http://callantham.org/blog/2010/4/10/infighting-does-not-win-elections.html
Infighting does not win elections
DateSaturday, April 10, 2010 at 11:33PM
Sounds like an obvious thing to say, but here in PAP-dominated Singapore, some politicians just don't seem to understand that very simple truth about politics. Take for example the recently-revived Chee Soon Juan-Chiam See Tong dispute, a piece of political history that should have been consigned to a landfill. Instead of leaving it alone, Chee had to "defend" himself about claims that Chiam was forced out of the Singapore Democratic Party.
Or when former Reform Party chairman Ng Teck Siong jumped out to counter current RP chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam's points in a Today interview. Both Chee and Ng seemed more interested in defending their own record, and in so doing fails to understand what politics is.
The aim of any and every political party is to win power; only after winning elections can they govern and push through their agenda. This is an immutable fact. There can be no progress, no shaping of legislation, when you're in a small minority that is incapable of posing a serious challenge to the ruling party, which is the exact state of the opposition now, with only two seats in the 84-seat Parliament.
All the talk about not addressing the flawed political landscape, or "disrespect" for other opposition MPs, or a re-run of an old in-house political feud not only does not help the opposition win power, but also damages their prospect of doing so, while practically doing the PAP's job of retaining power for them. In Rahm Emanuel's words, this is fucking retarded.
Politically, it makes sense to have a loose alliance of opposition parties, pooling together resources that would be hard to accrue by any single opposition party, in order to win elections. It makes sense to focus on alternative policy and working the ground, rather than doing nothing but to scream about the broken political system, because it obviously did not help the opposition win any more seats than the previous record of four.
When the old tactics and talking points have not worked for so long, it only makes sense to shift the focus. Recycling the same old arguments that didn't work is just obstinacy and egregious failure to look beyond the tip of one's nose.
Don't play the game if you don't understand how to win it, or if you're not there to win it. And washing dirty linen, or attacking fellow opposition politicians in public, might win you some applause but it will not win you elections. And to that end, politicians like Ng and Chee ought to do us all a favour and fade into the sunset. And bring their baggage with them.
Update: I have been informed that Mrs Lina Chiam is a Singapore People's Party CEC member, which makes her a politician. And after reading this letter, I would issue the same (no doubt unheeded) advice that she should stop her meaningless public argument with Dr Chee. There is no point in continuing this, and any attempts to should be viewed as what it is: politically ham-fisted. That's putting it mildly.
Infighting does not win elections
DateSaturday, April 10, 2010 at 11:33PM
Sounds like an obvious thing to say, but here in PAP-dominated Singapore, some politicians just don't seem to understand that very simple truth about politics. Take for example the recently-revived Chee Soon Juan-Chiam See Tong dispute, a piece of political history that should have been consigned to a landfill. Instead of leaving it alone, Chee had to "defend" himself about claims that Chiam was forced out of the Singapore Democratic Party.
Or when former Reform Party chairman Ng Teck Siong jumped out to counter current RP chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam's points in a Today interview. Both Chee and Ng seemed more interested in defending their own record, and in so doing fails to understand what politics is.
The aim of any and every political party is to win power; only after winning elections can they govern and push through their agenda. This is an immutable fact. There can be no progress, no shaping of legislation, when you're in a small minority that is incapable of posing a serious challenge to the ruling party, which is the exact state of the opposition now, with only two seats in the 84-seat Parliament.
All the talk about not addressing the flawed political landscape, or "disrespect" for other opposition MPs, or a re-run of an old in-house political feud not only does not help the opposition win power, but also damages their prospect of doing so, while practically doing the PAP's job of retaining power for them. In Rahm Emanuel's words, this is fucking retarded.
Politically, it makes sense to have a loose alliance of opposition parties, pooling together resources that would be hard to accrue by any single opposition party, in order to win elections. It makes sense to focus on alternative policy and working the ground, rather than doing nothing but to scream about the broken political system, because it obviously did not help the opposition win any more seats than the previous record of four.
When the old tactics and talking points have not worked for so long, it only makes sense to shift the focus. Recycling the same old arguments that didn't work is just obstinacy and egregious failure to look beyond the tip of one's nose.
Don't play the game if you don't understand how to win it, or if you're not there to win it. And washing dirty linen, or attacking fellow opposition politicians in public, might win you some applause but it will not win you elections. And to that end, politicians like Ng and Chee ought to do us all a favour and fade into the sunset. And bring their baggage with them.
Update: I have been informed that Mrs Lina Chiam is a Singapore People's Party CEC member, which makes her a politician. And after reading this letter, I would issue the same (no doubt unheeded) advice that she should stop her meaningless public argument with Dr Chee. There is no point in continuing this, and any attempts to should be viewed as what it is: politically ham-fisted. That's putting it mildly.
