Apology to the Workers Party

ray_of_hope · Dec 29, 2012

Disappointed JBJ says time is running out for him.
10 December 1992, 147th Prostitute Press (Business Times Division)

"WORKERS' PARTY secretary-general J B Jeyaretnam said yesterday he was disappointed at not being able to contest the Marine Parade by-election, as time might be running out for him.

The Workers' Party failed to file nomination papers on time because one of its slate of four members did not turn up. When nominations closed at noon, only Mr Jeyaretnam, Jufrie Mahmood and party chairman Tan Bin Seng were present at the registration centre.

Party member Gan Eng Guan came running into the centre five minutes after nominations closed, leading many reporters to think he was the fourth man.

But at a press conference later, Mr Jeyaretnam said Mr Gan was not the missing candidate, whom he described as a graduate in his 30s. He said he had yet to find out what had happened...."

So, Jufrie wanted to stand in the team against CSJ. But now Jufrie stands with CSJ. When the wheel has come full circle you are bound to see the same opportunist emerge.

Fook Seng · Dec 29, 2012

lockeliberal said:
WP cannot win without SDP supporters, SDP cannot win without WP supporters, no amount of bitching about LTK WP or SDP changes this one iota. I fully acknowlege that the party I support has to push more even as the SDP adopts its ground game. I really do not care who wins but someone has to WIN

Locke

I share your exact sentiment. The priority must be set right: to win the seats to deny PAP of its two thirds majority. Every opposition party needs the support of the entire opposition supporters to win in any ward it contests in. Any infighting will not help in this process. Anyway, no one party will agree that someone else candidate is better than its own.

kingrant · Dec 29, 2012

Agreed that a parliamentary seat is not the be all and end all. However, since a seat now has fallen vacant, why not have it occupied by someone who can vocalise and verbalise issues at that level? It is a bonus while you can still work the ground, which no doubt SDP already is doing. It's like striking lottery - chances may be slim, but if you dont buy one single ticket, your chances are mathematically zero. But if you buy one, at least there is a mathematical possibility.

We have to try to develop and institutionalise diversity in our Opposition to secure our best chances of success for the future. We already have 6 of their best from WP in parliament so one more isnt going to move mountains, esp if he is mediocre. Let SDP have a go with their best foot.

Fook Seng said:
You do not need a parliamentary seat to do it but it can help as you will necessarily be engaged fully on the ground if you do. For the latter, again a Parliamentary seat will not help much to push alternative ideas into implementation, not when the PAP is the ruling party anyway. In fact, discussing outside of Parliament gives these alternative ideas more scope for exposition, not being limited by time and relevance that a parliamentary setting will ensure.

kingrant · Dec 29, 2012

Absolutely. Singaporeans must realise that they are part and parcel of the force that can/will break or build a political institution such as our nascent embryonic Opposition, after so many years of PAP's repressive machinations.

Voters must not fall into PAP's trap of parochial politics like Town councils which basically a PAP trick/trap. PAP has the PA's machinery to do their dirty legwork but the Opp have none. It is not a fair contest, so voters must consider to lean more onto the Opp to level back the playing field. They have to help it grow and strengthen.

Fook Seng said:
I share your exact sentiment. The priority must be set right: to win the seats to deny PAP of its two thirds majority. Every opposition party needs the support of the entire opposition supporters to win in any ward it contests in. Any infighting will not help in this process. Anyway, no one party will agree that someone else candidate is better than its own.

Fook Seng · Dec 29, 2012

kingrant said:
Agreed that a parliamentary seat is not the be all and end all. However, since a seat now has fallen vacant, why not have it occupied by someone who can vocalise and verbalise issues at that level? It is a bonus while you can still work the ground, which no doubt SDP already is doing. It's like striking lottery - chances may be slim, but if you dont buy one single ticket, your chances are mathematically zero. But if you buy one, at least there is a mathematical possibility.

You are looking only from the point of view of the SDP. Yes there is nothing to lose for them only everything to gain. For the WP, it would be a blow to their supporters, put a brake on the momentum they have built up over the past few years.

Any gain for one opposition party at the expense of another does not translate into something good for the opposition. If SDP is serious about going into parliament, it should identify wards it wishes to work early in the game and negotiate right now with the other parties to avoid undesirable contest on the next GE.

