Why PAP lost again?

There is a very wide disconnect between the aspirations of the PAP government and the citizens. Despite the usual carrots announced, the voters are quite blase for they can no longer be fooled by such ploys. The internet also played a big part by providing more insights and awareness to the younger voters of Punggol. The PAP's mindset that only the highly educated elites can join their ranks and are more capable MP's than the common people is another disconnection. It creates a wider gulf between them and the common citizens, the haves and the have-nots, the elites and the non-elites (akin to Animal Farm).

Some people said that even if Desmond Lim is the only Opposition member to contest the Punggol. there outcome will be the same i.e., Desmond will win. I think not as the Punggol residents are more discerning and they will still chooses PAP.

The loss of Punggol should be the wake-up call to the PAP government and whether they can change we will know in time. I very much doubt they are even listening as Zorro Lim aptly put it, "We are like the little frog, deaf to criticisms."

billisnotathome said:

Toh Chin Chye tried to warn them years ago to no avail.

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But that egoistic and over-confident "Titanic" captain lee had decided to go full steam ahead....

metalmickey said:

This is maybe called the "gateway drug" strategy. You get many former PAP people thinking that the WP is "somewhat compatible" to the "same old same old" PAP. Or maybe the more competent less elitist PAP of old. Then this is a big net to capture the middle ground.

Gateway drug is the theory that when you start smoking weed eventually you'll be doing heroin.

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A country always belongs to its people. This has never changed, will not change.

Just imagine, if one side find it hard to recruit new candidates, where the other side keeping receiving young talented candidates. So, which side will eventually form the Gov?

RandomNexus said:

PAP grassroots in Punggol did not feedback upwards of the urgent problem of Rivervale at all.

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Maybe they did. But then Micheal Pumpher is too busy pumping away.

sleaguepunter said:

confirm gone liao.

video from blk 322 on 26 jan 2013.

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Good video. There is a certain affinity for the opposition folks and I think Singaporeans are openly showing their appreciation for what they have done.

Despite being subjected to much abuse, scrutiny and ridicule in the past, the opposition politicians, especially the older generations for many decades, have courageously stood for Singapore, to fight for them. The politics of old has cast a bad image on opposition members unlike what you see nowadays. If you think of folks like JBJ who was bankrupted, forced to sell books on the streets, being reduced to a such state, he continued to prevail on. Tang Liang Hong and Francis Seow are now fugitives, exiled from Singapore. There are many others who quietly gave out after much pressure. Yet in all, I have to give my respects to these folks.

PAP, on the other hand, is now seen as out of touch with the commoner.

One has to look at how they try to present KPK as an underdog in the initial campaigning phase. They try to use the tag of being a son of Punggol for KPK and if you think thru it, is quite ludicrous . Punggol of today is so different from that of the past. Today's Punggol residents are mostly residents who shift into the estate and they bear very little resemblance to the kampong folks of the past. The tag is meaningless.

Singapore is now so well connected that it makes very difference where you stay to get to know local issues in depth esply so KPK does not stay in Punggol and so being a son of Punggol, he must have devoted himself much to get so involved with Punggol's local issues?

http://singaporenewsalternative.blogspot.sg/2013/01/video-everybody-has-car-pap-candidate.html

The video in the link above, about KPK picking up leaves is funny but in a way, it depicts how in general, how the public could look at him and PAP. It used to be 154th which make the opposition look "bad" but now, PAP now gets a taste of its own medicine. What revenge!

PAP needs to do a better job to connect with the average Singaporean - that is all I can say at the moment.

winnipegjets said:

Greed got hold of the PAP. The government rewarded itself with million-dollar salaries for the ministers and top civil servants who are PAP-appointees. The people's interests were secondary considerations in the formulation of public policies. The PAP policies made 20 percent sinkees happy and thrust the 80 percent into a slow death.

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It is not greed. There is a need to pay for the top talent to run this country, something I do not disagree. Otherwise, you get mediocre folks to run the government. Incompetent governments equal bad governance. The question is how much and how acceptable they are to Singaporeans. Even WP propose a formula that reward richly the government ministers and civil servants.

WP, to its credit, is humble enough to acknowledge that their current slate of leaders are not up to par in terms of being in a government. However, you cannot fault them for their lack of passion and selflessness. It is not for material gains that they are in to fight for the opposition cause, at least not for this current group.

PAP need to find a better way to motivate its own leaders and followers besides the simplistic material gains. In the early beginnings, PAP started off with folks with passion. This has now disappeared. The constant refrain of sacrifice on their leaders taking up the challenge of going into politics, is a big turnoff to the heartlander. This is the 'disconnect'.

