Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Political parties in Singapore

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Political parties in Singapore

The smaller political parties should merge and be a more credible force. See TKL's article in SGEP. Here is the direct link.

4 comments:

yujuan said...: Too much egotism among the Opposition
Parties, everyone wants to be their own boss in their Parties, it is this fragmentation of the opposition that PAP is milking to their advantage. This way it is waste of resources, time and voter participation in the democratic process, and which the electronate has no confidence in.
Tuan Jie Shi Li Liang, a Chinese proverb that we should keep at heart.
But would the Opposition listen to.
There should be be at most not more than three political Parties in any country. But first ditch that ego, which is the root of the problem, not everyone can the leader. Chen Show Mao, though only a newbie, is the smart one of the whole lot. More such high calibre candidates will join the WP at next GE 2116. Low is born to be a strong leader, in politics, Passion alone is not good enough.
The electronate should not made to waste their time, else they would look down on the opposition. and lose confidence. Amalgamate all the various fragmented Parties into one, for the sake of democracy in Singapore.; May 08, 2011 5:22 PM
yujuan said...: The leader of the Political Party is an important symbol which voters could connect and respect. PAP has MM Lee, even though he has abdicated in favor of hi son, but he is still a powerful figure to reckon with.
What do you think PM wants his father to stand in Tanjong Pagar for.
Ever talked to some elderly folks, and they all want stability in parliament, they dislike chaos, and Lim Swee Say milked this to his advantage. Quote " It would be like Rojak" swabbling in Parliament. This is what the elderly folks fear. Also the new citizens share the same stability
feelings when they take up citizenship, and which PAP also
milked on.
So all opposition Parties should combine and set a new strategy, else good candidates like Benjamin Pwee,
Vincent and Nicole Seah are such a waste. Lucky thing CSM picked the right nest to roost, else it would be a pity too.
Lim Swee Say, the PAP joker got it right this time. The Rojak theory resonates with the electronate, no wonder he is considered to be in the PM's camp.
WP jia you, many of us are grateful
to what you all have done for Singapore's democracy, do not let us down. After MM Lee, the Party figure,is no longer around, we anticipate there will be a power struggle within the PAP. So WP must be prepared to seize upon this opportunity. So please don't let us down, we'll be watching Aljunied closely, do not let PAP sabotage you.; May 08, 2011 6:15 PM
william said...: everyone has their own political ambitions and visions and sometime it is not easy to see eye-to-eye. Hence a strong leader like LKY is needed to hold the party together despite any differences as I am sure not all PAP members can agreed with one another on every issues. That makes the difference between PAP and the opposition scene in Singapore for so many years.

Sad to say that merging parties together has not been working so far, as we have seen how even an alliance like SDA has evolved over the years. It is not so much the question of big or small as there is no guaranteed that size alone will succeed, and the bigger you are you can expect to have more differences among all the talented people. Rather the growth of the party requires good strategy and execution.

GMS of NSP said he takes responsbility for the party failure in this election, which I agree and respect his honesty. I feel that he has taken in the breakaway faction of RP in haste, as within such a short time he wouldn't be able to know the strength of the RP members, eg. he probably didn't expect Nicole Seah to have received such level of popularity at all.

As a result NSP was stretching the limit of the party by fielding so many candidates, and in hindsight he could have fielded an 'A' team in one GRC instead of spreading them all over.

It shows that it takes time for a party to develop, you can't rush. Merge or don't merge is not important, the fittest will survive!; May 08, 2011 7:31 PM
Tan Choon Hong said...: This time they got one baby step right. Despite their inflated egos showing, they managed to hammer out a “no three-corner fight” pact, except for one. Agree, they should build on this goodwill and merge to prepare for bigger battles to come.

The time to talk is now while they still enjoy their camaraderie as comrades in the same boat. Perhaps an epoch-making opposition convention in JB would stir up some buzz and keep the momentum going. Definitely cannot get a permit to hold in Singapore, lah.; May 09, 2011 11:21 PM