INTERVIEW: PPP Chief Goh Meng Seng Says He’s Far from being a “Disgruntled Journeyman” Politician
Posted on May 26 2015 - 4:49pm by Redwire Singapore
Some might call Goh Meng Seng “The Terminator” – somehow he’s ALWAYS going to be back, even at 45 years old!
After contesting Aljunied in 2006 under the Workers’ Party banner, Meng Seng hopped to the National Solidarity Party, where he became Secretary-General and led a team in 2011 to oust incumbent MP Mah Bow Tan from the Tampines throne.
Both General Election battles saw no success.
Fast forward to 2015.
Meng Seng has applied to form the People’s Power Party, roped in several members to join the band, and looks ready to step once again into the political arena.
In this interview, we discuss Meng Seng’s ambitions, the PPP’s values and of course, replies to those who have taken shots at him over the years.
(1) Which wards would you choose to run in, if you had a a free rein?
First choice of course Tampines lah! It is always good to go back to familiar ground.
(2) You’ve said that you’re not looking for a contest amongst the opposition. In GE 2011, the opposition contested in all wards except Tanjong Pagar GRC. How will that affect your stance?
Please don’t speculate on the constituency which my party would be contesting. There is drastic change of political landscape since GE2011 and the boundaries may change drastically. Some parties may shrink in size and some parties may expand. I will always prefer to avoid 3 corner fights among opposition parties as far as possible but if it cannot be achieved, then so be it. It may be a good thing when voters, especially opposition supporters, will need to think hard on how they should vote. I believe they will vote responsibly to vote good people with their hearts at the right place to serve into parliament.
(3) The leading opposition party at the moment, the WP, has taken quite a knock with the ongoing AHPETC incident. What are your views on the issue?
Whether we like it or not, will affect ALL OPPOSITION PARTIES, even though WP has declared they wanted to walk their own path and has nothing to do with the rest of opposition. I hope WP can do a quick clean up of the mess so to regain confidence from middle ground voters.
Else, the longer this matter drags, the more damage it will affect WP as well as other opposition parties.
Running of Town Council was NEVER a problem in the past. SDP has run 3 TCs in early 1990s and WP has run its Hougang TC for 2 decades. I don’t see why there should be any problems for any party or WP to run a TC now.
The key problem with the current AHPETC saga is a matter of Separation of Powers which its lack of, created a perception of lack of checks and balances. Conflict of interests was not addressed properly. Opposition should not take for granted that whatever PAP can do, we can also do so. Whatever conflict of interests PAP can have, we also can have. That is not the right attitude.
(4) If elected, how would you manage your town council?
As I have said, running of TC WAS NEVER A PROBLEM to opposition parties. The issue here was the proper system of governance. You do not need rocket scientists to run TC. You just need to employ professionals with Estate management qualifications and experiences to run it. Not all PAP MPs are experts in managing TC and they shouldn’t be. MPs’ role in TC management is to make sure that a proper governing system is in place.
I would urge people not to be misled by PAP. An Elected MP’s PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY is legislative matters and parliamentary debates. PAP will try to make use of every opportunity to divert voters’ and opposition’s focus from REAL Policy debates during GE campaign to something else. They have been doing this for ages and we should not fall for that. PAP knows that as the incumbent ruling party, it will be forced into defensive mode if REAL Policy issues become the KEY Election issues. That is when I used Minister-Specific strategy back in GE2011 so to focus on 1 key HDB issue, MBT did not dare to debate with me despite my repeated challenge!
(5) Some have criticised you as a disgruntled journeyman politician who’s past his prime and looking for one last hurrah. What is your response to such criticism?
I cannot stop other people from thinking so. I just focus to do what I think is BEST for Singapore.
But I am only 45 years old, it is just too young to be considered “past my prime” lah! No doubt, it is rare for people at my age to have contested 2 GE with respectable results and I have spent a good 15 years in opposition politics to help TWO opposition parties in their successful rebranding process, but these are valuable experiences which need to pass on.
I have joined opposition via WP way back in 2001 like some other people like YSL, Sylvia, Lee Wai Leng etc when the future of opposition was looking so dim! JBJ’s departure from WP has damaged it substantially. During the snap elections GE2001, opposition as a whole was facing a crisis of being wiped out totally. The poor showing of the overall result and the sense of crisis has spurred us to take the plunge to join and try our best to strengthen WP.