I, for one, don't think they can make much of a difference in parliament. What they can raise will be greatly restricted and the elected MPs have to answer questionings personally unlike in public forum, they can rely on professionals they engaged to answer for them. Their kind of fiery discourse will fare better outside of parliament in an unbridled public forum which they should continue to do with or without elections

kingrant · Dec 29, 2012

An astute party leader will choose where and when to do battle. He does not choose to fight and win every one. Sometimes, a withdrawal can be a strategic move, not nec a retreat or a concessionary defeat. One step back but two steps forward. An astute leadership must also be able to convince his people and carry them with him on turning away from what may be popular but short-sighted. Help to foster the external environment to nourish the growth of Opp. Not dirty the waters where all fishes depend on to live. Lose a battle but win the war.

Remember - this is only a BE and not a GE. No need to scramble for crumbs now.

Fook Seng said:
You are looking only from the point of view of the SDP. Yes there is nothing to lose for them only everything to gain. For the WP, it would be a blow to their supporters, put a brake on the momentum they have built up over the past few years.

Any gain for one opposition party at the expense of another does not translate into something good for the opposition. If SDP is serious about going into parliament, it should identify wards it wishes to work early in the game and negotiate right now with the other parties to avoid undesirable contest on the next GE.

I, for one, don't think they can make much of a difference in parliament. What they can raise will be greatly restricted and the elected MPs have to answer questionings personally unlike in public forum, they can rely on professionals they engaged to answer for them. Their kind of fiery discourse will fare better outside of parliament in an unbridled public forum which they should continue to do with or without elections

Fook Seng · Dec 29, 2012

kingrant said:
Voters must not fall into PAP's trap of parochial politics like Town councils which basically a PAP trick/trap. PAP has the PA's machinery to do their dirty legwork but the Opp have none. It is not a fair contest, so voters must consider to lean more onto the Opp to level back the playing field. They have to help it grow and strengthen.

Whether you like TKL or not, his recent comment on his Facebook that looking after the day to day operation of housing estates, which had been the responsibility of HDB in the distant past should be left to the civil servants to undertake, makes a lot of sense.

The day to day operation of the estates and infrastructures should be responsibilities of the government and not be a burden on the back of the MP bogging him down from doing more important things like finding improvements to the system. The MP's task is to identify the shortcomings and propose improvement for the civil servants to get these corrected and implemented. Any further shortcoming of the government should then be raised by letter or in parliament for the Minister to take corrective action.

ray_of_hope · Dec 29, 2012

Hahaha... Now people are trying to get WP to step aside for SDP.

kingrant · Dec 29, 2012

I have personal experience with the TC, the PAP MP, and the HDB over a complaint I made in the recent past and I know now personally that the MP practically did fuck all, merely finger power (as in taiji) or eye power (as in if you still have any unresolved issues, pls revert).

When I wrote to the MP, his asst will arrow it to the town council servants, and the TC may cc it back to HDB which then revert to you to say that the issue is TC's and will refer it to them. Eventually, after some feet dragging by all parties concerned in the fingering process, I cut short the process and wrote directly to the last person holding the can. Then days later, more replies from different people - it's laughable. Someone already said she has taken care of it at the same time someone else will chip in and promise to look at it (belatedly). finally, the MP's personal asst came back to me ( I suppose to claim credit) and assured me that the issue has been taken care of and his dept will ensure no recurrences.

You'll be amazed at the circus, but I'll be flabberghasted if I knew or saw reality TV.

So moral of story - no one dies if the MP does not take care of what is TC's job. After all. PAP MPs do fuck all while claiming they run the TCs. Ptui!

Fook Seng said:
Whether you like TKL or not, his recent comment on his Facebook that looking after the day to day operation of housing estates, which had been the responsibility of HDB in the distant past should be left to the civil servants to undertake, makes a lot of sense.

The day to day operation of the estates and infrastructures should be responsibilities of the government and not be a burden on the back of the MP bogging him down from doing more important things like finding improvements to the system. The MP's task is to identify the shortcomings and propose improvement for the civil servants to get these corrected and implemented. Any further shortcoming of the government should then be raised by letter or in parliament for the Minister to take corrective action.

Kinana · Dec 29, 2012

kingrant said:
We have to try to develop and institutionalise diversity in our Opposition to secure our best chances of success for the future. We already have 6 of their best from WP in parliament so one more isnt going to move mountains, esp if he is mediocre. Let SDP have a go with their best foot.

I fully agree with your logic.

Fook Seng · Dec 29, 2012

kingrant said:
An astute party leader will choose where and when to do battle. He does not choose to fight and win every one. Sometimes, a withdrawal can be a strategic move, not nec a retreat or a concessionary defeat.

Remember - this is only a BE and not a GE. No need to scramble for crumbs now.

