Avoid freak results, cautions Ng Eng Hen
By Karamjit Kaur
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen cautioned voters yesterday that voting for the opposition might result in 'freak results' that could weaken the government or even change the government.
'Elections can never be about just having a few seats in Parliament,' he said. 'It never works like that because you don't know how people will vote.'
Freak results can happen and have happened elsewhere, he said.
He told reporters during a walkabout in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC that some voters may want cheaper transport, others cheaper homes or better schools for their children.
'If everybody votes for their own narrow interests, thinking that if there are more opposition (MPs), you can pressure the government for your own narrow interests, then it's a dangerous outcome,' he said.
His advice to voters: 'You must always vote, first, in the larger national interest, who can help me in my constituency, to better my life here. Because it does take time to build better homes, better transport, and who can form the better government. I mean that must surely be the better way to vote.'
They should vote for the opposition only if they believe that the opposition can take better care of them and could form the government.
If people want alternative voices in Parliament, he said, there is the Non-Constituency MP scheme, which now allows up to nine best opposition losers into Parliament.
Mr Hri Kumar Nair, a member of the People's Action Party's Bishan- Toa Payoh GRC team, said opposition veteran Chiam See Tong, whose Singapore People's Party is challenging the PAP, should say what plans he has for the area.
So far, he said, there is no news of what Mr Chiam intends doing for the people of Bishan-Toa Payoh, or how he will make their homes 'more beautiful and more valuable'.
His team-mate, Mrs Josephine Teo, said last night that voters should compare their estate with Potong Pasir, which Mr Chiam has run since becoming MP in 1984.
'I think the difference between the estates is very apparent,' she said.
By Karamjit Kaur
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen cautioned voters yesterday that voting for the opposition might result in 'freak results' that could weaken the government or even change the government.
'Elections can never be about just having a few seats in Parliament,' he said. 'It never works like that because you don't know how people will vote.'
Freak results can happen and have happened elsewhere, he said.
He told reporters during a walkabout in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC that some voters may want cheaper transport, others cheaper homes or better schools for their children.
'If everybody votes for their own narrow interests, thinking that if there are more opposition (MPs), you can pressure the government for your own narrow interests, then it's a dangerous outcome,' he said.
His advice to voters: 'You must always vote, first, in the larger national interest, who can help me in my constituency, to better my life here. Because it does take time to build better homes, better transport, and who can form the better government. I mean that must surely be the better way to vote.'
They should vote for the opposition only if they believe that the opposition can take better care of them and could form the government.
If people want alternative voices in Parliament, he said, there is the Non-Constituency MP scheme, which now allows up to nine best opposition losers into Parliament.
Mr Hri Kumar Nair, a member of the People's Action Party's Bishan- Toa Payoh GRC team, said opposition veteran Chiam See Tong, whose Singapore People's Party is challenging the PAP, should say what plans he has for the area.
So far, he said, there is no news of what Mr Chiam intends doing for the people of Bishan-Toa Payoh, or how he will make their homes 'more beautiful and more valuable'.
His team-mate, Mrs Josephine Teo, said last night that voters should compare their estate with Potong Pasir, which Mr Chiam has run since becoming MP in 1984.
'I think the difference between the estates is very apparent,' she said.