I am very fortunate that I have learned all the good practices in managing a party during my 5 years stay in WP. We threw our ideas into the pool and learned from each other.
After I left WP, I was approached by NSP and decided to join so to help them to do rebranding for the party. After the long stay in SDA, not many people know their party’s brand anymore. Although I have a cultural shock initially but over a short period of 4 years, NSP has achieved a successful rebranding which eventually translated into its best showing for the party since its founding, despite the fact that it did not win any seat.
My experience is unique in itself and the results speak louder than any criticisms.
And for the record, I am far from being “disgruntled” in any sense but just a strong sense of duty that I should pass on whatever I have learned from the past 15 years, to the next generation of politicians.
Well, here is my challenge to those critics. Try asking those critics to spend 15 years of their lives in opposition politics and see whether they can learn all the things they need to start off their own party. Let’s see how many of them will be willing to do that.
(6) So far you’ve named two former NSP colleagues, former Tampines GRC running-mate Syafarin Sarif and former NSP Vice-President Nazryn Azhar Samat as your running mates. What do you see them bringing to the PPP?
First of all, I should clarify that the three names released here are just KEY appointment holders of the party and we may or may not be standing for elections.
Syafarin and Nazryn are professionals in their own field of work. Both are activists in their own right and they have been contributing to their community and Singapore via various channels and organizations. Both have years of experience in opposition politics and have served as CEC members in NSP for quite a number of years. In short, they are experienced social-political activists who have their hearts set to serve the people.
Syafarin has served the Malay community through various established organizations for years before he stepped into opposition politics. He was my key running mate in GE2011 Tampines campaign. He has a wide inter-social-political network within the Malay community and an inflencer within this network.
Nazryn has also served and still serving as council member of one of the Islamic organizations. He has his tertiary education in Australia and was a student activist since then. His is well read in political history and has travelled extensively.
Throughout my decade of political engagement, I find that these two good fellows are rare species in opposition politics. Their sincerity in serving their community and strong but rational views on social-cultural-political-economic issues are rare to get in opposition.
On a personal note, I could have stood in a single seat SMC in GE2011 or even the coming GE but I feel that I have the responsibility to get these good fellows into parliament as well, if they are willing to contest. My grassroot profile (the Ah Beng profile) is actually good for SMC contest but I have declined that idea because I wanted to form a GRC which could include both of them if possible!
As a responsible opposition member, we must always keep in mind that we owe it to the voters to get the good people into the parliament. We must always bear in mind that our key responsibility is to make sure that those whom we send into parliament must be good people with the heart to serve the country.
(7) What many are wondering now – will we see a re-emergence of another former NSP colleague, Nicole Seah?
I always feel that I have done Nicole Seah wrong and injustice by not giving her proper mentoring and guidance after creating a Star out of her. If she is so willing, I welcome her to join us in PPP but I must say, the chances are very slim.
(8) You’ve spoke about building the PPP on 4 pillars, social, cultural, political and economic. Can you elaborate on this vision?
Rightfully or wrongfully, PAP under LKY in the early years had embarked on the “Nation Building” process totally skewed on pragmatic considerations of stability for economic development. PAP has sacrificed our democratic development by mounting waves of operations against its political opponents, dissidents and critics. Ironically, this was in total contradictions of what LKY has said when he was an opposition legislator.
Under PAP LKY’s iron fist rule, we have turned into political dictatorship as well as a cultural desert. Socially speaking, we have been subjected to many social engineering experiments by PAP. In the first 20 or 30 years, due to Dr Goh Keng Swee’s effort, socialism was still much alive in various policy perspectives. For eg, HDB policy along with Land Acquisition Act was basically the most successful socialist measures in land reform and asset redistribution. This was why HDB was the greatest fundamental political capital of PAP until they screwed it up by milking it to the maximum for profiteering, under the guise of “Asset Enhancement Scheme”. Social spending also declined relatively and the most glaring part was actual Healthcare spending by PAP government as compared to GDP and cost of basic healthcare has risen substantially as compared to th earnings of the lowest spectrum of workers.
