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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - RP calls for GRC to be abolish!!!!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>Fkapore <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>3:13 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>29254.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Kenneth Jeyaretnam sets up Facebook to call for abolition of GRC
February 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment Temasek Review
Written by Our Correspondent
Reform Party’s Secretary-General Kenneth Jeyaretnam has set up a Facebook group calling for the abolition of GRC or Group Representative Constituency which has garnered 140 members so far.
According to him, the facebook is:
“For all those who believe that GRC’s are simply an obstacle to true representation, have no place in a Democracy and that Singapore should go back to SMC’s.”
The GRC system was introduced in 1988 to ensure “minority representation” in Parliament though ethnic minorities had won in single seats against Chinese opponents in past elections most notably Kenneth’s father, the late Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam who won in the predominantly Chinese ward of Anson twice in 1981 and 1984.
Critics of the system claimed that it enabled “weak” PAP candidates to “ride on the coat-tails” of heavy-weight ministers and disadvantaged the opposition who is unable to find many credible candidates to compete in the GRCs.
The opposition has never won a single GRC since its inception. The closest they came to was in 1988 when the Workers’ Party trio of Francis Seow, Dr Lee Siew Choh and Mohamad Yakcop won 49.1 per cent of the votes in Eunos GRC.
As the redrawing of electoral boundaries fall under the ambit of the Electoral Boundary Review committee, the GRC system is open to rampant gerrymandering by the PAP to dilute bases of opposition support.
GRCs who witnessed closely fought contests often “vanished” into thin air without any reasons in subsequent elections.
For example, Eunos GRC which was twice won narrowly by the PAP was dissolved and absorbed in neighboring GRCs in the 1997 election.
Cheng San GRC was won by the PAP with only 54 per cent of the votes in the 1997 election. It “disappeared” from the electoral map altogether in subsequent elections.
The GRC system is instrumental in perpetuating the PAP’s political hegemony without which it will probably lose a dozen more seats to the opposition.
Despite rising opposition to the GRC system from Singaporeans, the PAP is unlikely to abolish it completely as this will mean dismantling their own power support base.
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
February 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment Temasek Review
Written by Our Correspondent
Reform Party’s Secretary-General Kenneth Jeyaretnam has set up a Facebook group calling for the abolition of GRC or Group Representative Constituency which has garnered 140 members so far.
According to him, the facebook is:
“For all those who believe that GRC’s are simply an obstacle to true representation, have no place in a Democracy and that Singapore should go back to SMC’s.”
The GRC system was introduced in 1988 to ensure “minority representation” in Parliament though ethnic minorities had won in single seats against Chinese opponents in past elections most notably Kenneth’s father, the late Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam who won in the predominantly Chinese ward of Anson twice in 1981 and 1984.
Critics of the system claimed that it enabled “weak” PAP candidates to “ride on the coat-tails” of heavy-weight ministers and disadvantaged the opposition who is unable to find many credible candidates to compete in the GRCs.
The opposition has never won a single GRC since its inception. The closest they came to was in 1988 when the Workers’ Party trio of Francis Seow, Dr Lee Siew Choh and Mohamad Yakcop won 49.1 per cent of the votes in Eunos GRC.
As the redrawing of electoral boundaries fall under the ambit of the Electoral Boundary Review committee, the GRC system is open to rampant gerrymandering by the PAP to dilute bases of opposition support.
GRCs who witnessed closely fought contests often “vanished” into thin air without any reasons in subsequent elections.
For example, Eunos GRC which was twice won narrowly by the PAP was dissolved and absorbed in neighboring GRCs in the 1997 election.
Cheng San GRC was won by the PAP with only 54 per cent of the votes in the 1997 election. It “disappeared” from the electoral map altogether in subsequent elections.
The GRC system is instrumental in perpetuating the PAP’s political hegemony without which it will probably lose a dozen more seats to the opposition.
Despite rising opposition to the GRC system from Singaporeans, the PAP is unlikely to abolish it completely as this will mean dismantling their own power support base.
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