You are missing the bigger picture. WP has to grow and that means inevitably clashing with other parties who also want to grow. There is no Pakatan coalition in singapore.
Lets look at it from this angle: Suppose WP plays nice and let every other party have the places they all want. What the PAP will do is create a dozen parties with mediocre members and then gobble everything up. Tell me how's that going to improve SG politics. You can only help politics advance by growing your party and becoming a bigger voice in parliament. To do that, you MUST contest more seats every time. Its as simple as that.
And its not a zero sum game either which is ultimately the point you are making, because it forces other parties to either improve on their game, or resign to being drowned out by WP. Who wins? The electorate wins.
I think you should read carefully what others are saying here. Its not fair that others take the time to understand and respond to your POV but you don't put in similar effort.
bro, i was thinking how to comment on nice-gook's seeming bafflement ... and i must say u said it all in a most unsentimental but hard truth post : succinct and totally economical.
concur with yr fair take on WP's current approach : to collaborate with a whole riff-raff of breast beating, pig-headed 'Opposition' figures is totally futile. witness all forms of electorate speed dating in the pass : nothing strategic totally gian peng pork distribution style.
as to the other forummers comment that in spite of his view that Mah/PAP is strong in Tampines why did Goh Meng Seng target Tampines?
To me, quite simple.. Meng Seng was at one time damn fucking pleased he came out with this moniker "minister-specific strategy" - he thought it was such a brainwave.
Well, as Deng would say : derive truth from facts.
Now that you have raised the dead.I felt obliged to answer.
I am an astute follower of Malaysian politics and keep track of the latest.Hence,when
Thick Face Black Heart,mentioned the
Pakatan(the Malaysian coalition of oppositions-PKR/PAS/DAP)...I merely do not want to embarrass him.His view is quite akin to a tourist in Singapoe as how a happy state of affairs of our multi race/religious/cultural indeed is.Only a Singaporean knows otherwise.
Now,
Pakatan is a coalition already doomed to fail.It's a marriage of convenience of sort--where strange bedfellows sleep together.Whose conflicting ideology is already tearing them apart.Eg.PAS want an Islamic Hudud laws implemented the moment they capture power.Whereas DAP,a Chinese dominated party,is simply alarmed at the mere thought...it also alarms moderate Muslims.The only fact for a Pakatan's existence is Anwar Ibrahim.Anwar wants to a be PM at all cost and DAP & PAS playing along--and leveraging on Anwar factor.Not to mention Anwar factor is now hanging like a dead albatross around all opposition necks.
Notwithstanding,let's get back to state of Singapore affairs.I agree PAP can and would create pseudo oppositions.My point is it already has in the form of WP.The WP of today cannot even be remotely identified with JBJ's WP....not only in the sense that it lacks the hard hitting approach but more importantly ,today,every one of WP actions seems to maintain the status quo of PAP regime.And not wanting to challenge PAP as an alternative governance.Compare the and mark the contrast with SDP's---whose every action proposes alternative solutions to PAP gerrymandering.
The classical example is that of Sylvia Lim's .Can you or any right thinking men or women digest the fact that she by her choice alone stood with PAP against JBJ -the very giant who breathed life into WP with his blood,sweat,wealth and sacrificed everything that he held dear for the sake of democracy in Singapore.I am,of course,talking about the
International Bar Association's -Rule of Law Symposium held at Suntec City.By her logical extension, did Singaporeans want Mr Chia Thye Poh's three-decade detention? Did Singaporeans want the media to be completely under the thumb of the PAP? Did the people support the manipulation of the electoral process?
But instead she got a slap on her face when the same
IBAHRI released it's own report later which expressed concern about human rights and the independence of the judiciary in Singapore here--
http://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=0081C460-4B39-4ACB-BB40-8303FCEFDB31
That being said.I certainly know how up and rising political parties jokey for their best positioning .It's almost natural isn't it?But than look at how others like SDP ,NSP and RP behaves.Are they as thuggish as WP?