Singapore was the Art Centre of Southeast Asia. For example, the first motion picture in SEA was produced in Singapore way before PAP came into power. But after PAP came into power, various motion movie production houses were forced to close down and leave Singapore for Malaysia or Hong Kong. Playwrights, cultural activists, newspaper editors, student activists etc were locked up in ISD together with political detainees. All these happened in the 1970s where the rule of White Terror reigned right up to the 1980s.
In modern days, PAP might have built the Durian Esplanade but the software of the cultural community is still lacking. Unnecessary paranoid censorship to protect PAP’s own political interests and legacy has stifled the development of a robust cultural industry.
If we were to compare our situation with Hong Kong, you will realize how backward our cultural scene is and how inadequate PAP has put in social spending. Although Hong Kong is still dragging its feet in building its West Kowloon Art Centre but in many of its districts, instead of community centres built like ours, they have instead built district cultural performance centres! These community cultural centres have good quality sound system and stage to cater to various different performances. On the front of social spending in healthcare and other social assistance plus elderly funds, Singapore really looks pale in comparison.
It makes one wonder what is really wrong with Singapore as a “First World Developed” country when its development model is still totally lopsided towards basic economic concerns.
(9) Some have questioned your mettle. They say Tampines GRC was the NSP’s for the taking in GE 2011, especially with public anger mounting against incumbant PAP MP Mah Bow Tan. Still, your team lost, with a vote of 42.78%. Do you think that this time round, your PPP team will manage to snatch victory in its contested ward?
For your question on whether PPP can snatch victory this time round, it is really depends on voters. But we will do our best to convince voters to vote for us lah!
You are observing from a distance and thus, I do not blame you for your inaccurate assertions.
My attacks on MBT and HDB prices, started at least 9 months way ahead of GE. If you look at what I have written on my blog, you will realize that this is a step up deliberation on HDB issues. Timing was just right actually, to build up on public opinion just before polling day. Although it is really not easy initially to convince 85% of HDB flats owners that their flats should be cheaper, but I should say that the whole campaign on HDB has turned up well. Even up till today, the strong consensus on HDB flat pricing is still emerging very strongly on all fronts. PAP MBT didn’t dare to hold a debate on HDB issues even I have challenged him three times over MSM!
As for the A team or not, I have already explained in my blog posts. I have offered Tony and Hazel to contest in Tampines, but they have declined. I have offered Nicole Seah to contest in Tampines, she has declined as well. I respect their decision and I do not force people to do what they decided not to do.
It is on hindsight that people think Tampines is an “easy target”. Way before 2009, nobody hated MBT. Nobody talked about HDB issues. And MBT, as the Minister for MND, has naturally FORTIFIED Tampines with all sorts of upgrading projects. For those who live in Tampines would have noticed that right before GE2011, for every corner you turned in Tampines, you could see upgrading projects in process!
I would also remind you that for Tampines, since ever it became a GRC, opposition party contested there has never crossed 41%. PAP has gotten more than 73% in 2001 and 68% in 2006 respectively! I think it is unfair to expect my team to create a 19% vote swing from 31.5% in 2006 to win Tampines in GE2011! The average National vote swing was only 6%. And considering the fact that this result is a swing of 11.3% after a 10 year period of being under SDA which was a restrain on the development of our party’s branding back then, I feel that it is already a respectable fight.
I should say that it is be clear to everybody that this Minister-Specific strategy which I have applied in GE2011 has shown results. PAP has never wanted to debate or fight on any specific policy issues during any elections. They will AVOID all policy debates or discussion AT ALL COST. They know that they will be cornered into a defensive mode if elections are fought along policy views. They will create distractions or simply ignore strong opposition challenges on any specific policy. I do not think I have made any tactical or strategic mistake here with regards to Tampines campaign, else, you and your friends won’t be feeling strongly that MBT and his team should be kicked out. And the fact is, even when MBT’s team won, MBT has been forced to relinquish his post as Minister for MND! I would say that we might not have won the whole battle, but at the very least, we have won half of the battle of getting rid of MBT as Minister!
(10) After a 4 year break, what pushed you to once again enter the political arena?
There are a couple of reasons in combined effects. When I first joined opposition politics back in 2001 (i.e. WP), I have set two main goals for my planned 15 years’ participation. First milestone set was the breaching of the FIRST PAP’s GRC fortress. This is the most important task as it will have domino effect on PAP’s hold on power in the years to come. The second milestone is to deprive PAP two third majority in parliament.
