SDP must work harder to win a GRC next GE. Good Luck !

Any Opposition Party who wants to get some seats in Parliament must kowtow to WP!!

Otherwise no chance lah!

sochi2014 said:

Any Opposition Party who wants to get some seats in Parliament must kowtow to WP!!

Otherwise no chance lah!

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Why must kowtow to WP? Why not kowtow to PAP?

sochi2014 said:

Any Opposition Party who wants to get some seats in Parliament must kowtow to WP!!

Otherwise no chance lah!

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Although there is much truth to this, ultimately I do not think it matters much as the other parties stand virtually NIL chance of getting into Parliament. The only exception is the NSP: this is because of the obvious geographical overlap in seats both WP and NSP might wish to contest. In this instance, if NSP plays its cards right, by drastically reducing the constituencies it contests, the WP might return the favour in a certain way.

Plenty of people still have very little appreciation of what a monumental task it is for an opposition party to take down a GRC even in the current environment where the PAP is seemingly very unpopular. Only the WP has the required oomph to do so.

Absolutely Agree. I am with you on this.

PoliticalDialogue said:

Although there is much truth to this, ultimately I do not think it matters much as the other parties stand virtually NIL chance of getting into Parliament. The only exception is the NSP: this is because of the obvious geographical overlap in seats both WP and NSP might wish to contest. In this instance, if NSP plays its cards right, by drastically reducing the constituencies it contests, the WP might return the favour in a certain way.

Plenty of people still have very little appreciation of what a monumental task it is for an opposition party to take down a GRC even in the current environment where the PAP is seemingly very unpopular. Only the WP has the required oomph to do so.

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The only thing SDP did right was to land themselves in court and jail for a period of time within their years of existence, stopping it since 5 years ago.

A big sacrifice, but people still remember SDP more than the less-memorable NSP, SDA, SPP or RP, despite all of them doing the same things with the same efforts and same intellect.

CPF account now has Retirement account! So your OA money will transfer to the ra which means you hv little to pay hdb loan ! Life is getting so much tougher and tougher.

No cash you die.

Singaporeans have to slog to pay hub loan for twenty years at average and save for retirement !

Where is our government? They are our servants we are their masters!

tanwahp said:

The only thing SDP did right was to land themselves in court and jail for a period of time within their years of existence, stopping it since 5 years ago.

A big sacrifice, but people still remember SDP more than the less-memorable NSP, SDA, SPP or RP, despite all of them doing the same things with the same efforts and same intellect.

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Yes, people remember SDP but, regrettably, for the wrong reasons. They are the "wrong reasons" in the view of the middle ground voters who still decide elections.

PoliticalDialogue said:

Yes, people remember SDP but, regrettably, for the wrong reasons. They are the "wrong reasons" in the view of the middle ground voters who still decide elections.

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Might not be a bad strategy. To bring the party to ground zero then spring up to the level of the rest might spring you up above the rest.

Merely by taking a stand no different from WP, NSP, SPP now, people still talk about SDP's past and claim SDP is different from the rest based on past info. SDP has the support of both SDP supporters and WP/NSP/SPP supporters.

tanwahp said:

Might not be a bad strategy. To bring the party to ground zero then spring up to the level of the rest might spring you up above the rest.

Merely by taking a stand no different from WP, NSP, SPP now, people still talk about SDP's past and claim SDP is different from the rest based on past info. SDP has the support of both SDP supporters and WP/NSP/SPP supporters.

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That's wishful thinking. The media at the PAP's behest is unforgiving and the political climate even more unrelentingly so. When you sink to rock bottom, the machinery will do everything it can to make sure you stay there. That's why Chiam is famous for insisting the opposition must avoid mistakes. That's also why WP treads cautiously especially when it comes to the media.

If SDP is to remake itself, Chee must go. No other way in my opinion. And to say that SDP has the support of all opposition supporters may not be necessarily true as well as some WP supporters may be inclined to vote PAP over SDP, and I can understand why even if I myself absolutely reject that notion.

Thick Face Black Heart said:

If SDP is to remake itself, Chee must go.

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Another must go and fuck dog fellow is John Tan. Also, I can't tahan his ang moh slant and baldok head.

tanwahp said:

Might not be a bad strategy. To bring the party to ground zero then spring up to the level of the rest might spring you up above the rest.

Merely by taking a stand no different from WP, NSP, SPP now, people still talk about SDP's past and claim SDP is different from the rest based on past info. SDP has the support of both SDP supporters and WP/NSP/SPP supporters.

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SDP lack the sense of humility and shrewdness, going around claiming PAP copied from their ideas (though the same idea might have also been proposed by other oppositions) indicates a lack of respect for other opposition. Claiming they are the most improved party again wasn't going to cut any ice with the middleground voters becuase the party was benchmarking from a rock bottom baseline. The biggest problem to their various policy proposals was to convince voters how is the party going to implement those ideas rather than the merits of the policies.

other than the above points, PEbe saga does qute a considerable amount of damage to the party's effort to revive it image. while i don't see there is any eroding of their base supports, SDP will find it very difficult to convince the fence sitters. Every percentage point is going to be harder to win in the 40-50 percentile region. By far none of the SDP candidates managed to score above 40%.

Thick Face Black Heart said:

That's wishful thinking. The media at the PAP's behest is unforgiving and the political climate even more unrelentingly so. When you sink to rock bottom, the machinery will do everything it can to make sure you stay there. That's why Chiam is famous for insisting the opposition must avoid mistakes. That's also why WP treads cautiously especially when it comes to the media. If SDP is to remake itself, Chee must go. No other way in my opinion.