I had actually wanted to write a really long essay on why PAP lost again. I know the root cause of the problem. But I realised that it was going to take me a really long time to pen everything down. Mr. LHL, if you are reading this and wanna know more, send me a PM, buy me lunch and I would be happy to share my insights with you.

1nottiboy said:

I had actually wanted to write a really long essay on why PAP lost again. I know the root cause of the problem. But I realised that it was going to take me a really long time to pen everything down. Mr. LHL, if you are reading this and wanna know more, send me a PM, buy me lunch and I would be happy to share my insights with you.

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Friend, Mr. Lee knows why he lost. His problem is how to win. That's not so easy.

To tell u e truth, PAP is a nationalist.
They think what's best for e country 1st & em, 2nd.
They dun care if ppl living in it are well of.
And they will not yield till e day they lose e cabinet

I posted this yesterday in another thread :

The problem is PAP wants what it thinks is best for Singapore. Not Singaporeans. They want to take us down a road most of us don't want to be on. A road where we do not see our lives improving, but getting worst instead. In the past, the PAP succeeded because what was best for Singapore was also the best for Singaporeans. Modernisation, employment, housing, sanitation. Every Sporean jumped on the PAP bandwagon and forged our country. The PAP needs to do some serious soul searching, get back to basics, and reconnect with the people. Else, there will be more shit storms ahead for them.

glockman said:

The PAP needs to do some serious soul searching, get back to basics, and reconnect with the people. Else, there will be more shit storms ahead for them.

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Agree. They should be aware by now (after PE BE) that the younger generation (being better educated) cannot be fooled that easily. If they don't change, I expect at least 2 GRCs and 2 SMCs to fall in 2016.

GoldenDragon said:

Agree. They should be aware by now (after PE BE) that the younger generation (being better educated) cannot be fooled that easily. If they don't change, I expect at least 2 GRCs and 2 SMCs to fall in 2016.

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PAP will wave white flag for MPs who can't make it but will try to keep their seasoned Ministers. They wont do a George Yeo again.

steffychun said:

PAP will wave white flag for MPs who can't make it but will try to keep their seasoned Ministers. They wont do a George Yeo again.

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The thing is, most Sporeans are hard-pressed to find PAP ministers or MPs who can make it. I won't be surprised if there is an orgy of George Yeo's incidents in 2016.

Satyr said:

Friend, Mr. Lee knows why he lost. His problem is how to win. That's not so easy.

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Brother, not so easy meh?

I would advise LHL to call a snap GE this year to catch every opposition party by surprise.

Why give the opposition, especially WP, the extra three years to prepare, recruit, walk the ground and consolidate?

Give every Singaporean S$10,000 during the coming budget debate. The ground will be very sweet for the PAP.

metalmickey said:

This is maybe called the "gateway drug" strategy. You get many former PAP people thinking that the WP is "somewhat compatible" to the "same old same old" PAP. Or maybe the more competent less elitist PAP of old. Then this is a big net to capture the middle ground.

Gateway drug is the theory that when you start smoking weed eventually you'll be doing heroin.

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A snap GE might well happen. Victory will then be taken as a mandate for the 6.9. Except it will be more than 6.9.

Fook Seng said:

Believe me, this is very serious for the PAP. Looking at the reaction of the people, they seemed to have totally failed the people. Those who are still hanging on are too afraid to move but once the surge has started, there is no stopping it. It will swiftly build up. I wish to revise all my earlier predictions. The two-third majority of seats can be breached in 2016 and loss of simple majority in 2021.

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This is a totally chilling scene if you are a PaPist.This party is happening without a single WP member onsite to incite the fervour. Imagine how many people would like to join in.

Satyr said:

This is a totally chilling scene if you are a PaPist.This party is happening without a single WP member onsite to incite the fervour. Imagine how many people would like to join in.

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No WP member? You would be forgiven to think that the entire "shadow cabinet" was there to cheer people on. Agree with you. It was like from a horror movie.

if the pap doggies still continue to recruit candidates who cannot connect to the ground or giv the impression tat they r atas, gd luck to them at tis rate they r going, i guarantee u the chatty down to earth ah soh ladyboss at my kopitiam can win more votes than those pap doggies.

glockman said:

I posted this yesterday in another thread :
The problem is PAP wants what it thinks is best for Singapore. Not Singaporeans. They want to take us down a road most of us don't want to be on. A road where we do not see our lives improving, but getting worst instead.

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a quotable quote .... kudos

HorGauGan said:

if the pap doggies still continue to recruit candidates who cannot connect to the ground or giv the impression tat they r atas, gd luck to them at tis rate they r going, i guarantee u the chatty down to earth ah soh ladyboss at my kopitiam can win more votes than those pap doggies.

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Ask them, then you will know that they are finding it hard to recruit people who can connect well with the ground nowadays...the ground people already knew which side to join.