Right after GE2011, I decided to step down from frontline politics because:
1) Hazel wanted to take over the SG post and
2) The first important goal of breaching the first GRC fortress has been achieved by WP
3) My planned 15 years participation will come to an end by next GE, 2016.
Although the breach of the first GRC fortress in Aljunied is not done by me or NSP, but I was very happy Opposition party has done it through WP. It was natural for me to deduce that with this important achievement, it will just be a matter of time the second goal of depriving PAP two third majority will be achieved in near future, if WP could managed their success well.
However, right after my announcement of taking my political sabbatical, a series of unfortunate events happened, right from YSL saga to a series of Town Council issues. Whether we like it or not, these happenings have somewhat eroded the much needed confidence of middle ground voters towards opposition parties as a whole, not just WP. Such happenings may undo the success which WP has achieved in GE2011. Apparently, the polls done by Black Box have suggested that public opinion has turned favorable to PAP and I suspect this has something to do with the erosion of public confidence towards opposition. A regression in the democratic development may happen or at least, we may not progress towards winning more seats for opposition so to deprive PAP the two third majority.
LKY’s death is also an important factor. The current system of governance is basically an dictatorial system which power concentration is the key feature. LKY has once said that if some unscrupulous people are voted in to become the ruling party, Singapore will be finished and he was absolutely right. This is because the system of high concentration of powers is specially tailored for LKY and there will no longer be another LKY anymore. Nobody can guarantee that such a system will not fall into the hands of unscrupulous people in future, which will inevitably result in massive abuse of powers! Thus, in this Post-LKY era, we need a whole new political reform to redefine the system of governance.
I decided to re-enter politics by forming a new party basically because I have this sense of crisis in me that say all are not well for Singapore’s democratic development. There is an urgent need to regain public confidence in opposition as a whole and we need to put forward a clear and uncompromising idea to install a system of governance which will be more relevant to ensuring enduring stability for Singapore’s future. Thus my party’s key Core Values and political ideology have been written into our constitution. Democratic Socialism, Separation of Five Powers and Balanced development of the Four Pillars of the Nation are the key guiding ideologies and principles which we believe could bring long term stability, continuity, sustainability and prosperity to Singapore.
Posted on May 26 2015 - 4:49pm by Redwire Singapore
Some might call Goh Meng Seng “The Terminator” – somehow he’s ALWAYS going to be back, even at 45 years old!
After contesting Aljunied in 2006 under the Workers’ Party banner, Meng Seng hopped to the National Solidarity Party, where he became Secretary-General and led a team in 2011 to oust incumbent MP Mah Bow Tan from the Tampines throne.
Both General Election battles saw no success.
Fast forward to 2015.
Meng Seng has applied to form the People’s Power Party, roped in several members to join the band, and looks ready to step once again into the political arena.
In this interview, we discuss Meng Seng’s ambitions, the PPP’s values and of course, replies to those who have taken shots at him over the years.
(1) Which wards would you choose to run in, if you had a a free rein?
First choice of course Tampines lah! It is always good to go back to familiar ground.
(2) You’ve said that you’re not looking for a contest amongst the opposition. In GE 2011, the opposition contested in all wards except Tanjong Pagar GRC. How will that affect your stance?
Please don’t speculate on the constituency which my party would be contesting. There is drastic change of political landscape since GE2011 and the boundaries may change drastically. Some parties may shrink in size and some parties may expand. I will always prefer to avoid 3 corner fights among opposition parties as far as possible but if it cannot be achieved, then so be it. It may be a good thing when voters, especially opposition supporters, will need to think hard on how they should vote. I believe they will vote responsibly to vote good people with their hearts at the right place to serve into parliament.
(3) The leading opposition party at the moment, the WP, has taken quite a knock with the ongoing AHPETC incident. What are your views on the issue?
Whether we like it or not, will affect ALL OPPOSITION PARTIES, even though WP has declared they wanted to walk their own path and has nothing to do with the rest of opposition. I hope WP can do a quick clean up of the mess so to regain confidence from middle ground voters.
Else, the longer this matter drags, the more damage it will affect WP as well as other opposition parties.
Running of Town Council was NEVER a problem in the past. SDP has run 3 TCs in early 1990s and WP has run its Hougang TC for 2 decades. I don’t see why there should be any problems for any party or WP to run a TC now.
