The first time I heard this idiom was just after Chee was defeated by Matthias Yao by a significant margin. Chee garnered 34.9% of votes. It was unexpected as Chee challenged Matthias Yao and then Prime Minister to carve out Macpherson from Marine Parade GRC as an SMC. GCT agreed. The results however was disappointing. The blame was assigned to the voters who apparently the party supporters felt did not understand the man.
That idiom began to serve to 2 purposes. It became the Albatross around Chee's neck who must have believed that it was the residents and the voters who were at fault and not him and his politics. Secondly it gave much comfort and became the security blanket for his followers. They too took solace that voters were again at fault at each and every contest. And it was to continue. It eventually became the party mantra and led to open protests and confrontations to educate the supposedly meek, unsophisticated and unworldly Singaporean on the realities of politics.
It stands together to other well worn local idiom used commonly by poorly performing soccer managers and coaches in Singapore and Malaysia after a defeat - "the ball is round"
The set of alternative policies that was drawn up by dedicated teams made up of members and supporters became the latest manifestation of this idiom. If the open protests did not educate the masses maybe these alternative policies will. It never occurred to them that maybe the voters had issues with SDP as a party, the way they operate and even the quality of their candidates. It did not occur to SDP that they needed to be a worthy and credible contender first before a voter even looks at your detail plans.
Ironically it might actually be the case that the voters were ahead of the times. They knew enough to whack the PAP and bring the Prime Minister to his knees and elicit an unexpected and unprecedented apology and a cry for mercy in 2011. Look at how the voters treated Desmond Lim and Kenneth Jeyaretnam. The fact that the latter was the son of JBJ did not amount to a can of beans. He got 353 votes compared to Lee Lilian who got 16k votes. And mind you KJ has got 1s class honours from Cambridge.
Continue to belittle and berate the Singapore voters and it will cost the party dearly. I expect the Singapore voters to continue to ride the PAP dragon until they see more credible opposition candidates take to the polls.
That idiom began to serve to 2 purposes. It became the Albatross around Chee's neck who must have believed that it was the residents and the voters who were at fault and not him and his politics. Secondly it gave much comfort and became the security blanket for his followers. They too took solace that voters were again at fault at each and every contest. And it was to continue. It eventually became the party mantra and led to open protests and confrontations to educate the supposedly meek, unsophisticated and unworldly Singaporean on the realities of politics.
It stands together to other well worn local idiom used commonly by poorly performing soccer managers and coaches in Singapore and Malaysia after a defeat - "the ball is round"
The set of alternative policies that was drawn up by dedicated teams made up of members and supporters became the latest manifestation of this idiom. If the open protests did not educate the masses maybe these alternative policies will. It never occurred to them that maybe the voters had issues with SDP as a party, the way they operate and even the quality of their candidates. It did not occur to SDP that they needed to be a worthy and credible contender first before a voter even looks at your detail plans.
Ironically it might actually be the case that the voters were ahead of the times. They knew enough to whack the PAP and bring the Prime Minister to his knees and elicit an unexpected and unprecedented apology and a cry for mercy in 2011. Look at how the voters treated Desmond Lim and Kenneth Jeyaretnam. The fact that the latter was the son of JBJ did not amount to a can of beans. He got 353 votes compared to Lee Lilian who got 16k votes. And mind you KJ has got 1s class honours from Cambridge.
Continue to belittle and berate the Singapore voters and it will cost the party dearly. I expect the Singapore voters to continue to ride the PAP dragon until they see more credible opposition candidates take to the polls.