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[h=2]The Hougang Spirit: Observations of the By-election Thus Far[/h]
May 24th, 2012 |
Author: Contributions
Lessons unlearnt by the PAP
The PAP’s attempt at framing this election in their terms has really failed completely. One wonders how the party did not learn their lessons from last year’s elections. In fact, they seem to be running around like headless chickens, where one member succeeds, another resets it to zero. For your convenience, let me list some of the most striking cases of utter lack of communication and teamwork.
PngGate: A useless distraction
The pointless character assassination of Png Eng Huat indeed tells us that the PAP is more than willing to muck around and sling m&d at their opponents. What can at most be a slip of the tongue was turned into a serious character flaw on the part of Png, with PAP and PAP supporters alike branding Png Eng Huat a liar, or “allegations of dishonesty”, as what the Straits Times today (23 May 2012) called it.
Even if I cede the point and call him a liar, his lie can at the most be seen as a person who is trying to protect his ego, and is part and parcel of impression management. Saving face and trying to present himself in a better light has suddenly become a serious flaw for a politician. To insinuate that it will lead to even greater moral failings and corruption is laughable, and a slippery slope. This very same tactic was used by the PAP in GE 2006 on James Gomez, where it dominated much of the discussion then.
I have but two words for you PAP: Grow Up. Your petty browbeating is disappointing and tiresome, and shows a lack of maturity on your part. Whilst Desmond has tried rather hard to hold a small and personal campaign, the PAP elders hovering around him have taken the tactics of previous elections, tactics that have been rejected by the Hougang voters. Indeed, this is motivated by what they call the “Hougang Spirit.”
The Hougang
Picture courtesy of Pritam Singh.
What is the Hougang Spirit? It is the one thing that frustrates the PAP. Why are they so persistent in voting in the WP? The logical and rational PAP simply cannot understand why the carrot and stick approach doesn’t work. Despite all their attempts to placate and buy over the voters of Hougang, and sending Teochew PAP candidates so as to better connect with the ground. Despite withholding HDB lift and Estate upgrading if they were not elected. It’s as if Hougang is full of masochists that want to be punished by the PAP.
The Hougang spirit is an identity that the people of Hougang hold very close to their hearts. To see yourself as having the Hougang Spirit, you are already differenciating from the average Singaporean from elsewhere. When looking at an identity, you must not only look at what constitutes an identity, but more importantly, what this identity opposes. To call yourself a Singaporean, you are also calling yourself as NOT a Malaysian.
An identity is also very situational, and manifests itself especially in times of political campaigns, much like what we saw at the WP Rally yesterday. It is in the Rally that the abstract ideas of equality and resilience, qualities that the Hougang Spirit embodies, are reinforced, through the effective use of speech and rhetoric. Looking back in history, it was indeed a political masterstroke of LTK to coin the idea of an “Hougang Spirit”, and then to essentially marry the WP ideology with this identity. As a result, if you identify with the Hougang Spirit, you are essentially identifying with the WP, and the values that they stand for.
The WP will do well to transplant this identity to Aljunied, and this is already in process. The changing of the HDB signs to the colours of the WP, and the formation of the Hougang-Aljunied Town Council are both physical changes that will impact on identity formation.
Unfortunately for the PAP, the Hougang Spirit is also a rejection of the PAP and what it really stands for; its petty, small-minded politics of yesteryear. This will continue to be so, and unless the PAP changes their platform and ideology, they will be unable to win back Hougang, and even Aljunied. Ironically, the more the PAP punishes the people of Aljunied and Hougang, the worse their political standing will be. This was seen in GE 2011 when the top factor of people voting for the WP was to reject Lee Kuan Yew, who scolded the voters of Aljunied GRC and called them to “repent.”
Concluding Thoughts
Whilst most of the speakers did a good job in emphasising on the Hougang Spirit, it was Pritam Singh that truly hit the nail on the head. This is how you connect with an audience; to speak and motivate their inner emotions and desires. He put it very simply: “We all have a choice for what sort of politics we want in Singapore.” It is up to you, voters of Hougang, to decide who you want as a leader.
.
Lim Jialiang
[Source]: http://www.facebook.com/notes/lim-j...of-the-by-election-thus-far/10151004721846844
Lessons unlearnt by the PAP
The PAP’s attempt at framing this election in their terms has really failed completely. One wonders how the party did not learn their lessons from last year’s elections. In fact, they seem to be running around like headless chickens, where one member succeeds, another resets it to zero. For your convenience, let me list some of the most striking cases of utter lack of communication and teamwork.
- The campaign slogan “Always there for you” is ironic and in fact detrimental to their whole campaign, considering how the PAP has stated on black and white that Hougang will continue to be discriminated against in National Policies and Upgrading. The insincerity of the entire campaign is thus highlighted and amplified. It is truly cognitive dissonance at a campaign level. At this point of time, it’s been wholly abandoned to concentrate on throwing m&d at Png Eng Huat.
