Punggol BE Pundits stumped, PAP launches rescue boat

Apparently the 13.5% margin considered by many including the opposition as well as the PAP as difficult to overcome is no longer the case. The general consensus amongst pundits are that it will go either way. Prior to the issue of the elections writ, PAP laden with Palmergate ( considered small) and Aimgate ( quite concerning as questions have yet to be answered) and in the eyes of the PM and his close advisors were not enough to lose the seat. Thus the decision to call for the by elections. As many would know, the law does not require him to call for one. There was no need to go look for trouble.

According to analysts this is probably the first time that close observers of politics are unable to make a reasonable call on the results. The PAP feels the same and have decided to launch the rescue lifeboat and this is the first time the PM made a "non-promise" of sorts. See the PM's exact quote below.

"I think he (Dr Poh) can make a contribution not just in Punggol East but broadly, nationally. When he is ready, and I judge that he is ready, and we are ready, I will be appointing him to a suitable political office,"

Read the exact quote - there are 3 conditions to be met 1) when Koh is ready, 2) when the PM judges he is ready and 3) when the party or cabinet is ready.

The Toa Payoh Brothel as usual wrote something quite misleading. This is what ST wrote "If he is elected and when he is ready, PM Lee said that he intends to appoint Dr Koh to a suitable political office". Only one condition.

In essence, he is not obliged to appoint Dr Koh to a political office. The man himself just moved to private practice.Will look bad to his patients and his staff and to those doctors who have referred cases to him.

The PM has also decided to bring out all the big boys unlike Hougang. Shanmugam is now threathening Pritam hoping that he will fall into a manhole in the web.

They were always stump till they set up AIM for their super objective but the WP was able to mis-AIM them.

Yes, as I wrote in another post. the papy are stumbling quite a bit here.

I was of the opinion given the multi party fight, that a hole doc got a chance to slide into the cavity called parl.

But, given their performance at rallys and the abysmal pappy rally attendance and whispers on the ground. It is worth nothing the MIB are going hammer and tongs. Pung people are quite pissed off abt the jamban that is the rivervale fiasco.

AIM is a shit can waiting to explode if the oppo mps go after it.

lets see what KJ and his kkjs spew out at their rally.

if I was a pap smear, I would start to feel very uneasy.

lets keep our fingers crossed pappy start leaking from their anals

A shock WP upset is going destabalise the PAP internally.

a rescue boat? too little too late. on 26 jan 2013, the pap punggol east ship will sink and die!

scroobal said:

The PAP feels the same and have decided to launch the rescue lifeboat...

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a number of things to note.

1. the passing of the late Mdm K seems to mark the visible start of the downward spiral of the MIW. is she the soothsayer for the MIW? giving the old man advice on the direction in which they steer this ship?

2. a non-promise of a political office means nothing to the electorate these days. for fucks sake! me, as a part of the Aljunied GRC voters, along with many others rejected a full minister and an upcoming Speaker of the Parliament!

what is the MIW thinking these days? me wonder :p:p:p

Its is indeed signs of desperation. Note the way Shanmugam responded to Pritam's question. Poor attitude. I could not believe how a Prime Minister can make such a non-promise.

zhihau said:

a number of things to note.

1. the passing of the late Mdm K seems to mark the visible start of the downward spiral of the MIW. is she the soothsayer for the MIW? giving the old man advice on the direction in which they steer this ship?

2. a non-promise of a political office means nothing to the electorate these days. for fucks sake! me, as a part of the Aljunied GRC voters, along with many others rejected a full minister and an upcoming Speaker of the Parliament!

what is the MIW thinking these days? me wonder :p:p:p

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By the way, town council expected to revert back to HDB. A tactic that has badly backfired.

aurvandil said:

A shock WP upset is going destabalise the PAP internally.

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scroobal said:

By the way, town council expected to revert back to HDB. A tactic that has badly backfired.

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With respect, I believe that there is no need for MP's to take responsibility to administer town councils.
Accordingly, it is best served by allowing the HDB to take care of it, as it was decades ago.

What's going to happen to all the mayors? As I understand it, a mayor is supposed to be an equivalent to a MoS in terms of pay and benefits.

