Yesterday 07:53 PM #1
Aiya
Senior Member
<DL class=userinfo_extra><DT>Join Date <DD>May 2009 </DD><DT>Posts <DD>5,279 </DD></DL>
[h=2]Fw: SINGAPORE -- Letter from a Grassroots Leader to PM[/h]
............
Dear Prime Minister,
I am one of your grassroots leader. I’ve voluntereed and served in one of
your constituency for the last 20 years. I’ve had these thoughts
percolating in my mind for many months. With what I observed in the last 2
weeks, starting with the Punggol BE then the White Paper, I decided to take
the risk and go ahead and send this letter to you. I hope you do not take
any of these the wrong way.
After the GE2011 elections, the PAP was dealt a big blow with the
unprecedented loss of a GRC. You did a post-mortem with us, and with your
MPs. One of the message we tried to send you then was : You (meaning the
PAP leadership) just didn’t listen to us. We told you there were many
problems on the ground, you did not listen. After the GE, you said PAP will
change.
The next challenge came in Hougang BE. You picked a great PAP candidate and
for a while, we thought he could pull off a win. But against the advice of
the candidate and the PAP grassroots, you deployed your big guns (KBW, TCH
etc) and hijacked the message on the ground. You did not listen.
The Punggol BE decisive loss was unexpected. The PAP grassroots told you to
send one of us, a grassroots type person, to the fight. You chose to
parachute in an unknown, someone who just joined the party weeks ago. He
commited gaffe after gaffe. You did not listen.
And right after the Punggol BE, you unveiled the White Paper.
I know that those close to you, including the mainstream media, are
praising you for daring to take on the problems of the future, of not
sweeping things aside. But let me tell you this : I think you, and your top
leadership, screwed up big time.
I am sorry I have to use this language. You see, I’m a business leader too.
I know what its like to be surrounded by people reporting to you, who are
naturally disposed to tell you what you want to hear. Or are all molded in
the same way. I am outside your – sorry to use this word, “bubble” – so
from the outside, sometimes, I can see things a bit more clearly.
Virtually all your PAP grassroots leaders and members were taken aback by
the White Paper. And it became obvious very quickly that so were all the
PAP MPs. Seah Kian Peng said he’s skeptical about the White Paper and
thought the targets should be scaled by to 80% (how's that different from
WP's 5.9 million?). Jessica said that she, and a few other MPs, would not
have been able to support the White Paper in its present form. Even Tin Pei
Ling said she supported the ammended proposition with a heavy heart.
Why didn’t you bother to run through the White Paper with your fellow MPs
before you publicly released it? They could have told you how toxic the
Paper came across and how to refine it. Why didn’t you do that?
Aiya
Senior Member
<DL class=userinfo_extra><DT>Join Date <DD>May 2009 </DD><DT>Posts <DD>5,279 </DD></DL>
[h=2]Fw: SINGAPORE -- Letter from a Grassroots Leader to PM[/h]
Dear Prime Minister,
I am one of your grassroots leader. I’ve voluntereed and served in one of
your constituency for the last 20 years. I’ve had these thoughts
percolating in my mind for many months. With what I observed in the last 2
weeks, starting with the Punggol BE then the White Paper, I decided to take
the risk and go ahead and send this letter to you. I hope you do not take
any of these the wrong way.
After the GE2011 elections, the PAP was dealt a big blow with the
unprecedented loss of a GRC. You did a post-mortem with us, and with your
MPs. One of the message we tried to send you then was : You (meaning the
PAP leadership) just didn’t listen to us. We told you there were many
problems on the ground, you did not listen. After the GE, you said PAP will
change.
The next challenge came in Hougang BE. You picked a great PAP candidate and
for a while, we thought he could pull off a win. But against the advice of
the candidate and the PAP grassroots, you deployed your big guns (KBW, TCH
etc) and hijacked the message on the ground. You did not listen.
The Punggol BE decisive loss was unexpected. The PAP grassroots told you to
send one of us, a grassroots type person, to the fight. You chose to
parachute in an unknown, someone who just joined the party weeks ago. He
commited gaffe after gaffe. You did not listen.
And right after the Punggol BE, you unveiled the White Paper.
I know that those close to you, including the mainstream media, are
praising you for daring to take on the problems of the future, of not
sweeping things aside. But let me tell you this : I think you, and your top
leadership, screwed up big time.
I am sorry I have to use this language. You see, I’m a business leader too.
I know what its like to be surrounded by people reporting to you, who are
naturally disposed to tell you what you want to hear. Or are all molded in
the same way. I am outside your – sorry to use this word, “bubble” – so
from the outside, sometimes, I can see things a bit more clearly.
Virtually all your PAP grassroots leaders and members were taken aback by
the White Paper. And it became obvious very quickly that so were all the
PAP MPs. Seah Kian Peng said he’s skeptical about the White Paper and
thought the targets should be scaled by to 80% (how's that different from
WP's 5.9 million?). Jessica said that she, and a few other MPs, would not
have been able to support the White Paper in its present form. Even Tin Pei
Ling said she supported the ammended proposition with a heavy heart.
Why didn’t you bother to run through the White Paper with your fellow MPs
before you publicly released it? They could have told you how toxic the
Paper came across and how to refine it. Why didn’t you do that?
the hard truth sucks, right!
