Dumb and dumberer SDP

[metalmickey]

The WP-SDP opposition unity saga continues.

One day ago I posted this:

SDP: We will walk the ground at Punggol East!
WP: (silence)
SDP: We will hold talks about what to do with Punggol East!
WP: (silence)
SDP: We will do the right thing in the name of opposition unity! (Or not)
WP: (silence)
SDP: fapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfap
WP: (silence)

As it turns out, SDP have done the equivalent of fapfapfapfap.

http://www.singapolitics.sg/news/sdp-proposes-joint-campaign-wp

SDP proposes joint campaign with WP
Posted on Jan 11, 2013 7:39 PM Updated: Jan 11, 2013 7:39 PM
By Robin Chan, Tessa Wong


The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has called on the Workers’ Party (WP) to work with it to field a single candidate under a joint campaign.

Under their “win-win-win” plan, the candidate would come from the SDP, but if elected, the WP would be given the responsibility of running the town council.

“In the spirit of compromise and cooperation, we would like to propose that our two parties run a joint campaign and field one candidate from the SDP. If victorious, the SDP candidate will enter Parliament, and the WP will run the Punggol East Town Council,” it said in a statement.

This arrangement, the SDP said, would add clout to WP’s town council management and give it access to the Punggol East grassroots network. Meanwhile, the SDP candidate would be able to debate the party’s alternative policies in Parliament.

The shock proposal comes after a proposed meeting with the WP on Friday afternoon drew a blank. The party said it has made three attempts to meet with the WP for talks and also made public its letters to the WP on its website.

In the statement, the party said it was “disappointed” but has not given up effort of finding a solution to field one Opposition candidate in the upcoming Punggol East contest. It has now sent a fourth letter to WP asking for a meeting on Saturday to discuss this latest proposal.

 

[metalmickey]

Over the last few days a few theories were proposed to explain the strange phenomenon of the SDP making public their emails to the WP requesting a meeting.

Theory A: the SDP wanted to enter a 3 corner fight but wanted to cover their tracks and appear to have attempted to negotiate with WP first.
Theory B: the SDP wanted to trick the PAP into believing that there would be a 3 corner fight, and announce an election date. Then in a bait and switch, they would withdraw, leaving a straight fight between PAP and WP.
Theory C: the SDP raised the possibility of a 3 corner fight as a bargaining tactic with the WP, to extract some concessions for the future.

As it appears now, theory D which is so dumb that I didn't dare believe it, is closer to the mark.

Theory D: the SDP actually believed it was possible for the WP to step aside so that the SDP could fight a straight fight with the PAP.

 

[billisnotathome]

Truly depressing stuff.

 

[zhihau]

SDP had better send a candidate of substantial calibre

 

[Seee3]

SDP had better send a candidate of substantial calibre

I think they won't as it is not their intention to win. Probably another joker to spice up the show. Dr Ang may be a good choice.

 

[zhihau]

I think they won't as it is not their intention to win.

then we'll have to see the power of branding :o:o:o
jokers do not get back their deposits, last noted

 

[wwabbit]

I think you are right, metalmonkey. I thought it had to be C, because that would be the most rational thing for the SDP to do, but it looks like I gave them too much credit and it is going to be D.

It really doesn't matter anymore about the calibre of the SDP candidate. The SDP has pretty much announced that they don't care about the people of Punggol East, they just want that seat in parliament. That is not going to go well with the people who are going to actually vote.

 

[steffychun]

It's like Jabba the Hut promising Han Solo not to have the bounty hunters kill him but to let him screw Leia.

 

[metalmickey]

It really doesn't matter anymore about the calibre of the SDP candidate. The SDP has pretty much announced that they don't care about the people of Punggol East, they just want that seat in parliament. That is not going to go well with the people who are going to actually vote.

In order to have a chance for a three corner fight, SDP would have to send in one of their heavyweights. I think what happened is that all their heavyweights told CSJ - I will not contest in a 3 corner fight, which is why CSJ had to make a statement where the only two possible outcomes were a straight fight, or SDP withdrawing for a reason - any reason at all, even if it were a stupid reason.

In the past few days I had been merrily telling people that I believed in the niche that SDP had cut out for themselves - a more liberal form of politics, fighting for the underdog, discussing policies on national issues. I said that the SDP occupied a territory very different from WP and therefore both parties could co-exist as long as they didn't clash too much. Even if SDP were an "open party", where it was easy for any NGO to come and park his car in the SDP parking lot and run for office and push his NGO agenda, it is one function that will serve the opposition well because he could always "graduate" after getting enough exposure and join another party which has built up the mechanism to actually get into office. (Case in point: Michelle Lee).

