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Did sun rise from the west today? PAP became peoples servant

†††††

Alfrescian
Loyal
Servant leaders needed to secure PAP's future
Increasingly connected and well-educated electorate wants no less
By Chua Lee Hoong, Political Editor
ST_IMAGES_P1BLURBS18.jpg


WHAT matters most to voters?

Yesterday, the People's Action Party unveiled its campaign manifesto and slogan, but I suspect neither will matter much to voters.

The manifesto is a compilation of policy objectives on existing areas of concern, like housing, education and ageing. Few rational people can doubt that the PAP government is serious about delivering on these objectives. The PAP is one of those rare governments in the world where it is taken for granted by people that it will deliver what it promises, perhaps some years late in some cases, but delivered nevertheless.

The PAP slogan, 'Securing our future together', has an inclusive and uplifting ring to it, as well as gravitas befitting a party that focuses constantly on the long term. But that is precisely its problem: It stirs the mind but not the heart.

The most heart-stirring campaign slogans in Singapore have come consistently from the Workers' Party: from 'It's time for change' in 1988 to 'Power to the people' in the 1991, 1997 and 2001 campaigns.

In 2006, it was 'You have a choice', which was powerful because it was simple and immediate: It appealed directly to the individual voter instead of to an inchoate mass. And it worked: The WP won 44per cent of the votes in Aljunied group representation constituency, its best showing since the 49 per cent it scored in Eunos GRC in 1988.

The slogan worked also because the 2006 election was the first since 1991 when opposition parties contested in more than half the seats, thus giving many more voters a chance to vote.

Such a slogan will not have the same appeal in this general election, as a vast majority of the seats look set to be contested.

In any case, going by the results of a recent survey conducted by The Straits Times, it is doubtful if being able to vote matters that much today.

That survey, conducted last month, focused on people aged 21 to 34, but the results can probably be extrapolated to older age groups.

Asked, 'Are you keen to vote?', 73.9per cent of the respondents said yes, 6.2 per cent said no, and 20 per cent were indifferent.

However, when asked if they would be disappointed if there is a walkover in their constituency, only 31 per cent said they would be; 42 per cent would not mind, and 26.9 per cent were indifferent one way or the other.

The conclusion from the pair of findings: People want to have that option of choice. However, so long as the absence of choice is not institutionalised - entrenched by law or custom - many are quite happy if they do not actually have to choose.

As Columbia Business School professor Sheena Iyengar has noted, 'there are neurological limits on humans' ability to process information, and the task of having to choose is often experienced as suffering, not pleasure'.

Supermarkets, for instance, find that their revenue from jam sales increases when customers have a few more brands to choose from - but declines when there are too many brands.

What when it comes to political parties?

Active opposition parties in Singapore have proliferated in the last two years. The Reform Party, the Socialist Front and the Singapore Democratic Alliance have joined the ranks of the WP, the Singapore Democratic Party and the National Solidarity Party in hogging newspaper headlines.

In recent months, opposition candidates too have surfaced and multiplied like 'mushrooms after rain', to borrow a phrase from a Straits Times reader.

There is clearly much voter interest in the doings of the opposition parties. The proliferation also increases voters' choices. Less certain, however, is whether this will translate to support.

The recent Straits Times survey found that only 0.75 per cent said that desire for an opposition presence would be the No.1 factor in shaping his vote.

For the majority of voters, the most decisive factors seem to be a mixture of how the cost of living has affected them, and the personality of the candidates and the party's track record.

On the cost of living issue, the PAP government has tried to alleviate the pain by dishing out 'Grow and Share' benefits to the tune of a few thousand dollars per needy household - a sum which it asserts more than offsets the actual increases in costs that these households incur.

Some MPs are also helping residents out of their own pockets, or raising funds from private sponsors to help them.

There is not much else that the party can do, so much will hinge on the individual candidates and their ability to appeal to voters.

More so than in earlier elections, candidates' personalities will be a deciding factor as social media captures, preserves and transmits each person's every word, gesture and expression.

Hence the significant statement from yesterday's PAP rally was not the slogan, nor the manifesto, but this: 'Never forget we're servants of the people, not their masters.'

It was a simple reminder from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, made after he spoke about how the party's slate of 24 new faces could include five potential ministers and perhaps seven more other office-holders.

'I'd like to remind all party members, whether old ones or new ones, that we're here to serve Singaporeans. We need to look over the horizon, anticipate and prepare for problems and build for the future, but we must also be in touch with people's sentiments and worries and address their day-to-day bread and butter concerns.

'Never forget we're servants of the people, not their masters. Always maintain a sense of humility and service. Never lord it over the people we're looking after and serving. Be as strict with ourselves as we are with others, because that is the way for us to win respect and support, and for the PAP to remain the people's choice to govern Singapore.

'However many years you may be in power, however long you have been an MP, remember (this is) the People's Action Party - you are acting on behalf of the people.'

As a voter (who has yet to have a chance to vote), I couldn't agree more.

[email protected]
 

zhihau

Super Moderator
SuperMod
Asset
'Never forget we're servants of the people, not their masters. Always maintain a sense of humility and service. Never lord it over the people we're looking after and serving. Be as strict with ourselves as we are with others, because that is the way for us to win respect and support, and for the PAP to remain the people's choice to govern Singapore.

oh... whatever about the "lesser mortals"???
 

LoveSingFade

Alfrescian
Loyal
Tank Que, xie xie for your offer!

Sorri lah, I cannot afford so high class and expensive servant.

No need serve me ok, I can DIY, the more you want to serve the more I scare ..... the cost.
 

Rogue Trader

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Believe him?

I still remember Lhl gave us the satanic sign during GE06 campaigning telling singaporeans "I love you".

After that he immediately fucked us with 7% Gst and ministerial pay raise.

Yucks. I feel like a cheap whore.
 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
'I started a joke, I started the people laughing'
'But the joke wasn't on me, it was on you'.....plagarise a bit lah!

Are we getting twin suns & eight moons...must be the most expensive servants on planet earth..

Servants are paid $450 a month that excludes Levy....how much are we paying LHL our servant...

:p
 

wikiphile

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
You must be joking, he is now the servant after this?

Remember the Hougang resident rebutting him at the recent forum?
 

Devil Within

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Only when just before election time. After election results, they have the mandate from the people to be their master.
 

Kuailan

Alfrescian
Loyal
I am People's Servant that's during Campaigning Lah!!
After election I am your Master for the Next 5 years!!
I do what ever I pleased...10% GST!
 
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