The sudden decision by DL to cancel his rally was the best indication that they have realised the actual ground situation. TOC has estimated he was burning close to 1k a day to pay his supporters ... A clear obvious sign of him being paid to contest. His handlers must have cancelled the rally to preserve the few Opposition votes going his way.

Only KJ still clueless and pressing forward. He will be meeting his doom tonight.

Given the numbers, it is possible WP might not only win but win by an absolute majority in PE.

scroobal said:

By the way, town council expected to revert back to HDB. A tactic that has badly backfired.

Click to expand...

zhihau said:

a number of things to note.

1. the passing of the late Mdm K seems to mark the visible start of the downward spiral of the MIW. is she the soothsayer for the MIW? giving the old man advice on the direction in which they steer this ship?

2. a non-promise of a political office means nothing to the electorate these days. for fucks sake! me, as a part of the Aljunied GRC voters, along with many others rejected a full minister and an upcoming Speaker of the Parliament!

what is the MIW thinking these days? me wonder :p:p:p

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tat's rite, it's no different to he can promise to look into it and say election day has great potential fr the feng shui perspective and will consider calling it a public holiday.

I agree. It was something that GCT pushed after the 1991 4 seat loss. The idea was to show that small parties would not have the means to run a town council and the Govt has to come and rescue it. It turned out that Chiam did a first class job and they were shocked that he could do lift grading etc. WP now is TC experts and using it to connect to voters politically.

Charlie99 said:

With respect, I believe that there is no need for MP's to take responsibility to administer town councils.
Accordingly, it is best served by allowing the HDB to take care of it, as it was decades ago.

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Punggol East residents have nothing to lose and everything to gain by voting for WP's Lee Li Lian.

knowingly that the residents of PE are so poor and so struggling, i think the doctor should act generously and start serving alabone porridge until election is over. tat is the least he can do.

or he is just saying only for wayang?

residents of PE, better start asking for alabone porridge now, after election over, u have no chance to act like oliver twist.

Little by little, the hammer is chipping at the shinning armour of the PAP machinery.
The little hammer would not have the ability to replace the white machine as of now, however a rippling effect of a diasterous defending campaigne at Punggol East MAY send shock waves within the PAP. Confidence is a strange thing - once you lose it, other things may follow.

PRC Mao sent out a coded message to his generals during their darkest days - cornered and facing total annihilation -
星星之火足以燎原. Inspiring.

No lah, it is called kiasu. With the loss of Aljunied, the grassroots folks are likely toning things down and becoming very conservative in their counts. So A(grassroot on the ground people) discount 10% and give number to B (head grassroot over looking Punggol) and he discounts another 10% for fear of upset and passes the numbers to C and so on.

The old methods of withhold of upgrading, control of press is backfiring big time. They are they own best enemy. Sad because Singapore is general a well managed and prosperous country.

Charlie99 said:

With respect, I believe that there is no need for MP's to take responsibility to administer town councils.
Accordingly, it is best served by allowing the HDB to take care of it, as it was decades ago.

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Must remove politics out of mgmt of town councils - so forget about HDB doing the mgmt but just set up an independent entity to run it. There should be 1 standard for upgrading, one standard for cleanliness through Singapore. All finances should be audited and published quarterly.

aurvandil said:

A shock WP upset is going destabalise the PAP internally.

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Yes I agree with that. Now it appears too close to call and the PAP is panicking. Even winning by a razor thin margin is going to cause some consternation amongst the PAP ranks.

The SDA/RP combo is supposed to split LLL's vote but it appears that PAP's appeal to voters is sliding even faster than the vote split.

scroobal said:

In essence, he is not obliged to appoint Dr Koh to a political office. The man himself just moved to private practice.Will look bad to his patients and his staff and to those doctors who have referred cases to him.

The PM has also decided to bring out all the big boys unlike Hougang. Shanmugam is now threathening Pritam hoping that he will fall into a manhole in the web.

Click to expand...

Agree with the analysis. PAP is panicking. It will be either a razor thin margin or a shock loss for PAP. Never has the ground been less sweet for PAP, and that is after all the posturing and promises of reform.

WP unlikely to win in PE. They know it and their choice of fielding LLL sealed its fate.