fucktard, my vote went to GMS and his NSP clowns in 2011 even though he rarely walked the ground in Tampines back then.

 

[ftan42]

General Election (GE2025) in Singapore, focusing on the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC and the strategic decisions made by the Workers' Party (WP) and the ruling party, the People's Action Party (PAP).

The WP decided not to contest in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, a constituency they had previously struggled to win. Instead, they focused on contesting in the new Punggol GRC, which was created by breaking up the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

The PAP, on the other hand, deployed senior ministers to helm key constituencies, including Gan Kim Yong in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. The WP's decision to focus on Punggol GRC may have caught the PAP by surprise, and the ruling party's strategic decisions may have been influenced by the WP's force and potential to threaten their dominance.

WP gave the PAP a run for their money, employing effective strategies that were only visible in hindsight for their resilience, stamina, and commitment to building a strong opposition party.

 

[Papsmearer]

A Game of Boundaries: Why WP didn’t contest in Marine Parade
In this opinion piece, Roy Ngerng reflects on his initial frustration over WP not contesting Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. After analysing past election data and boundary changes, he concludes that WP’s strategy was necessary, and urges Singaporeans to stay calm and focus on strengthening the opposition.


Published

on

26 April 2025
On nomination day, when I saw no opposition party contesting in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, I immediately messaged a friend and said, “Why didn’t WP contest in Marine Parade! There is no minister there, it would have won!”

After things had settled, I thought back to try to understand what had happened. I was one of those people who felt betrayed, thinking, why did WP not run in Marine Parade? But I had no meat in the game, I don’t even live in Marine Parade, but I felt I had the right to feel indignant.

I was on the computer looking at live updates of the nomination, so I decided to make sense of why WP did not run in Marine Parade, and I looked at past election data. Marine Parade was always the most difficult constituency for the WP to garner votes in. So, it started to make sense.

But what many people forget was that, it wasn’t only WP that was missing from Marine Parade (or other opposition parties). For the elections, the PAP generally sends a minister to helm each GRC (except 3 in this election; there’s not enough ministers to go around, and the PAP was not about to waste a minister in Aljunied and Sengkang GRC, after it lost its minister at Sengkang GRC in the last election.)

At 10am at the nomination centre, Gan Kim Yong, the minister helming the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, had also not yet turned up. Tan See Leng was also not yet there. The PAP had already announced that both of them would stand in the respective GRCS.

But there were also some GRCS where the PAP had not yet announced their candidates—East Coast GRC, Punggol and Tanjong Pagar GRCS.

The thing is, hindsight is always 20/20. The most analytical people could have guessed why the PAP had not shown its cards before nomination day for these GRCs. I did not, it took some time for my entitled indignant self to understand. It is possible that the PAP was likely waiting to see which constituencies the WP would contest in, before it decided how it should deploy.

And this is why The Worker’s Party and Pritam Singh made the decision not to reveal their slate until nomination itself—they knew what was at stake.

In Singapore, the nomination of candidates for election lasts only for an hour. It makes it difficult for the opposition parties to decide last minute to send a candidate to another constituency to run, unless you can fly from one end of Singapore to another. But equally, it can thus be challenging for the PAP to move its candidates to different constituencies. So, others are trapped, but you are trapped too.

And so, the WP and Pritam had to keep their cards very close to their chests. Now, other than the Aljunied and Sengkang GRCS, the WP also ran in 2 other GRCS in the last election—East Coast and Marine Parade GRCS, and it nearly won in East Coast.

So, in this GE2025 election, both East Coast and Marine Parade GRCs have been broken up, so it’s now more difficult for the WP to contest them. But, the Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC from GE2020 was also broken up, so that the new Pasir Ris-Changi GRC can absorb part of the former East Coast GRC. This also created the new Punggol GRC.


So, the question is, would the WP take the bait and continue to contest in the now Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, or will it take the other bait and try to contest in the Punggol GRC? The new Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC includes the former MacPherson SMC where PAP won 71.74% of the votes in GE2020.


The new Punggol GRC includes the former Punggol West SMC, where the PAP won 60.98% of the votes. So it made sense for the WP to focus its resources on the new expanded GRC in Punggol. If the boundaries had not changed and there wasn’t a new Punggol GRC, the WP may have continued to run in the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

However, the WP has limited resources, and if it ran for more than one-third of the election seats, we know how it went the last time, when fear was used to dissuade people from voting for the WP.


Before nomination day, the PAP had preemptively released its slate for the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. But it stayed silent on the East Coast and Punggol GRCS. You know, that’s the force of the WP, and it even threatens the ruling party. Or if you look at it the other way, the ruling party feels that it has been so weakened that it feels threatened.

