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http://youngpapblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/singapore-pakatan.html
Monday, 9 February 2009
The Singapore Pakatan?
Posted by Nicholas Lazarus at 4:54 PM
Following from my earlier posts of bears in hibernation, some of the opposition are now trying to emulate Malaysia’s Pakatan Rakyat where the opposition came together as one.
For a surprise, the SDP took the forefront of organising a forum last Saturday to foster cooperation between the opposition parties.
One would have thought that the Worker’s Party (as the party with the largest number of Parliamentary seats) would have taken the forefront in organising the forum. However, judging from what Yaw Shin Leong, the Organising Secretary of the Worker’s Party had to say- PAP should be voted instead of other (not Worker’s Party) opposition parties because they are good.
Thus, Yaw justified his voting of PAP’s Teo Ho Pin instead of SDP’s Ling How Doong at the last election.
In other words, the Worker’s Party sees itself as one of a two party system. The PAP on one side and the Worker’s Party on the other side. With such an approach, it seems unlikely that the Worker’s Party would cooperate with any of the other opposition parties in an alliance.
Indeed, the Worker’s Party did not even send a representative to SDP’s forum.
Chiam See Tong also did not attend the forum but this is hardly a surprise given that Chee had wrested control of the SDP from Chiam.
Without the Worker’s Party and Chiam, the SDP cannot form an opposition alliance with just the Reform Party and bloggers.
But even if they did, how long would their alliance last?
It has just been a year and the Malaysian Pakatan Rakyat is already on the verge of collapse. The DAP’s Kirpal Singh has denounced Anwar Ibrahim and it looks as though the Pakatan Rakyat will be no more.
The opposition in Singapore are just a collection of individual personalities with different ideologies who cannot work towards a common goal. This is a great failing of the opposition but one which the PAP has always managed very well. The PAP has managed to hold people of different backgrounds, races, faith and ideology. We have the left, the right, the centre. We have Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians and so many other races. What binds us together is the vision of Singapore and service to the people of Singapore. The members of the PAP are able to put the good of the party and the nation above their own agendas.
I don’t think the opposition have any shared goal. Theirs seems a pursuit of their own agendas to the detriment of their fellow oppositionists. A "Pakatan" indeed!
Monday, 9 February 2009
The Singapore Pakatan?
Posted by Nicholas Lazarus at 4:54 PM
Following from my earlier posts of bears in hibernation, some of the opposition are now trying to emulate Malaysia’s Pakatan Rakyat where the opposition came together as one.
For a surprise, the SDP took the forefront of organising a forum last Saturday to foster cooperation between the opposition parties.
One would have thought that the Worker’s Party (as the party with the largest number of Parliamentary seats) would have taken the forefront in organising the forum. However, judging from what Yaw Shin Leong, the Organising Secretary of the Worker’s Party had to say- PAP should be voted instead of other (not Worker’s Party) opposition parties because they are good.
Thus, Yaw justified his voting of PAP’s Teo Ho Pin instead of SDP’s Ling How Doong at the last election.
In other words, the Worker’s Party sees itself as one of a two party system. The PAP on one side and the Worker’s Party on the other side. With such an approach, it seems unlikely that the Worker’s Party would cooperate with any of the other opposition parties in an alliance.
Indeed, the Worker’s Party did not even send a representative to SDP’s forum.
Chiam See Tong also did not attend the forum but this is hardly a surprise given that Chee had wrested control of the SDP from Chiam.
Without the Worker’s Party and Chiam, the SDP cannot form an opposition alliance with just the Reform Party and bloggers.
But even if they did, how long would their alliance last?
It has just been a year and the Malaysian Pakatan Rakyat is already on the verge of collapse. The DAP’s Kirpal Singh has denounced Anwar Ibrahim and it looks as though the Pakatan Rakyat will be no more.
The opposition in Singapore are just a collection of individual personalities with different ideologies who cannot work towards a common goal. This is a great failing of the opposition but one which the PAP has always managed very well. The PAP has managed to hold people of different backgrounds, races, faith and ideology. We have the left, the right, the centre. We have Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians and so many other races. What binds us together is the vision of Singapore and service to the people of Singapore. The members of the PAP are able to put the good of the party and the nation above their own agendas.
I don’t think the opposition have any shared goal. Theirs seems a pursuit of their own agendas to the detriment of their fellow oppositionists. A "Pakatan" indeed!
