Why nicks like "Swissbank" serve to benefit PAP, be it what he really stands for

In 1980, 7 opposition parties contested 38 seats, with 37 walkovers for the PAP. That's about 50%-50% contest.

At that time, WP was one of the 7 plethora of small parties. There was no major opposition party. Parliament had no opposition MPs.

Today, without WP, the "7 opposition" scenario will exactly pan out.

NSP 2 GRCs, 2 SMCs
SDP 2 GRCs, 1 SMC
SPP 1 GRC, 1 SMC
SFP 1 GRC
DPP 1 GRC
RP 1 GRC
SDA 1 GRC
Total candidates: 49 out of 87 (about 60%)

With WP, at least the other 38 seats are covered by a party with a stature that is unprecedented for an opposition party since the Barisan Socialis.

If nicks like "Swissbank" think we can afford to set opposition back by 36 years, he is entitled to. Question is, shall we share the same view?

With 7 WP MPs what have WP done in parliament???????
Stay silence and keep collecting 16k.
WP won is cos of JBJ traditional tradmark and not LTK leedership.
Come GE 2016 I bet WP will lost at least 10% of those die hard supporters whom had voted in GE2011.
If WP continue to keep silence till GE day, Aljunied GRC, Hougang and Pungool East either will be returned to PAP or another real opposition party.
1. To Singapore with Love - what do you think
2. Yang Yin saga - I dunno what to say
3. HLP recent protest - not my biz
4. CPF min sum withdrawal at 65- WP kee chew
Believe or not many sinkies already give out hope on WP.
Enough is enough 3 years sleeping inside parliament.

He has a legitimate point of view that is shared among the staunchest supporters of the SDP, the late JB Jeyaretnam and currently K. Jeyaretnam and his Reform Party. It is a view shared by the hard left and the liberal blogosphere. All these people do NOT want moderate opposition to the PAP. They desire robust opposition, even though robust opposition does not work at all, and the PAP would actually desire such robust opposition. The kind of "robust opposition" some online would like to see against the PAP is akin to the two gentlemen who hurled profanities at Teo Ser Luck at HLP on 27 Sep 2014. Where is the weight of public opinion on that incident today?

To make things crystal clear: consider for one moment as purely a hypothesis that instead of Lee Li Lian of the WP, that an SDP candidate stood and won the Punggol East by-election. (I know that this is completely way out and totally unlikely, but, for argument's sake, let's consider it for one moment.) I can say with every confidence that that person would, because of his robust opposition, have been effectively neutralized after the first or second parliamentary sitting following the BE. The person's robust opposition would have done him in. Of course were that to happen, those advocating "robust opposition" to the PAP would attack not the PAP but the WP for not coming to the assistance of the hapless SDP member. The hard left and ultra-liberals would always find excuses to attack WP because it is viewed as too moderate for their liking.

Netizens should finally wake up to the fact that the opposition parties are not merely in opposition to the PAP but 2 or 3 of them are actually in direct opposition to each other. If that were not the case then there would not be so many opposition parties.

Finally, all must accept that in the run-up to the next GE there will be plenty of online attacks on other parties, including on the SDP & RP. That is why I say people have their legitimate points of view where it comes to policies, and political approach and engagement.

PoliticalDialogue said:

He has a legitimate point of view that is shared among the staunchest supporters of the SDP, the late JB Jeyaretnam and currently K. Jeyaretnam and his Reform Party. It is a view shared by the hard left and the liberal blogosphere. All these people do NOT want moderate opposition to the PAP. They desire robust opposition, even though robust opposition does not work at all, and the PAP would actually desire such robust opposition. The kind of "robust opposition" some online would like to see against the PAP is akin to the two gentlemen who hurled profanities at Teo Ser Luck at HLP on 27 Sep 2014. Where is the weight of public opinion on that incident today?

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Legitimate if you at least get SDP and not NSP, SPP, RP, SJP, PKMS, DPP, SFP etc., even though SDP is a lot quieter than the past.

It looks clear to me that no opposition party has commented on all the issues and also clear that many apart from WP has commented on none of the issues at all.

It is true that WP is the only opposition party with elected seats and MP allowance, but people not supporting WP would also agree that you don't need seats to speak up, which they use to point out why WP's "ineffectiveness" is even less pardonable. Which then makes me wonder why DPP and SFP has spoken on none of the issues.

It is also true that very small parties have to prove themselves since they refuse to join any party and believe they can be effective without even enough members to form a proper CEC. We cannot understand why Microsoft cannot create a Windows with fewer bugs given all the resources. Neither will we believe Data Solutions Pte Ltd if it says it can create a worldwide Operating System at all.

:oIo:

swissbank said:

With 7 WP MPs what have WP done in parliament???????
Stay silence and keep collecting 16k.
WP won is cos of JBJ traditional tradmark and not LTK leedership.
Come GE 2016 I bet WP will lost at least 10% of those die hard supporters whom had voted in GE2011.
If WP continue to keep silence till GE day, Aljunied GRC, Hougang and Pungool East either will be returned to PAP or another real opposition party.
1. To Singapore with Love - what do you think
2. Yang Yin saga - I dunno what to say
3. HLP recent protest - not my biz
4. CPF min sum withdrawal at 65- WP kee chew
Believe or not many sinkies already give out hope on WP.
Enough is enough 3 years sleeping inside parliament.

