The OPPO should not contest in all 89 seats!!!! SL

[kopiOuncle]

SINGAPORE: Analysing the massive swing towards the People’s Action Party seen in the General Election results, Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim said that perhaps voters were trying to send a message to the Opposition party.


Speaking to the media during the party’s walkabout on Saturday (Sep 12) to thank Aljunied supporters, Ms Lim said, “I’m not sure whether the voters are also trying to send a message that maybe they don’t want too many Opposition (MPs). Perhaps they don’t really want the Workers’ Party to grow more than what we are now.”


“There are many interpretations, and of course one of the things which I think probably did loom in people’s minds also was the fact that for the first time all 89 seats are contested. Perhaps some people did feel that there was somerisk that whether sooner or later that the PAP might be dislodged as aGovernment.”


"I think the majority of Singaporeans probably still want the People's Action Party (PAP) as the government. So it is possible that the fact that all seats were contested resulted in some pushback."


AHPETC NOT THE REASON: SYLVIA LIM


The Aljunied GRC MP-Elect, who successfully defended her seat by a razor-thinmargin of 1.9 per cent against the PAP, also dismissed the idea that recent allegations of town council financial mismanagement had a large bearing on the party's performance.


"The numbers don't suggest that," she said. "Because the national swing was about 10 per cent towards the ruling party, but you find that in our wards, in Hougang, Aljunied or even Punggol East it's about five per cent or less. So if the town council issues were to affect us, we will see a bigger swing against us".


She said the party will have to study in deeper detail the results of the election, and mull over the question of non-constituency MPs. "We will need to look in detail about some of the voting patterns and try to understand whether we think it is the national mood or some national issues or could it be some localised issues that caused voting to be in a certain way," she said.


But she hinted that the party is likely to continue with its current stance and direction in parliament.


"We've always taken the stand of being constructive in parliament, and if the ruling party has an agenda which we feel is justifiable or is something which we feel is good in the national interest, we will not oppose it," said Ms Lim.


"Even though we've been criticised for being too moderate, we feel that that's the way we want to run our parliamentary agenda and I don't think that will change. Of course we will continue to engage and if necessary oppose the ruling party on things we think are not good enough for the people."


"As far as Aljunied is concerned our groundwork has always been there. Whether we should have done more or less, that's up to people to decide but I think we have been doing consistent groundwork in Aljunied. So it's logical that during the campaign period where we were actually contesting in areas where we were not incumbent, we have to do more work there because firstly you know the boundaries were released only a couple of weeks ago so it makes sense for us to also make an effort there."


POSSIBILITY OF ALL NCMPs FROM WP


WP will also be offered three Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP) seats because they produced the "best losers" - defeated Opposition candidates who secured the highest vote share. This sets up the likely scenario that all nine Opposition MPs - six elected and three Non-Constituency - in the next Parliament will come from WP.


Topping the rankings of "best losers" is WP's Lee Li Lian. Ms Lee lost to the PAP's Charles Chong in Punggol East Single Member Constituency (SMC), garnering 48.24 percent of the votes. She has, however, told the media after the results were announced that she is not inclined to accept the NCMP seat if offered.


Next is Mr Dennis Tan, who lost to PAP's first-timer Cheryl Chan in Fengshan SMC, with 42.48 percent of the vote.


He is followed by the East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) team of former NCMP Gerald Giam, Mr Daniel Goh, Mr Leon Perera, and Mr Mohamed Fairoz Shariff.


The four-man lineup was tipped to upset the PAP team led by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say but wound up with 39.27 per cent of the vote.


The Singapore Parliamentary Elections Act allows for a maximum of two NCMPs from a GRC.


The party will resume their meet the people's session next week.

- CNA/wl

 

[kopiOuncle]

pushback factor looms large
singaporeans may not want a very strong opposition movement
they feel uncomfortable and are not prepared for a "change" in government
the fact that 89 seats were all contested was a real danger ...so THEY ALL PUSHED BACK
resulting in a landslide victory for the PAP

singaporeans still want the PAP to govern....that's a fact!!!
any attempt to defeat the PAP totally will be met with a PUSH BACK RESISTANCE

 

[KimJongUn]

correct my doggy. must be like the tyrannic me - one party rule with no oppression! that's how i control the state media and internet!

 

[kopiOuncle]

..............

WHAT HAPPENED?...


The key success in how PAP’s campaign worked therefore is how it was able to imbue fear into Singaporeans. But is this a sustainable long-term approach? I do not think so.