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3_M said:

SDP lack the sense of humility and shrewdness, going around claiming PAP copied from their ideas (though the same idea might have also been proposed by other oppositions) indicates a lack of respect for other opposition. Claiming they are the most improved party again wasn't going to cut any ice with the middleground voters becuase the party was benchmarking from a rock bottom baseline.

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Sadly, have to agree with what is being said here. By 2016, CSJ would be secretary-general for 23 years without winning a single seat for his party. That says a lot. He would be 7 years away from JBJ's own record, but under JBJ WP has won 2 seats.

Also agree that SDP lacks humility, the aspect most similar to the PAP. Its reason for contesting Punggol East was because this was "the first time an opposition party has proposed alternative policies that focus on the people's real needs". Therefore SDP's own claim that it is most different from the PAP also lacks humility, since both are always self-praising.

http://yoursdp.org/news/sdp_to_contest_in_punggol_east_by_election/2012-12-27-5502

As long as his health is there, Chee will never step down.

tanwahp said:

... under JBJ WP has won 2 seats.

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Under JBJ, WP never held 2 fully-elected seats at any one time. Only for a short spell JBJ and LTK were in Parliament at the same time. At that time, JBJ was an NCMP and LTK was an MP. But an NCMP is not fully elected.

That was JBJ's record for 30 years as sec-gen of WP. But no-one wants to mention this as they do not wish to criticise the man. Yet, there is a very romanticised -- and inaccurate -- version of the man that circulates among his remaining admirers.

PoliticalDialogue said:

Under JBJ, WP never held 2 fully-elected seats at any one time. Only for a short spell JBJ and LTK were in Parliament at the same time. At that time, JBJ was an NCMP and LTK was an MP. But an NCMP is not fully elected.

That was JBJ's record for 30 years as sec-gen of WP. But no-one wants to mention this as they do not wish to criticise the man. Yet, there is a very romanticised -- and inaccurate -- version of the man that circulates among his remaining admirers.

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JBJ still did better than CSJ considering the following:

1. JBJ inherited a party with 5 members. CSJ took over a party with 3 seats. WP was like SDA now and would have died off without JBJ and team.

2. JBJ came into a harsher 70s environment. CSJ was in a more winnable environment.

tanwahp said:

JBJ still did better than CSJ considering the following:

1. JBJ inherited a party with 5 members. CSJ took over a party with 3 seats. WP was like SDA now and would have died off without JBJ and team.

2. JBJ came into a harsher 70s environment. CSJ was in a more winnable environment.

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My basic point is that there is/was not much difference between CSJ and JBJ. Both of them made major mistakes. The 1991 GE showed that a then moderate SDP under CST could win 3 seats. However, both CSJ and JBJ chose to interpret those results differently -- i.e., that it is simply one-way traffic against the PAP, and irrespective of the kind of opposition that is put up , the PAP would keep losing seats. The reality however is that middle ground voters dislike confrontational and personalised politics which both CSJ and JBJ tended to inject. LTK had early on seen this and learnt from it. That is why JBJ in his 30 years as sec-gen of the WP there was only 1 WP member as a fully elected MP at any one time. On the other hand, LTK as sec-gen succeeded in getting 6 WP members as MPs in one-third the time and he added a seventh at a by-election. The fact is that the opposition could have built on the gains of 1991 if CST stayed on as sec-gen of the SDP and if JBJ changed his approach to politics, bringing it more in-line with that practicised by CST. However, that was not to be and, effectively, for the opposition, 20 years were wasted.

SDP Wall of Shame

Dr Chee Soon Juan, 47 (Sec-Gen)

1992 - Misappropriated funds as NUS staff, drank glucose while on hunger strike

1993 - Overthrew Chiam See Tong as Sec-Gen, Chiam sued the SDP, SDP lost and paid Chiam damages

2001 - Shouted at Goh Chok Tong with accusations that have no truths, lost defamation suit

2002 - Fined $3000 for speaking on racial issues (tudung)

2002 - Charged for trespassing Istana, rally without permit

2006 - SDP Chairman Ling How Doong said CEC planning to remove Chee

GE2006 - Worst performer at polls, not even 25% of votes garnered

2006 - Declared bankrupt, jailed for contempt of court

2006 - All members of SDP apologised for slanderous remarks on NKF except Chee and sister

2006 - Failure to pay $5000 fine, jailed for 5 weeks

2007 - Attempt to leave country without permit

2008 - Arrested for Tak Boleh Tahan protests

Currently sells books to earn a living, asks members to sell his books to derive income.
Autocratic leadership within party

Systematically removed opposition within party - Chiam See Tong, Ling How Doong, Mr Wong Hong Toy and Kwan Yue Keng.

John Tan Liang Joo, 47 (Asst Sec-Gen)
Lives at 183 Bedok North Road
Wore Kangaroo shirt to shame the judiciary
Jailed 15 days. Suspended from James Cook University

Gandhi Karuppiah Ambalan, 65 (Chairman)
Management Consultant

1980s - Chief Editor (News), and later Executive Producer (Current Affairs) of Singapore Braodcasting Corporation (SBC)

1983 - Senior Journalist working under Mah Bow Tan

1994 - Quits WP to Join SDP

2006 - Jailed for speaking without a permit

Condemns local media, but worked there for decades.