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You listed only 4. Why not list 10. Even if you list 20, I will let it pass as the idle wind.
The most important issue is to win seats; To win at least one third of the seats; To deprive any Govt (be it the PAP or otherwise) the means to change the constitution without the approval of the opposition .... so that any change to the constitution is like a referendum. If they could do this, I would be happy with them even if they stay dumb all the time.

:*:

Singaporean in GE2011, PE2011 and BE2013 have voted and the votes said that they want to see a moderate opposition in parliament, not a hardcore opposition.

wwabbit said:

Singaporean in GE2011, PE2011 and BE2013 have voted and the votes said that they want to see a moderate opposition in parliament, not a hardcore opposition.

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PE2011 had 65% against KFC
Are all these 65% kee chew the Silent Party ?????
Fat hope.
Come GE2016, WP at Aljunied GRC, Hougang and Punggol East will be kicked out by die hard opposition supporters.
Please stop your thick skin, WP won Aljunied GRC was due to hardcore opposition.
Disgrace WP Playboy YSL former MP for Hougang had voted for PAP

swissbank said:

With 7 WP MPs what have WP done in parliament???????
Stay silence and keep collecting 16k.
WP won is cos of JBJ traditional tradmark and not LTK leedership.
Come GE 2016 I bet WP will lost at least 10% of those die hard supporters whom had voted in GE2011.
If WP continue to keep silence till GE day, Aljunied GRC, Hougang and Pungool East either will be returned to PAP or another real opposition party.
1. To Singapore with Love - what do you think
2. Yang Yin saga - I dunno what to say
3. HLP recent protest - not my biz
4. CPF min sum withdrawal at 65- WP kee chew
Believe or not many sinkies already give out hope on WP.
Enough is enough 3 years sleeping inside parliament.

Click to expand...

It not going to change anything. if I am PAP why should I listen even if WP MP made a valid points? I might as well gave the chance to my PAP MP for them to claim credits. Likewise SDP also claimed PAP copy their ideas without giving due credits and why should u believe PAP will listen to WP and let WP score points? U expect opposition MP to behave like lobbyists? I think u sadly are being brainwashed by PAP into believing that this is politics.

Opposition is not just about WP..u can always choose one opposition that suits your expectations and no one is forcing u to choose WP. I think it good that we have oppositions with different styles than one size fit all. In case we won't sink together if one style failed like what happened for the past 40 year.

liongsum said:

You listed only 4. Why not list 10. Even if you list 20, I will let it pass as the idle wind.
The most important issue is to win seats; To win at least one third of the seats; To deprive any Govt (be it the PAP or otherwise) the means to change the constitution without the approval of the opposition .... so that any change to the constitution is like a referendum. If they could do this, I would be happy with them even if they stay dumb all the time.

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Agree most actions in politics occur behind the view of the public where negotiations take place. Things that you can see ( including politicians 'speak up') are probably wayangs to fool the general public.

Problem is PAP got such overwhelming presences in parliament that they can afford no to negotiate with anyone unless oppositions win more seats.

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pmpunk said:

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bump!!!!!!!!

In GE2011, the moderate opposition parties (WP, SPP) performed far better than the hardcore opposition parties (SDP, RP)
In PE2011, 34.85% voted for the moderate candidate while 25.04% voted for the hardcore opposition candidate.
In BE2013, the combined hardcore opposition candidates couldn't even get 2% of the votes.

Hardcore opposition supporters are in a really small minority, and if you can't accept that then you are going to end up in a whole world of disappointment no matter how much you scream and shout about how much you hate the moderates.

Bump as long as Swisscheese keeps posting!!

Bump bump bump!!!!!!!

Skponggol is PAP IB. Period. How do I know? Easy. He's never ever said one good word about any other oppo party, or one bad word about the PAP. He just whacks WP non-stop. Ditto for swissbank. (Yellowarse)

tanwahp said:

In 1980, 7 opposition parties contested 38 seats, with 37 walkovers for the PAP. That's about 50%-50% contest.

At that time, WP was one of the 7 plethora of small parties. There was no major opposition party. Parliament had no opposition MPs.

Today, without WP, the "7 opposition" scenario will exactly pan out.

NSP 2 GRCs, 2 SMCs
SDP 2 GRCs, 1 SMC
SPP 1 GRC, 1 SMC
SFP 1 GRC
DPP 1 GRC
RP 1 GRC
SDA 1 GRC
Total candidates: 49 out of 87 (about 60%)

With WP, at least the other 38 seats are covered by a party with a stature that is unprecedented for an opposition party since the Barisan Socialis.

If nicks like "Swissbank" think we can afford to set opposition back by 36 years, he is entitled to. Question is, shall we share the same view?

Click to expand...

Why do you care about Swissbank or skpunggol? After reading their posts and viewing how people react to them, I can only surmise that they have at most 15-20 followers out of the thousands of Sammyboy readers that log in daily, out of which 2-3 will perhaps take them seriously. That's a hell of a lot of votes to swing for so much effort typing all that mindless drivel.