The key problem with the current AHPETC saga is a matter of Separation of Powers which its lack of, created a perception of lack of checks and balances. Conflict of interests was not addressed properly. Opposition should not take for granted that whatever PAP can do, we can also do so. Whatever conflict of interests PAP can have, we also can have. That is not the right attitude.
(4) If elected, how would you manage your town council?
As I have said, running of TC WAS NEVER A PROBLEM to opposition parties. The issue here was the proper system of governance. You do not need rocket scientists to run TC. You just need to employ professionals with Estate management qualifications and experiences to run it. Not all PAP MPs are experts in managing TC and they shouldn’t be. MPs’ role in TC management is to make sure that a proper governing system is in place.
I would urge people not to be misled by PAP. An Elected MP’s PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY is legislative matters and parliamentary debates. PAP will try to make use of every opportunity to divert voters’ and opposition’s focus from REAL Policy debates during GE campaign to something else. They have been doing this for ages and we should not fall for that. PAP knows that as the incumbent ruling party, it will be forced into defensive mode if REAL Policy issues become the KEY Election issues. That is when I used Minister-Specific strategy back in GE2011 so to focus on 1 key HDB issue, MBT did not dare to debate with me despite my repeated challenge!
(5) Some have criticised you as a disgruntled journeyman politician who’s past his prime and looking for one last hurrah. What is your response to such criticism?
I cannot stop other people from thinking so. I just focus to do what I think is BEST for Singapore.
But I am only 45 years old, it is just too young to be considered “past my prime” lah! No doubt, it is rare for people at my age to have contested 2 GE with respectable results and I have spent a good 15 years in opposition politics to help TWO opposition parties in their successful rebranding process, but these are valuable experiences which need to pass on.
I have joined opposition via WP way back in 2001 like some other people like YSL, Sylvia, Lee Wai Leng etc when the future of opposition was looking so dim! JBJ’s departure from WP has damaged it substantially. During the snap elections GE2001, opposition as a whole was facing a crisis of being wiped out totally. The poor showing of the overall result and the sense of crisis has spurred us to take the plunge to join and try our best to strengthen WP.
I am very fortunate that I have learned all the good practices in managing a party during my 5 years stay in WP. We threw our ideas into the pool and learned from each other.
After I left WP, I was approached by NSP and decided to join so to help them to do rebranding for the party. After the long stay in SDA, not many people know their party’s brand anymore. Although I have a cultural shock initially but over a short period of 4 years, NSP has achieved a successful rebranding which eventually translated into its best showing for the party since its founding, despite the fact that it did not win any seat.
My experience is unique in itself and the results speak louder than any criticisms.
And for the record, I am far from being “disgruntled” in any sense but just a strong sense of duty that I should pass on whatever I have learned from the past 15 years, to the next generation of politicians.
Well, here is my challenge to those critics. Try asking those critics to spend 15 years of their lives in opposition politics and see whether they can learn all the things they need to start off their own party. Let’s see how many of them will be willing to do that.
(6) So far you’ve named two former NSP colleagues, former Tampines GRC running-mate Syafarin Sarif and former NSP Vice-President Nazryn Azhar Samat as your running mates. What do you see them bringing to the PPP?
First of all, I should clarify that the three names released here are just KEY appointment holders of the party and we may or may not be standing for elections.
Syafarin and Nazryn are professionals in their own field of work. Both are activists in their own right and they have been contributing to their community and Singapore via various channels and organizations. Both have years of experience in opposition politics and have served as CEC members in NSP for quite a number of years. In short, they are experienced social-political activists who have their hearts set to serve the people.
Syafarin has served the Malay community through various established organizations for years before he stepped into opposition politics. He was my key running mate in GE2011 Tampines campaign. He has a wide inter-social-political network within the Malay community and an inflencer within this network.
Nazryn has also served and still serving as council member of one of the Islamic organizations. He has his tertiary education in Australia and was a student activist since then. His is well read in political history and has travelled extensively.
Throughout my decade of political engagement, I find that these two good fellows are rare species in opposition politics. Their sincerity in serving their community and strong but rational views on social-cultural-political-economic issues are rare to get in opposition.