What I did not know that at the same time I was writing all that, Chee Soon Juan was preparing to unleash a brainfart of such gigantic proportions, a brainfart so loud and so smelly that you could hear and smell it through the hills and HDB flats across all of Singapore. A brainfart that extends beyond a few tak boleh tahan marches, a few bankrupcy lawsuits and a few comical episodes of going to a hawker centre to heckle Goh Chok Tong in the face. A brainfart that threatens to undo the gains that the SDP has made over the last 5 years. a brainfart that is neither competent, nor compassionate, nor constructive. A brainfart that is truly like a tsunami.

This goes beyond what CSJ did to one SDP party by taking them away from a centrist Chiam See Tong style "non-obstructive opposition" to a ragtag bunch of street fighters. This almost threatens to wreck the opposition landscape for a few big players.

It's OK to want to invite WP to sit down and talk. It's OK to want to bargain for some concession from the WP. But it is not OK to embarrass two opposition parties by publicising the emails, and it is beyond the pale to talk about "we enter parliament and you run the town councils". What I did not see is that CSJ's abstract / liberal / humanitarian standpoint was wedded to either somebody so politically tone-deaf that he can't see what most people can clearly see, or a PAP mole whose methods are so subtle and creative that he is truly astonishing in his brilliance. It's a shame because until now they were on to something good. And if CSJ is a PAP mole, I don't understand - why do they want to attack the idealists and the do-gooders? Why don't they send a PAP mole to a totally average heartlander bread and butter issues oriented party which actually poses a real threat to the PAP?

What this means is that people who have seen their stock rise in the last GE - Vincent Wijeysingha, Tan Jee Say, Paul Thambiah or Ang Yong Guan - should really think about looking for another party who will both accomodate their big agendas (difficult) and be less daft than SDP (easy).

 

[zhihau]

What this means is that people who have seen their stock rise in the last GE - Vincent Wijeysingha, Tan Jee Say, Paul Thambiah or Ang Yong Guan - should really think about looking for another party who will both accomodate their big agendas (difficult) and be less daft than SDP (easy).

certainly an interesting development :p:p:p

 

[metalmickey]

certainly an interesting development :p:p:p

Or they should just take over the party and kick out Chee Soon Juan. But Chee Soon Juan is very important to SDP in some ways: he's their most visible member in terms of international standing, he attracts funding from NGOs from all over the world. He also brings to SDP some things that nobody else does. The trick for SDP is - how do they shut him up and make sure that Singaporeans don't see more of him?

 

[metalmickey]

It's like Jabba the Hut promising Han Solo not to have the bounty hunters kill him but to let him screw Leia.

No. It's like Han Solo fantasising that Jabba the Hut will let him screw Leia. And fapfapfapfapfaping in public, in a press conference in front of a microphone, expressing a sexual fantasy that will never happen in real life, that it is OK to think about while masturbating, but not OK to talk about in public.

 

[CakeLengKia]

Is Chee Soon Juan really ki siao?

 

[cunnilaubu]

Noticed that he was alone in the press conference? Wonder if there is any significant in that?

 

[wwabbit]

More I think about it again, I thought about the July Crisis that happened triggering World War 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Ultimatum and I notice the similarities between the Austria-Hungary-Germany alliance and Chee Soon Juan. Basically it was the alliance's intention all along to go into war against Serbia, so when their heir to the throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalistic agents, they sent an the July Ultimatum to Serbia demanding that Serbia demanding a whole bunch of things which they very well know that is impossible for the Serbs to accept, then declaring war on Serbia after the Ultimatum was not completely accepted, thinking that they can put the blame on the Serbs for starting the war.

It does sound a lot like Theory A. Chee Soon Juan basically made an offer to the Worker's Party that he knows it is impossible for the Worker's Party to accept. He then goes ahead to compete in the by-elections, blaming the Worker's Party for causing the 3 corner fight for not accepting this "very reasonably offer made in the name of opposition unity".

We will see if the Punggol East voters will fall for this ruse.

 

[zhihau]

We will see if the Punggol East voters will fall for this ruse.

hehehe... 路遥知马力 :p:p:p

 

[Fook Seng]

Or they should just take over the party and kick out Chee Soon Juan. But Chee Soon Juan is very important to SDP in some ways: he's their most visible member in terms of international standing, he attracts funding from NGOs from all over the world.

That is why when you are cursed with a problem like this, you can try to live with the problem as what you have proposed or bite the bullet and start anew. A more important asset is the group of people you have and there is still more than 3 years left to the next GE to work out the finances, including from the present sources. A re-look at the party' manifesto is in order to more closely sync with voters' desires.

 

[Vigilante]

I think Dr Chee Bye is either:

1. plain stupid, or
2. plain malicious

 

[steffychun]

Noticed that he was alone in the press conference? Wonder if there is any significant in that?

Remember the song, Alone again, naturally?

 

[LadyArwen]

I think Dr Chee Bye is either:

1. plain stupid, or
2. plain malicious

My lord, the man is:
3. autistic - ie live in his own world