Then why should SDP pick this as a strategic time and move to compete in a ward well contested by another party in past elections? Doesn't this withdrawal from a BE ( it is not a GE) apply to them as well?

To me there is some unwritten code of ethics that political parties have applied in the past to avoid multi-cornered fights. Now why must they rob another just to benefit their own partitional interest but missing the bigger picture of adding seats to the opposition slate?

Don't think they can offer a stronger bid in the BE. They are untested in that ward. Taking activities in the new media as an indication of the level of support is not reflective of actual ground support, knowing that SDP has a disproportionally high representation in the new media. TJS's strong showing of up to 75% in the new media during the PE was misleading and is amble proof of this misperception. He eventually got only 25%.

3_M · Dec 29, 2012

PTADER said:
Dear Bro Lockeliberal,
I have been wrong on many, many counts; from criticising the Venerable Low Thia Khiang to slamming the WP (and even criticising and slamming Goh Meng Seng. As a short aside and if you still remember, GMS was then the hero and darling of the WP members, crowd and supporters for his inate talent and special abilities in criticising, denigrating and condemning non-WP individuals and non-WP political parties)..........

Politics, as I have now realised, is indeed about the running of Town Councils and grassroot work. The bonus in having the WP in Parliament though is that the WP MPs not only excel in the running of their Town Councils. They excel as Parliamentarians as well. Their convincing, dizzying and sizzling parliamentary performances is nothing short of scintillating. Their fearless, fearsome and robust engagements in parliamentary debates on "weighty" issues augurs well for the present and the future of Singapore.

I hope the WP members/ astroturfers, crowd and supporters have, in that little corner of their big hearts, the magnamity to forgive me for my past trangressions.

You all were right. I was wrong.

Yours remorsefully,
PTADER

GMS was very much a liability to WP during those time when he engaged in frame war with fellow forumers here.

Anyway, I remember during Taiwan election this year, there was this very gung-ho fellow from KMT who was very good at whistleblowing at the opposite camp and he was singlehandedly responsible for exposing the corruption of former president Chen shuibian. He was a MP for 2 terms in his district in Kaoshiung and was seeking a 3rd term. His name was Qiuyi and was very prominent in TV talkshows raising many national issues. Even during election period he appeared on TV every night and fought his campaign purely on national issues. His opponent from DPP was totally the opposite, an unknown working quietly at grassroots level and away media spotlight much like WP.

When the result came out, I fell off my chair, the DPP fellow manage to trash him by getting nearly 70% of the vote.

As former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill phrased it "all politics is local". Much as the situation might differ from sg but I am those who believes that it local issues is important. Fence sitters don't expect opposition to match what PAP can do on municipal issues but at least, they expect opposition not to screw up running their estate before they can focus on National issues. I spoken to people who prefers VW over LLL but will choose WP if there is no chance VW will get elected. My view is VW alone can't fight against the tide of public perception that this BE is really a dual between WP vs PAP. SDP position is hard to reach out to the centrists. Hopefully painful lesson of PE will make more opposition voters aware of the need to vote tactically rather than ideologically.

brocoli · Dec 29, 2012

Ptader, please go fuck yourself

ptader said:
why tan jee say must be handed a strategic victory

while i believe tcb would make a better "unifying" president than tjs, for the sake of democracy in singapore and the emergence of a future two-party system, it is best that opposition voters seriously consider handing tan jee say a strategic victory this weekend.

Those who want to see the opposition advance further and have a chance to form a future government by kicking the pap out within the next 10-15 years, should seriously consider uniting behind tan jee say and investing in a tjs victory. That small but expected percentage that will go to tan kin lian may well be the decisive percentage in deciding the winner in what can be expected to be a very narrow contest with a win for any candidate to be, i believe, no more than a single digit percentage over the runner-up.

The problem with the various opposition parties is that nobody in their right mind will believe that any individual opposition party will ever be strong enough to form the next government nor can they or will they voluntarily unite themselves under a coalition umbrella for the common and long-term good of singaporeans.

This is where an ex-president can play a strategic role in unifying the opposition parties in singapore. I believe tjs will be amenable to the idea and can be persuaded to play this important role for the greater good of singapore.

An ex-president would be just that person who will have that clout and "soft power" to knock sense into the various and disparate opposition parties. He will have that moral authority to advise or lead and unite them under a coalition of opposition umbrella. He will have that stature to do what anwar ibrahim has done in uniting the opposition forces in malaysia into an opposition pakatan rakyat coalition.

