WP Low TK: “Cooling-off” period will give PAP an extra day of campaigning

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Opposition MP Mr Low Thia Kiang has slammed the “cooling-off” day proposed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as a ploy to give the PAP an extra day of campaigning.

All mass rallies, door-to-door visits and the wearing of party logos and symbols will not be allowed on the day which is extended even to the internet though it is unclear on how the law will be enforced.

There is one exception: Political parties can still give their traditional TV broadcast on the eve and news reporting on the election will continue as before.

The ruling party controls the only news agency in Singapore – SPH as well as broadcasting station Mediacorp which is owned by Temasek Holdings.

The Singapore media is ranked a pathetic 133rd position in terms of press freedom on the World Press Freedom index conducted yearly by respected international NGO Reporters without Borders.

The late Singapore Chief Minister Mr David Marshall once described the Straits Times as the “running dogs and prostitutes of the PAP”.

The Chairman of SPH is Dr Tony Tan, a former PAP minister. A number of PAP MPs are previously SPH journalists including Irene Ng and Seng Han Tong. It was rumored that some of the Straits Times’ senior correspondents are former ISD officiers such as the Chua sisters.

Mr Low feared that the “cooling-off” day will be used by the PAP to sway public sentiments towards its side.

“For instance, if opposition parties campaign on issues of health care and public housing policy and managed to get the message across to the voters, the government department or relevant civil servants can always come out on the day of the cooling period with some announcement of policy changes or explanation to counter what opposition parties said during the campaign period, in an attempt to sway public opinion. The mass media can also run a ’story’ for the same effect without the need for any PAP candidate to appear,” he said.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, PAP MP for Aljunied GRC, which was fiercely contested in the 2006 polls, said the mass media had been fair and balanced in its election coverage.

During the 2006 elections, the mass media was used by the PAP to character assassinate the Workers’ Party candidate James Gomez over a trivial incident. Previous victims of the media’s smear campaign includes J.B. Jeyaretnam, Dr Chee Soon Juan, Tang Liang Hong, Jufrie Mahmood and Francis Seow.

The state media is known to portray PAP candidates in a positive light while casting aspersions on the characters of opposition candidates.

Mr Low also said PM Lee’s concerns over public disorder is an ‘over-imagination’, noting that assigning each party a stadium for their supporters to gather prevents such potential problems.

But Mr Ong Kian Min, PAP MP for Tampines GRC, argues that the long-running political strife in Thailand shows Singapore cannot take for granted the calm it has seen in recent elections.

Unlike their neighbors, politics is a low-key affair in Singapore and few Singaporeans are so passionate about politics to create “trouble” during the campaign. Besides, the police which is omnipresent at all the rallies should have taken active measures to maintain public order and security without a need for the “cooling-off” day.

Not known to leaving things to chance, the “cooling-off” day is probably one of the many new rules introduced to counter the rising influence of the new media in order to ensure the PAP’s continued political hegemony in Singapore.

Singaporeans should expect more “interesting” changes to pop up soon as the election approaches under the guise of “benefitting” the voters.

 

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SDP opposes “cooling-off” day and calls for a genuine electoral process

The Singapore Democratic Party has lambasted the “cooling-off” day proposed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as another attempt to “manipulate the already opaque and unfair electoral process” in order to “handicap” the opposition.

The move was announced yesterday by PM Lee and would be introduced in the next general election due by 2012.

All mass rallies, door-to-door visits and public display of party symbols will be banned on the eve of polling day while the mainstream media is permitted to carry news on the election.

SDP Chairman Gandhi Ambalam felt that this “will give the ruling party more opportunity to disseminate its news while the opposition has no such means.”

He challenged the PAP to ban all political party broadcasts and news reports on polling day itself.

SDP also calls for a genuine electoral process that would include an independent elections commission, a free and independent media and at least three weeks for electoral campaigning.

Singapore’s electoral commission is under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the Electoral Boundary Commission which enables the ruling party to redraw the electoral boundaries of constituencies at will to suit their own partisan interests.

The mass media remains tightly controlled by the ruling party which has become its propaganda mouthpiece.

Before 1963, the campaigning period for the legislative council elections in 1955 and 1959 used to stretch for as along as three months.

The minimum campaign period of 9-day was introduced in the 1963 elections by the PAP government to thwart the chances of the opposition Barisan Sosialist.

The opposition has long complained about the short campaigning period which hampers their efforts to reach out to the voters to discuss the real issues of the day affecting their lives.

The agenda of the 2006 elections waas hijacked by “Gomezgate” which saw the PAP leaders and mass media firing their guns at the hapless Workers’ Party candidate continuously for one entire week thereby diverting public attention from important national issues.

After the PAP won the last election with a “resounding” mandate, the salaries of ministers were increased, GST was raised to 7 per cent and the floodgates are opened for foreigners who now made up 36 per cent of the population, up from 14 per cent in 1990.

Mr Gandhi wrote that “without these changes and as long as the rules and regulations continue to be changed to benefit the PAP, elections in Singapore will remain a charade staged by the ruling party to hoodwink the people once every four or five years.”

According to U.S. NGO Freedom House, Singapore is not an “electoral democracy” as it lacks the other important ”pillars” of democracy such as a free and independent press, a robust civil society and an informed citizenry.

Unless Singaporeans vote enough opposition MPs into parliament to deny the PAP its traditional two-thirds majority, it will continue to fiddle around with the rules to entrench itself firmly in power.