So, all eyes were now on nomination day. For the PAP, it seems that the more senior the minister, the more he or she is relied on to hold onto a GRC. After Lee Hsien Loong, Shanmugam is the only other person to have entered parliament before 2000, and he singlehandedly took in 4 new MPs in the Nee Soon GRC.

There are three ministers who entered parliament in 2001. One of them is Indranee, who has been moved to the Pasir Ris-Changi GRC, to try to secure it after Teo Chee Hean left. This leaves Gan Kim Yong and Vivian.


In GE2020, the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC was contested by SDA, but now that Punggol has been separated into its own GRC, who will take on the GRC? (The SDA has moved to contest in the Pasir Ris-Changi GRC.) So, should the PAP protect the East Coast or the Punggol GRC? Their bet could have been that the WP will try to hold on to the East Coast GRC, and the WP taking on Punggol GRC may have caught the PAP by surprise.


On nomination day, the PAP then made the sudden switch to move Gan Kim Yong—one of the ministers who entered parliament the earliest—to safeguard Punggol. Lawrence Wong said as well—The Straits Times reported Lawrence Wong as saying that Gan Kim Yong was deployed to Punggol GRC as the PAP needed a “senior office-holder of similar stature” to take over from Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean.

Since the Marine Parade is now uncontested, it looks like Tan See Leng was shifted to replace Gan Kim Yong in Chua Chu Kang. Half an hour into the nomination, Gan Kim Yong rushed to the nomination centre in a white BMW, and Tan See Leng via a motorcade—a motorcade, mind you!

On hindsight, and again hindsight is 20/20, but the WP really gave the PAP a run for its money. For all my misplaced indignation, I wouldn’t have been able to come up with such strategies. I could analyse it after it happened, but so can anyone.

But it’s not easy to build up a political party, and especially one that needs to sustain itself in a challenging political landscape, and yet be able to try to expand, in spite all the difficulties.

For people who have been with political parties before, you know how much work is required. And I’ve been with parties where even in the midst of elections, the party’s top leaders have no planning, no strategy, and were just sitting around and waiting for the election to be over.

So, like many Singaporeans, I only trust the 3 big opposition parties because they have proven themselves, they do the work, walk the ground, and come out with policies.

In their speeches, you keep hearing WP candidates talk about the need for resilience, because you need a lot of stamina to gain credibility to run.

One reason why the WP insists that its candidates should have joined them in walkabouts and Meet-the-People Sessions is because this is a way you can seive out how committed someone is, and whether they have the stamina to go to parliament, be humiliated in front of the whole nation by their opponents, and then spend their nights for the Meet-the-People Sessions, and their weekends on walkabouts.

I don’t think most of us have such stamina, and most of us wouldn’t intimately know how the change in electoral boundaries completely messes up your strategy, and that just a few weeks before election, you have to quickly rethink your strategy, and change your plans.

Sometimes, the years of walking on the ground may end up broken when boundaries completely shift.

Meanwhile, your opponent is ready with various scenarios of how you may redeploy your candidates for the redrawn electoral boundaries, and then prepare various methods to smear you in the media—again, you need to have been in the direct line of their public attacks to understand how they strategise their attacks against you.

And unwittingly, for the many of us indignant selves who were angry over the WP not contesting in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, and who join in the chorus to lament how we are unhappy, angry, upset or what validation we needed, this is exactly the trap that has been set for us, for us to voluntarily smear the WP and weaken the opposition’s position.

But it’s a war the WP is fighting, and this is why they do not discuss with other parties their plans. There are many mole parties or candidates, and I’m sure the WP have had their share of experience with them, and have had to remove them from the party, who then go on to other smaller parties.

But the WP has to focus and carry on. They have their strategy, and they stick to it—that’s how they survived. And it’s because they survived, we have a chance to complain about them.

We talk about opposition unity, etc, or some grand idea. But at the end of the day, it is the WP’s strategy that actually gives us a chance to have different voices in parliament. It’s not our indignation. It’s also useful to stay calm, reflect on what happened, and then focus on the larger game, not miss the forest for the trees.

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Roy is wrong. WP is a Mole Party

 

[Papsmearer]

Listen here you Merdeka Generation Diabetic fucktard, my vote went to GMS and his NSP clowns in 2011 even though he rarely walked the ground in Tampines back then.

So what? u want me to give u a medal for voting for GMS? Only fucking retards give their vote to PAP, and letting them walkover is even worse because no votes are needed.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Roy is wrong. WP is a Mole Party

Well said...