Goh Meng Seng: "公道自在人心"

[Ilovelamb]

It takes two hands to clap. If there is any 3 corner fight in Moulmein Kallang, both parties will have to bear the responsibilities together.

I have stressed right from the start that 3 corner fight should be avoided else voters will abandon those parties which are involved. However, some people do not really think so, even think otherwise.

E-Jay emailed me to say he thought that the “story” about WP’s initial interests on Tampines was just “my side of the story”. It is not. Mr. Low TK has told reporters during the interview carried out last Wednesday (9 March 2011) and it was reported on both Zaobao and Wanbao.

The Zaobao report is at the following link:
http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110310_030.shtm

I quote: 　“工人党的首选其实是淡滨尼集选区。因为一来它比较靠近后港区，也与我们有意参选的选区如东海岸、阿裕尼都相当靠近。所以这个集选区对我们来说，在策略和资源的应用上都是最佳选择。不过，我们也考虑到国民团结党秘书长吴明盛很早就表明要到这个集选区竞选，听说他还卖了屋子去筹集资金，所以我们考虑到这可能会对他造成很大的影响，而决定不去淡滨尼集选区。”　

When I have new and good candidates, obviously the right thing to do is to get a good ground for them to contest, hoping that they could be voted into parliament. Don’t you want good people to get into parliament?

The talk of Tony & Hazel as “plants” or “moles” are really unwarranted defamation and speculations. People who really know Tony & Hazel would agree with me that they are really good people, not only in terms of intelligence, but also having good hearts and humility as well. Compassion is something very rare nowadays.

It is just very unfortunate that they have met with such ‘misadventure’ in their search for their political paths. I hope NSP could provide them with a viable platform for their political involvement.

As I have stated on my blog’s comment, I would be glad to persuade my party as well as Tony’s team to pull out of Moulmein Kallang if WP intends to put up a comparable or even a better team (eg. a team led by LTK or Sylvia or both). This is in spite of the fact that we would be wasting all the resources, effort and time spent in this GRC.

There are people who lament to me. Singaporeans always complain about opposition parties not doing ground work or doing enough on the ground.

But when NSP has shown its resolve by working on the ground consistently, even taking a step further by distributing daily necessities to the needy people in Moulmein Kallang, some Singaporeans actually blame NSP for “wanting a 3 corner fight” in MK and demanded us to give up MK to another party just because “it has better branding” or perceived to “have better chance”. Never mind about who WP is sending to MK, just give it to them.

I find it ironic too, don’t you? Well, having said all these, the world is never FAIR in every sense.

It is always in my heart that we will always try to avoid 3 corner fight, especially in GRC, even though most of the time people do not go by good logic and reasoning.

As the saying goes, 公道自在人心; Justice always exists in the hearts and minds of people.

Goh Meng Seng
:oIo::oIo::oIo:

 

[Ilovelamb]

Ng E-Jay

It was announced on 24 March that the Prime Minister has accepted the recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee with regards to changes to the electoral boundaries for the next general election and the new configuration of GRCs and SMCs.

Since then, opposition parties have locked horns in vying for the constituencies they wish to contest. All parties have publicly agreed that 3 corner fights should be avoided and a consensus should be reached as soon as possible as to where each party will eventually contest. However, some constituencies remain unresolved.

Moulmein-Kallang GRC is one such constituency. Both the Worker’s Party (WP) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP) have staked their claims on this GRC, but till this date, there is no resolution in sight.

Moulmein-Kallang is a new GRC carved out by the Electoral Boundaries Committee. It comprises areas of the defunct Jalan Besar GRC which was contested by the NSP in the 2001 and 2006 elections under the SDA banner, as well as parts of Tanjong Pagar.

NSP has staked its claim on Moulmein-Kallang based on its track record of putting in work and cultivating the ground over the past two elections. On the other hand, WP has a vested interested in Moulmein-Kallang as well because of its proximity to Aljunied GRC where it intends to contest in this coming election. WP scored a handsome 43.9% of the valid vote in Aljunied in the previous election.

WP’s track record in the Jalan Besar area is also not to be sniffed at. It garnered a healthy 37.3% of the valid vote in Jalan Besar GRC in 1988 – a record never beaten by other opposition parties, including the SDP in 1997.