On a personal note, I could have stood in a single seat SMC in GE2011 or even the coming GE but I feel that I have the responsibility to get these good fellows into parliament as well, if they are willing to contest. My grassroot profile (the Ah Beng profile) is actually good for SMC contest but I have declined that idea because I wanted to form a GRC which could include both of them if possible!
As a responsible opposition member, we must always keep in mind that we owe it to the voters to get the good people into the parliament. We must always bear in mind that our key responsibility is to make sure that those whom we send into parliament must be good people with the heart to serve the country.
(7) What many are wondering now – will we see a re-emergence of another former NSP colleague, Nicole Seah?
I always feel that I have done Nicole Seah wrong and injustice by not giving her proper mentoring and guidance after creating a Star out of her. If she is so willing, I welcome her to join us in PPP but I must say, the chances are very slim.
(8) You’ve spoke about building the PPP on 4 pillars, social, cultural, political and economic. Can you elaborate on this vision?
Rightfully or wrongfully, PAP under LKY in the early years had embarked on the “Nation Building” process totally skewed on pragmatic considerations of stability for economic development. PAP has sacrificed our democratic development by mounting waves of operations against its political opponents, dissidents and critics. Ironically, this was in total contradictions of what LKY has said when he was an opposition legislator.
Under PAP LKY’s iron fist rule, we have turned into political dictatorship as well as a cultural desert. Socially speaking, we have been subjected to many social engineering experiments by PAP. In the first 20 or 30 years, due to Dr Goh Keng Swee’s effort, socialism was still much alive in various policy perspectives. For eg, HDB policy along with Land Acquisition Act was basically the most successful socialist measures in land reform and asset redistribution. This was why HDB was the greatest fundamental political capital of PAP until they screwed it up by milking it to the maximum for profiteering, under the guise of “Asset Enhancement Scheme”. Social spending also declined relatively and the most glaring part was actual Healthcare spending by PAP government as compared to GDP and cost of basic healthcare has risen substantially as compared to th earnings of the lowest spectrum of workers.
Singapore was the Art Centre of Southeast Asia. For example, the first motion picture in SEA was produced in Singapore way before PAP came into power. But after PAP came into power, various motion movie production houses were forced to close down and leave Singapore for Malaysia or Hong Kong. Playwrights, cultural activists, newspaper editors, student activists etc were locked up in ISD together with political detainees. All these happened in the 1970s where the rule of White Terror reigned right up to the 1980s.
In modern days, PAP might have built the Durian Esplanade but the software of the cultural community is still lacking. Unnecessary paranoid censorship to protect PAP’s own political interests and legacy has stifled the development of a robust cultural industry.
If we were to compare our situation with Hong Kong, you will realize how backward our cultural scene is and how inadequate PAP has put in social spending. Although Hong Kong is still dragging its feet in building its West Kowloon Art Centre but in many of its districts, instead of community centres built like ours, they have instead built district cultural performance centres! These community cultural centres have good quality sound system and stage to cater to various different performances. On the front of social spending in healthcare and other social assistance plus elderly funds, Singapore really looks pale in comparison.
It makes one wonder what is really wrong with Singapore as a “First World Developed” country when its development model is still totally lopsided towards basic economic concerns.
(9) Some have questioned your mettle. They say Tampines GRC was the NSP’s for the taking in GE 2011, especially with public anger mounting against incumbant PAP MP Mah Bow Tan. Still, your team lost, with a vote of 42.78%. Do you think that this time round, your PPP team will manage to snatch victory in its contested ward?
For your question on whether PPP can snatch victory this time round, it is really depends on voters. But we will do our best to convince voters to vote for us lah!
You are observing from a distance and thus, I do not blame you for your inaccurate assertions.
My attacks on MBT and HDB prices, started at least 9 months way ahead of GE. If you look at what I have written on my blog, you will realize that this is a step up deliberation on HDB issues. Timing was just right actually, to build up on public opinion just before polling day. Although it is really not easy initially to convince 85% of HDB flats owners that their flats should be cheaper, but I should say that the whole campaign on HDB has turned up well. Even up till today, the strong consensus on HDB flat pricing is still emerging very strongly on all fronts. PAP MBT didn’t dare to hold a debate on HDB issues even I have challenged him three times over MSM!
As for the A team or not, I have already explained in my blog posts. I have offered Tony and Hazel to contest in Tampines, but they have declined. I have offered Nicole Seah to contest in Tampines, she has declined as well. I respect their decision and I do not force people to do what they decided not to do.