But what are the larger sociopolitical effects that could happen. With the PAP gaining a firmer foothold, would this result in them continuing with the further clamp down of their critics and alternative online news site? Will Singaporeans see a further marginalisation of their rights?

For a PAP which would be put paid to believe that Singaporeans would tolerate their current antics might mean that the PAP would believe that they could continue with their current mode of working.

I would personally hope that the PAP would use this renewed mandate to fundamentally shift its governing approach to one which becomes kinder and less punitive. But I do not know if a PAP used to a track record of doing otherwise for the past 50 years would be ready for this, especially with how it had conducted itself this election.

The only hope could lie in a change of prime minister, to put in place one who is more moderate and who would take a more centrist approach.

In the end, this election would have shown that Singaporeans are not ready for a more progressive sociopolitical landscape, and some politicians might need to evaluate if their current method of working is still relevant to Singaporeans and if they would change gears or withdraw from the scene.

My worry is that if there are no fundamental changes in policies over the next few years, we will see a much more divisive landscape develop as well as a more disempowered and weakened citizenry.

I ran for election because I hope that we could go into parliament to better the lives of Singaporeans.

At the end of the day, it does not matter who goes into parliament. But what matters is that the people in parliament would put their ear to the ground and would make policies that put Singaporeans at the heart of the matter.

This election is, in a way, a wake-up call to the opposition to better strategise themselves and ironically, where we have said that the PAP has lost touch with the ground, some among the opposition have also fallen folly to this mistake, and have not aligned ourselves to the wider majority.

Whether or not the opposition has another chance at the next election would depend on whether they have learnt from the ground-shaking election this time round.

But for Singaporeans as well, it would depend on whether we would have the courage to confront ourselves and not be swayed yet again by fear. I believe many Singaporeans would be kicking ourselves over the results but it is too late to cry over spilled milk.

What would be more important would be to look at how we can involve ourselves, so that at the next election, we would be able to bring about a government that would be more in line with our vision for our country.

 

[kopiOuncle]

Time to retire? Time to step down? An opposition legend? What happened ???

 

[KimJongUn]

Some things in common between China, North Korea and PAP - They are aiming for single party rule with no oppression and checks !

 

[tryharder]

Why can't the answer be simply "We WP has not done enough?" instead of looking for excuses? The score at Aljunied tells the story that the issue was with WP themselves, nothing to do with the a national push. The scores at Punggol East and Hougang tell the same thing - there is still a liking for WP. But a big change in how WP functions is required.

pushback factor looms large
singaporeans may not want a very strong opposition movement
they feel uncomfortable and are not prepared for a "change" in government
the fact that 89 seats were all contested was a real danger ...so THEY ALL PUSHED BACK
resulting in a landslide victory for the PAP

singaporeans still want the PAP to govern....that's a fact!!!
any attempt to defeat the PAP totally will be met with a PUSH BACK RESISTANCE

 

[Cosmos10]

I hope she knows now that creating bad ill-will and bad relations among oppo parties is not an admirable thing to do.

After all the quarrel about Macpherson SMC, and MP GRC, was it worth it?

 

[kopiOuncle]

Kenneth J: Stop Complaining, Singaporeans, You Get the Government You Deserve

Commenting on the results of the sample count, a visually-disappointed Kenneth Jeyaretnam said that Singaporeans will get the “government they deserve”.

Speaking to reporters, he said that Singaporeans have voted to retain Singapore’s “authoritarian” government.

Appearing to chide voters, Mr Jeyaretnam said that most Singaporeans are “brainwashed, and should stop complaining.

However, he noted that while Singaporeans have voted in droves for the ruling PAP, it doesn’t mean that they support its stance on economic policy and immigration.

This comes as the sample count showed the Reform Party losing by even bigger margins in West Coast and Ang Mo Kio GRCs.

The RP has won slightly more than 20 percent in both GRCs according to the sample count, which is supposed to be accurate up to 4 percentage points according to the results of previous elections.

The RP won about 34 percent in both GRCs in General Election 2011.

The RP also looks to lose in Radin Mas SMC, with the sample count showing 14 percent of the vote in favour of the party.

UPDATE:

Final poll results show the Reform Party winning 21.43 percent in West Coast GRC, and 21.37 percent in Ang Mo Kio GRC – roughly a 10 percentage point dip from GE 2011.

In Radin Mas SMC, the RP managed just 12.71 percent of the vote.

