TR EMERITUS

It is the same old story. Three minutes of air time for each candidate for the coming general election. Election rallies have been abolished. In its place, there will be e-rallies at subsidised rates if the opposition can afford. If not, then such rates will be used exclusively by the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the minds of Singaporeans will be saturated with PAP “goodness”. Fair for the opposition? The Elections Department (ELD) is under the control of the prime minister. So what can we expect? The PAP is sure to contest all 93 seats. So it will have 93 x 3 minutes while the opposition made up of several parties, will have less exposure time each. The intent is of course to handicap and silence the opposition. But then, since when has the PAP played fair and behave like a strong victor, unafraid of competition? Since when have they allotted more time for candidates from smaller parties so that the battle ground can be a little more level? Since when have they helped minorities? The PAP has never been fair to the opposition. Indeed, the opposition have often been hounded and sued during election times. The PAP is only interested in winning big – 90% of votes if possible even though such a percentage reflects badly on a democracy. That it is seen as a big bully does not bother the PAP. They have thick skins when it comes to winning elections. Their skins turn paper thin when some unflattering statements are made about them. We have witnessed that many times when poor election candidates have not only lost the elections but have been threatened and sued during elections. The PAP’s lawyers are all on high alert. So the unequal battle will soon be fought. The conduct of the PAP as electionnears tells much about the character of its leaders. They do not believe in fairness. They are fixated on winning even when it means putting the people’s health in danger. COVID-19 can be ignored because it is more important that the PAP wins big with all the carrots that have been distributed to the people recently and all the restrictive election rules in place. But knowing the character of the PAP leaders, why are we still drawn to voting for them? In 2015, we gave them 70% of the votes while the opposition received 30%. Translated into seats in parliament, only 6 out of the 89 went to the opposition Workers’ Party. Thirty percent of the votes should have garnered at least 27 seats for the opposition in parliament. So what happened to the 21 seats? The PAP has never played fair and will never play fair. Having a super majority in parliament means they can do anything – enact more oppressive laws and remove more of our rights, implement policies to our detriment and be really harsh on us. We see that in recent times. PAP ministers have bullied citizens by issuing various POFMA notices under the Prevention of Falsehoods Manipulation Act. The ministers have a POFMA office paid for by us to scrutinise everything we write. But even this is not sufficient for the PAP. Their members of parliament hound citizens. Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng has recently attacked our national playwright, poet, author and public intellectual, Alfian Sa’at using the PAP website. He is the second MP to harrass citizens. The first was Seah Kian Peng. BEWARE SINGAPOREANS! Expect more salvos from PAP. Unless we take action and vote more opposition members into parliament this time, we will forever be under attack. Don’t repeat the outcome of the 2015 general election. We should deny the PAP of its 2/3 majority so that they will not be able to do monkey business with our lives. The PAP is guaranteed to form the Government. We need 32 opposition members in parliament to make a difference. The calibre of opposition candidates are better than the PAP’s who are mainly from the military and the civil service. We don’t need more of the same.   Teo Soh Lung      Read More →