It is on hindsight that people think Tampines is an “easy target”. Way before 2009, nobody hated MBT. Nobody talked about HDB issues. And MBT, as the Minister for MND, has naturally FORTIFIED Tampines with all sorts of upgrading projects. For those who live in Tampines would have noticed that right before GE2011, for every corner you turned in Tampines, you could see upgrading projects in process!
I would also remind you that for Tampines, since ever it became a GRC, opposition party contested there has never crossed 41%. PAP has gotten more than 73% in 2001 and 68% in 2006 respectively! I think it is unfair to expect my team to create a 19% vote swing from 31.5% in 2006 to win Tampines in GE2011! The average National vote swing was only 6%. And considering the fact that this result is a swing of 11.3% after a 10 year period of being under SDA which was a restrain on the development of our party’s branding back then, I feel that it is already a respectable fight.
I should say that it is be clear to everybody that this Minister-Specific strategy which I have applied in GE2011 has shown results. PAP has never wanted to debate or fight on any specific policy issues during any elections. They will AVOID all policy debates or discussion AT ALL COST. They know that they will be cornered into a defensive mode if elections are fought along policy views. They will create distractions or simply ignore strong opposition challenges on any specific policy. I do not think I have made any tactical or strategic mistake here with regards to Tampines campaign, else, you and your friends won’t be feeling strongly that MBT and his team should be kicked out. And the fact is, even when MBT’s team won, MBT has been forced to relinquish his post as Minister for MND! I would say that we might not have won the whole battle, but at the very least, we have won half of the battle of getting rid of MBT as Minister!
(10) After a 4 year break, what pushed you to once again enter the political arena?
There are a couple of reasons in combined effects. When I first joined opposition politics back in 2001 (i.e. WP), I have set two main goals for my planned 15 years’ participation. First milestone set was the breaching of the FIRST PAP’s GRC fortress. This is the most important task as it will have domino effect on PAP’s hold on power in the years to come. The second milestone is to deprive PAP two third majority in parliament.
Right after GE2011, I decided to step down from frontline politics because:
1) Hazel wanted to take over the SG post and
2) The first important goal of breaching the first GRC fortress has been achieved by WP
3) My planned 15 years participation will come to an end by next GE, 2016.
Although the breach of the first GRC fortress in Aljunied is not done by me or NSP, but I was very happy Opposition party has done it through WP. It was natural for me to deduce that with this important achievement, it will just be a matter of time the second goal of depriving PAP two third majority will be achieved in near future, if WP could managed their success well.
However, right after my announcement of taking my political sabbatical, a series of unfortunate events happened, right from YSL saga to a series of Town Council issues. Whether we like it or not, these happenings have somewhat eroded the much needed confidence of middle ground voters towards opposition parties as a whole, not just WP. Such happenings may undo the success which WP has achieved in GE2011. Apparently, the polls done by Black Box have suggested that public opinion has turned favorable to PAP and I suspect this has something to do with the erosion of public confidence towards opposition. A regression in the democratic development may happen or at least, we may not progress towards winning more seats for opposition so to deprive PAP the two third majority.
LKY’s death is also an important factor. The current system of governance is basically an dictatorial system which power concentration is the key feature. LKY has once said that if some unscrupulous people are voted in to become the ruling party, Singapore will be finished and he was absolutely right. This is because the system of high concentration of powers is specially tailored for LKY and there will no longer be another LKY anymore. Nobody can guarantee that such a system will not fall into the hands of unscrupulous people in future, which will inevitably result in massive abuse of powers! Thus, in this Post-LKY era, we need a whole new political reform to redefine the system of governance.
I decided to re-enter politics by forming a new party basically because I have this sense of crisis in me that say all are not well for Singapore’s democratic development. There is an urgent need to regain public confidence in opposition as a whole and we need to put forward a clear and uncompromising idea to install a system of governance which will be more relevant to ensuring enduring stability for Singapore’s future. Thus my party’s key Core Values and political ideology have been written into our constitution. Democratic Socialism, Separation of Five Powers and Balanced development of the Four Pillars of the Nation are the key guiding ideologies and principles which we believe could bring long term stability, continuity, sustainability and prosperity to Singapore.