 

[kopiOuncle]

Workers' Party is partly to blame.
Arrogance. Over-confidence. Smugness.Loose Canons.
AHPETC saga. Flip flopping issues like the foreign workers and immigration.

Many are young and promising politicians who speak well and who can command the crowd.
Hope they do not give up hope and prepare for the next battle with more zeal and with more passion ...and wisdom.

 

[kopiOuncle]

Suddenly, everyone is very humble..

This victory is dedicated to all the residents of Holland Bukit Timah and the hundreds of volunteers who have put their heart and soul into improving the lives of our fellow Singaporeans.

We are humbled by this renewed mandate. We view this as endorsement for hard work and relationship building. My team and I will reach out to all, including those who did not vote for us. I know you have sincere concerns. We will do our best to engage you and address these anxieties.

Thank you all once again.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

As usual WP think they are the god sent party.

 

[kopiOuncle]

this girl is really cute..Hi guys

We've just finished our thank you rounds of Marine Parade GRC from this morning. Deeply, deeply touched by the many who slowed down, looked up, tooted their horns and gave us the thumbs up as we drove past. It really means a lot to us.

To those of you who gave us encouragement, your support, and like us, hoped for something more: we are so very sorry that we did not manage to do better

 

[phouse3]

SL is so lame. She herself lost in her own ward of Serangoon.

In 2011, the entire Singapore except Tanjong Pagar was contested and the Opposition was able to make huge gains. Why would the contest of Tanjong Pagar in 2015 caused a national pushback of 10%? Does it make sense?

It was the WP town council issue that created a distrust of the Opposition. Let's just look at WP itself:

1. The heavenly taste of Fengshan was not even a close fight. A much stronger Dennis Tan lost to a newbie by almost 8%. If it was not due to distrust, what could be the reason?

2. Instead of outperforming the suicide squad led by Nicole Seah by another 7% to win at Marine Parade GRC, Yee JJ's team registered a whopping drop of 7.42%. The gap in perception was 14.42%. Yee's credibility is gone.

3. Instead of improving on its own score by another 5.2% to win East Coast GRC easily, Gerard Giam's team lost 5.9%. The gap in perception was 11.1%. I would not be surprised if Giam is not chosen as the NCMP due to the jostling.

Mark my words, within the next 1 week, there will be a big quarrel in WP. In the next CEC election, the quarrel may be even bigger.

 

[Viron]

I own an OPPO smartphone

 

[kopiOuncle]

The Young Turks will attempt to break away and form their own Group ...

I believe they felt betrayed. They really worked so hard and with so much passion and dedication. Poor fellas...

something is drastically wrong somewhere...

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

I thought there was a saying which can explain the decline of WP

人在做
天在看

 

[Cosmos10]

SL is so lame. She herself lost in her own ward of Serangoon.

In 2011, the entire Singapore except Tanjong Pagar was contested and the Opposition was able to make huge gains. Why would the contest of Tanjong Pagar in 2015 caused a national pushback of 10%? Does it make sense?

It was the WP town council issue that created a distrust of the Opposition. Let's just look at WP itself:

1. The heavenly taste of Fengshan was not even a close fight. A much stronger Dennis Tan lost to a newbie by almost 8%. If it was not due to distrust, what could be the reason?

2. Instead of outperforming the suicide squad led by Nicole Seah by another 7% to win at Marine Parade GRC, Yee JJ's team registered a whopping drop of 7.42%. The gap in perception was 14.42%. Yee's credibility is gone.

3. Instead of improving on its own score by another 5.2% to win East Coast GRC easily, Gerard Giam's team lost 5.9%. The gap in perception was 11.1%. I would not be surprised if Giam is not chosen as the NCMP due to the jostling.

Mark my words, within the next 1 week, there will be a big quarrel in WP. In the next CEC election, the quarrel may be even bigger.

Good points.

 

[eErotica69]

“There are many interpretations, and of course one of the things which I think probably did loom in people’s minds also was the fact that for the first time all 89 seats are contested. Perhaps some people did feel that there was somerisk that whether sooner or later that the PAP might be dislodged as aGovernment.”


"I think the majority of Singaporeans probably still want the People's Action Party (PAP) as the government. So it is possible that the fact that all seats were contested resulted in some pushback."


- CNA/wl

Any comments from Tonychat, Cosmo and Mojito? Are you also calling SL a PAP supporter for saying the above?

 

[Sideswipe]

they seemed delighted. Aljunied was retained. didn't lose much in the end.