Our Alliance may go into a big clash with PSP led by Dr Tan Cheng Bock as talks have not been fruitful so far. I am caught in between the clashes but I chose the only logical long term strategic plan for Singapore opposition politics... i.e. Avoidance of conflicts within opposition by uniting all into one force to fight the formidable PAP. Offers and proposals have been made by both sides but there is a great gap in between the basic understanding of the strategic directions. While people (including party members_ will sure start to "attack" both sides, more so towards the Alliance, but I find it totally unnecessary. Politics is not just about "Size". It is not just about fielding the numbers. Opposition Politics right now is about sending the RIGHT people into Parliament to make Checks and Balances work. Nobody would say Uncle Chiam's SPP is a "fringe party", in spite of its small numbers while Chiam was still actively involved. The key lies with the candidates or persons in consideration of sending into Parliament. We have seen how empty our Parliament is on normal sittings. We as a nation has voted in Empty Chairs and Empty Tables. Policies are not thoroughly scrutinized and Parliament is just a pseudo rubber stamp in reality. It is totally dysfunctional. What we lack is a STRONG Parliament of Great Debates. We must ensure people we have sent into parliament, regardless which party are they from, must have the intellect, talent or expertise to bring onto the table of public debate and discourse in Parliament! It is only when we have the RIGHT people in Parliament, who can effectively scrutinize each and every policies with no stones left un-turn, then we could be sure that Singaporeans' Best Interests will be secured. This will need people who are actively involved in policy discussions, deliberations, at the same time with great ideas and ideals to offer to the Nation. I chose to stand by the side of Kenneth Jeyaratnam not because he is son of JBJ. It is because I have read what he had written over the years and apparently, he knows his stuff well, even though I may not agree 100% with his ideas or points altogether. I just know that he will have something to offer to this dysfunctional Parliament of ours, to revive it, strengthen it into a stronger faculty of Democracy. Similarly for Tan Jee Say. I definitely have past grudges with Jee Say as I was supporting Tan Kin Lian back in 2011 Presidential Elections. It was Kin Lian who had asked me to forgive and forget, focus on the biggest problem of Singapore Democracy, PAP. I have also read about Jee Say's write up on Singapore Economy and his manifesto. Similarly, I may not agree 100% with what he has written but at the very least, I know he will have something to offer to Singapore public debates and discourse in policy making. This is the Spirit of Democracy, plural voice. We can agree to disagree while focus on what we agreed in principle. This is the Foundation of Unity. I do not know much about other potential opposition candidates, definitely not from PSP. This is especially so when they have not made known their beliefs, ideas and ideals. How many of them spend most of their waking hours in thinking about public policies? Have they put up any views or opinions to scrutinize the various PAP's policies? I can proudly say that Jee Say, Kenneth and I have done so in 2011 GE where we have put in concerted effort to scrutinize PAP's HDB Asset Enhancement Policy so much so that PAP no longer brags about it and changed course from it. A friend pointed out the fact that if it was not us hammering PAP away in GE2011 on the inadequate public infrastructure in view of huge population increases, new hospitals would not have sprung up quickly across the island. MRT networks won't be built in such a great speed. New HDB flats won't be built in such large numbers within short period of time. Noise Barriers along MRT lines within HDB estates would not be installed... the list goes on. It is a collective effort of all of us hammering PAP effectively in GE2011, that makes a very significant difference to Singapore over the past decade. I have confidence in my colleagues in the Alliance to continue contributing to the progress of Singapore. Imagine what more we could have done if all of us are voted into Parliament! We are DEFINITELY NOT PAP 2.0, so to speak, or just a passive "Co-Driver" who may fall asleep as well from time to time. These are the people whom I know, have spent great amount of time in their waking hours to think about policy issues, current issues and debating about it, making public discourse of public interests. Politics is not just knocking doors, say hi and bye, kiss babies... not even about giving out lunch boxes and do charities. It is definitely not about Managing Town Councils which any good Estate Manager could perform that function well. Politics is about effectiveness to provide the necessary public discourse and policy debates into Parliament, to STRENGTHEN the Parliament as an institution of policy debates and policy making. While it is regrettable that our Alliance may inevitably walk into 3 corner fights but in the Spirit of Democracy, that's the Contest of Ideas and Ideals. Even if it is a 3 Corner Fight, we will fight it gentlemanly. Do not need to push blame on who is at fault because no one is at fault.   Goh Meng Seng People's Power Party  Read More →

So, Loving Critics (LCs). I encourage and support genuine Loving Critics because I consider myself as one. I post my commentaries regularly on-line and some of my posts go as far back as 2015, however, I feel that good Loving Critics must satisfy certain basic criterias. 1) LCs must be real and not fictitious persons although they need not be Singaporeans. 2) LCs must not hide behind some cloak of anonymity. 3) LCs must not secretly or discreetly advance the interest of foreign governments or organisations at our expense, eg, our unity, our solidarity, our nation building efforts, our harmony or our trust and confidence in our government. In this volatile, uncertain, ambiguous and fast changing world, nobody, absolutely nobody, not even the government with all its connections, scholars, generals and resources has the monopoly on knowledge, experiences and foresight. Good LCs are not unthinking, out to rock the boat type, troublemakers or Yes man/woman sort of people. They play very useful roles because they care enough about our people, our society and our country and their views and pieces although often times may differ from the mainstream opinions and at times controversial even and are often being questioned, challenged, teased. They even run the risk of being sued or POFMA if they are not careful enough or responsible enough or factually enough of are untruthful or manipulative etc. But they do play useful roles. Many LCs are mature and responsible persons, brave, courageous and deeper thinking people who choose not to look away when the king is naked. To look away or to simply keeping quiet and follow the crowd when things go wrong is too easy but that is not good citizenry, rather, that is the mentality and attitudes of cowards, slaves, suckers and sheep. Singaporeans must learn to appreciate good and responsible LCs because they are like lighthouse pointing out the shortcomings and warts in our country, government and society and it is a thankless but worthwhile and satisfying efforts nonetheless. Think.   Simon Lim    Read More →