If WP contests in Moulmein-Kallang during this election, it will be a testimony to its continued expansion out of the North East area of Singapore where it traditionally has its stronghold. A contest at Moulmein-Kallang will give WP impetus for further expansion and renewal in the years ahead.

During the recent weeks of electoral horse-trading by the various opposition parties, Moulmein-Kallang has become a focal point of attention, due largely to public statements issued by NSP’s Secretary-General, Mr Goh Meng Seng.

While most parties have kept their talks strictly private, the tussle between WP and NSP for Moulmein-Kallang has riled Mr Goh to the extent that he felt it necessary to pen two blog posts on the matter, both of which have been picked up by the mainstream media.

In his blog article “Friendship and Politics” (08 Mar), Mr Goh said he felt “sentimentally drained”. He described in some detail his previous political work at WP and the friendships he formed in the process. After elaborating on his transition to NSP, he expressed regret at what he perceived to be a threat by WP to engage NSP in a 3 corner fight at Moulmein-Kallang, saying he felt “torn apart” by his friendship with WP and his present loyalty to NSP. He lamented what he described as WP’s decision to “go into such aggression”, saying that there was no reason for this as WP could contest in areas like Sembawang GRC, which is adjacent to Nee Soon – another area also eyed by WP. Mr Goh then ends his tirade by affirming that “arrogance and head-swell syndrome are bad traits for Singapore politics”.

However, that is hardly enough for the Sec-Gen of NSP. In another blog article “Singapore Cannot Lose” (12 Mar), Mr Goh denied allegations from some quarters that he had sought to “attack” WP in his previous blog posting, claiming that he had written it “as a normal person, not a politician”. This is despite the fact that his previous post had centered on his own political career at WP and NSP.

Mr Goh admitted that he understood that the expansion of both WP and NSP would inevitably lead both parties to vie for the same areas at some point in time, and that he hoped that both parties will reach an amiable settlement in the coming days. However, it remains unclear why there is a need to make all this sentiment public in the first place. Many people feel that some of Mr Goh’s personal feelings and sentiments should not have been so publicly expressed. I feel the same way as well.

Electoral horse-trading should be kept as private as possible because the mainstream media might drum up apparent disagreements or conflicts, which would reflect negatively on the opposition as a whole.

In times of intense negotiations, participants must take it upon themselves to observe certain decorum. All parties involved must be able retain faith and trust in one another even as they battle it out at the negotiating table. Once you unilaterally go public with certain facts, feelings or sentiments, you put that faith and trust at risk.

Mr Low Thia Khiang, Secretary-General of WP, has been politically astute through the negotiating process. He has steadfastly refused to speak to the media, even alternative media, about what has transpired. A recent TOC article quoted Mr Low that that “there have been communications” between the WP and the NSP, but he does not want to comment about it through the media.

Yaw Shin Leong (left)

There are hints that some WP members have also formed strong opinions about the matter. Mr Yaw Shin Leong, a CEC member of WP, penned a blog post entitled “Moulmein-Kallang, here we come”. In a more recent article “Heartland Conversations With Mr Mo” (15 Mar), Mr Yaw recounted that a resident had complained that the opposition seemed disunited, and Mr Yaw had replied that “given the multiple obstacles hampering oppositional unity, the least each serious opposition party can do is to establish itself, via means of intra-party capacity building”. It is perhaps not too far a stretch of the imagination to assume that the unresolved issue over Moulmein-Kallang was one of those “obstacles” alluded to by Mr Yaw.

Both WP and NSP have their own reasons for contesting Moulmein-Kallang GRC, and neither one of them has greater moral authority in this regard. This is one moment in time where one of the parties has to compromise and possibly make some sacrifices as well for the greater good. The party that does this on its own accord, without demanding anything in return, will be looked upon by the electorate as an enlightened party, worthy of their vote.

 

[Forvendet]

Then go three-cornered, let the people decide, talk so much for what?

 

[manokie]

The talk of Tony & Hazel as “plants” or “moles” are really unwarranted defamation and speculations. People who really know Tony & Hazel would agree with me that they are really good people, not only in terms of intelligence, but also having good hearts and humility as well. Compassion is something very rare nowadays.

.

Nice and intelligent people so what?
Cannot be moles because you appear to be a kind person and have an good education?

This person needs to have a IQ check