- DPM Tharman saying it was a “Local” and not a “National” election, which was quickly ignored by the majority of citizens, and even the PAP has abandoned fashioning the debate in this light. Last I (and many others) checked, Hougang does not belong in its own plane of existence, whether the PAP likes it or not.
- Desmond Choo’s proclamations of independence, but with every media release showing him in tow with senior PAP leaders, including both the DPMs and even the PM! Other PAP members like Baey Yam Keng are even campaigning for him.
- Desmond Choo saying he is “focusing on the voters.” While this naivety is rather cute and can allow him to earn political points, it will only be so if DPM Teo and other members of the PAP would listen to him (fat hope) and stop going after the WP candidate Png Eng Huat. There’s a crude saying in hokkien for points 3 and 4: Lam Pah Pah Lan.
PngGate: A useless distraction
The pointless character assassination of Png Eng Huat indeed tells us that the PAP is more than willing to muck around and sling m&d at their opponents. What can at most be a slip of the tongue was turned into a serious character flaw on the part of Png, with PAP and PAP supporters alike branding Png Eng Huat a liar, or “allegations of dishonesty”, as what the Straits Times today (23 May 2012) called it.
Even if I cede the point and call him a liar, his lie can at the most be seen as a person who is trying to protect his ego, and is part and parcel of impression management. Saving face and trying to present himself in a better light has suddenly become a serious flaw for a politician. To insinuate that it will lead to even greater moral failings and corruption is laughable, and a slippery slope. This very same tactic was used by the PAP in GE 2006 on James Gomez, where it dominated much of the discussion then.
I have but two words for you PAP: Grow Up. Your petty browbeating is disappointing and tiresome, and shows a lack of maturity on your part. Whilst Desmond has tried rather hard to hold a small and personal campaign, the PAP elders hovering around him have taken the tactics of previous elections, tactics that have been rejected by the Hougang voters. Indeed, this is motivated by what they call the “Hougang Spirit.”
The Hougang
Picture courtesy of Pritam Singh.
What is the Hougang Spirit? It is the one thing that frustrates the PAP. Why are they so persistent in voting in the WP? The logical and rational PAP simply cannot understand why the carrot and stick approach doesn’t work. Despite all their attempts to placate and buy over the voters of Hougang, and sending Teochew PAP candidates so as to better connect with the ground. Despite withholding HDB lift and Estate upgrading if they were not elected. It’s as if Hougang is full of masochists that want to be punished by the PAP.
The Hougang spirit is an identity that the people of Hougang hold very close to their hearts. To see yourself as having the Hougang Spirit, you are already differenciating from the average Singaporean from elsewhere. When looking at an identity, you must not only look at what constitutes an identity, but more importantly, what this identity opposes. To call yourself a Singaporean, you are also calling yourself as NOT a Malaysian.
An identity is also very situational, and manifests itself especially in times of political campaigns, much like what we saw at the WP Rally yesterday. It is in the Rally that the abstract ideas of equality and resilience, qualities that the Hougang Spirit embodies, are reinforced, through the effective use of speech and rhetoric. Looking back in history, it was indeed a political masterstroke of LTK to coin the idea of an “Hougang Spirit”, and then to essentially marry the WP ideology with this identity. As a result, if you identify with the Hougang Spirit, you are essentially identifying with the WP, and the values that they stand for.
The WP will do well to transplant this identity to Aljunied, and this is already in process. The changing of the HDB signs to the colours of the WP, and the formation of the Hougang-Aljunied Town Council are both physical changes that will impact on identity formation.
Unfortunately for the PAP, the Hougang Spirit is also a rejection of the PAP and what it really stands for; its petty, small-minded politics of yesteryear. This will continue to be so, and unless the PAP changes their platform and ideology, they will be unable to win back Hougang, and even Aljunied. Ironically, the more the PAP punishes the people of Aljunied and Hougang, the worse their political standing will be. This was seen in GE 2011 when the top factor of people voting for the WP was to reject Lee Kuan Yew, who scolded the voters of Aljunied GRC and called them to “repent.”
Concluding Thoughts
Whilst most of the speakers did a good job in emphasising on the Hougang Spirit, it was Pritam Singh that truly hit the nail on the head. This is how you connect with an audience; to speak and motivate their inner emotions and desires. He put it very simply: “We all have a choice for what sort of politics we want in Singapore.” It is up to you, voters of Hougang, to decide who you want as a leader.
.
Lim Jialiang
[Source]: http://www.facebook.com/notes/lim-j...of-the-by-election-thus-far/10151004721846844