If he performs well in his presidency and i believe he will, tjs will be just that man who will be able to convince singaporeans that a coalition of the opposition parties that he leads or advises can take on the role of the government of singapore.

ray_of_hope · Dec 29, 2012

hahaha Some people are still celebrating a "strategic victory" in their understanding of what is "high" and "above".

PTADER · Dec 29, 2012

ray_of_hope said:
JBJ, the lionheart in the eyes of his acolytes, chickened out in 1992. I am sure CSJ has noticed that and perhaps, to avoid being called a chicken, he will do as he has already announced and field a candidate at Punggol East. We therefore look forward to the headlines in the print media, especially The New Paper -- the most trustworthy source, as 60% of the voters in Holland-Bukit Timah affirmed in 2011.

Yes, I am now convinced that JBJ the coward "chickened out" and gave excuses for not participating in the BE. Lee Kuan Yew said so. A reliable and trustworthy WP source like you said so. Hence, it must be so. As they say in exquisite Singlish, it is double confirmed.

Plus, as someone who was swimming in my father's left testicle when the BE was held, I do not know the name nor do I have any knowledge of who this secretive 30 year old graduate is or the intense pressure he had come under from his family who feared for his (and their) livelihood and pressured him to withdraw his candidacy. One has only to look at the adulations, perks and rewards that came tumbling the way of another then 30 year old from the SDP (who goes by the name of Chee Soon Juan) who contested in this 1992 Marine Parade BE to see how wrong and cowardly the family of this secretive 30 year old was.

Like you, I hope the SDP contests in this Punggol East BE. This is a "boh tua, boh suay" party. No manners and no respect for elders. Don't know how to smile. Don't know how to make distinctions. Don't know what is high, what is low. Don't know what is above, what is below.

But can't blame the party. It is led by CSJ. He has no manners. See how he treats the PAP and GCT with disrespect. Just because he got away with the PAP and GCT, his head has gotten bigger. He now dares to mess around and show disrespect to WP and Low Thia Khiang.

In the name of good manners and democracy, the SDP and all the other mosquito parties need to be taught a very, very good lesson by the WP. Low Thia Khiang and the WP must strive to consign these political poseurs and wannabes to political oblivion and the rubbish bin of history.

ray_of_hope · Dec 29, 2012

SDP can look forward to another "strategic victory" along the lines of 2011. The party and its acolytes always get it right.

PTADER · Dec 29, 2012

ray_of_hope said:
So, Jufrie wanted to stand in the team against CSJ. But now Jufrie stands with CSJ. When the wheel has come full circle you are bound to see the same opportunist emerge.

That is why I have no respect for this hopeless party. They are a party of opportunists. In Malaysia, such politicians are rightfully derided as kataks (that's frogs for the SAP school multiracialists and those who do not know the National language). They hop from one party to another.

I hope WP fields Michelle Lee if the SDP does not chicken out and fields that VW chap. Like CSJ, this chap needs to be taught a lesson. I believe WP's Michelle Lee is the best person to teach him this lesson.

ray_of_hope · Dec 29, 2012

Disappointed JBJ says time is running out for him.
10 December 1992, 147th Prostitute Press (Business Times Division)

"WORKERS' PARTY secretary-general J B Jeyaretnam said yesterday he was disappointed at not being able to contest the Marine Parade by-election, as time might be running out for him.

The Workers' Party failed to file nomination papers on time because one of its slate of four members did not turn up. When nominations closed at noon, only Mr Jeyaretnam, Jufrie Mahmood and party chairman Tan Bin Seng were present at the registration centre.

Party member Gan Eng Guan came running into the centre five minutes after nominations closed, leading many reporters to think he was the fourth man.

But at a press conference later, Mr Jeyaretnam said Mr Gan was not the missing candidate, whom he described as a graduate in his 30s. He said he had yet to find out what had happened...."

Did JBJ finally discover what happened?

A by-election that was called for his benefit, and who stood in his way but a team led by CSJ.

kukubird58 · Dec 29, 2012

hahaha.....the new flavour is VW of sdp.......
my idol has been sneakily deriding all the other opps party to promote his new favourite.......such ruthlessness is only matched by old man himself.
the PLPs will rally behind him as usual.....
unfortunately he is living in his own ivory tower.....and his reading is as usual off the mark.....
as i said if wp did not take part in PE SMC BE, i retire from sbf....no roundabout, twisting and turning way.

PTADER · Dec 30, 2012

ray_of_hope said:
SDP can look forward to another "strategic victory" along the lines of 2011. The party and its acolytes always get it right.

WP must not and never allow this to happen. The SDP must be taught a painful lesson about "what is high, what is low, what is above, what is below".

Apology to the Workers Party

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