What is WP Aljunied GRC Town Council doing?

[zujjkiol]

Upgrading poll lucky draw not secret: Aljunied-Hougang Town Council
By S Ramesh | Posted: 04 October 2012 1707 hrs
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File photo: A housing estate in Hougang (Photo - Don Wong)
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SINGAPORE: Aljunied-Hougang Town Council says a 22-page booklet for a Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) in Eunos Spring of Aljunied GRC had made it known that all eligible households who voted "yes" would automatically qualify for a lucky draw.

It said in a statement to the media on Thursday that 2,768 units were informed of the polling exercise on 11 and 12 August.

During the exercise, 79 per cent, or 2,188 households, voted for the upgrading project.

The town council was responding to unhappiness among some residents in the Eunos Spring area over the lucky draw.

They had wondered why not all residents who voted in the NRP exercise were eligible for the lucky draw, and whether the vote was secret, as those who had voted "yes" qualified for the lucky draw.

The Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, which manages The Workers' Party-held wards of Hougang and Aljunied GRC, said the NRP vote was a consensus-gathering exercise.

It stressed that it was not a secret ballot and is a common practice among town councils in Singapore.

After residents cast their votes, a post-consensus gathering report is submitted to the Housing and Development Board.

The town council said the report also details the number of units in each eligible block and the number of individuals who responded "yes" or "no".

The Eunos Spring division is under Member of Parliament Pritam Singh of The Workers' Party.

- CNA/xq

 

[valiant20]

Good Clarification..

next they need to clarify why they dangle the "carrot lucky draw".. to encourage people to upgrade as its better for the estate?

 

[sleaguepunter]

lanjiaolang gong lanjiaowei.

no LUP, kpkb, give LUP still kpkb.

no wonder a failed politican.

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

That is basically what you are implying but since the "clarification" is out, you should know you are wrong that Pritam has overlooked or made a "honest mistake" about it.

So now, there is no excuse whatsoever but to admit that they are actually doing it with that intend to "reward" those who voted yes... and they have made it clear in their booklet sent to the residents about it... basically, if you voted yes, you will be in the lucky draw. And they have acknowledged that the poll is no secret poll and they have exploited this for the lucky draw thing.

Well, based on these facts, there is clearly no doubt whatsoever that they have done even more than PAP in such pork barrel politicking that they have criticised not so long ago during by-elections.

Goh Meng Seng

Excuse me, you can settle your grudge with WP on your own. Don't put words in my mouth. Especially from you, thing from you aren't usually edible.

 

[tanwahp]

That is basically what you are implying but since the "clarification" is out, you should know you are wrong that Pritam has overlooked or made a "honest mistake"

Goh Meng Seng

I know you are always eager to rush into shooting people down and because of that tend to scan through people's posts without reading carefully. At the start I have already said "I may be wrong and we can only wait for some clarifications". I expect to be possibly wrong since I was making a guess and don't need your reminder. Unlike you, I know I am never always correct.

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

Don't need to be overly defensive, just as you have been so towards WP.

You should be feeling speechless with such "clarifications" by WP Aljunied Town Council. I empathize with you, it is not easy to defend the indefensible.

Goh Meng Seng

I know you are always eager to rush into shooting people down and because of that tend to scan through people's posts without reading carefully. At the start I have already said "I may be wrong and we can only wait for some clarifications". I expect to be possibly wrong since I was making a guess and don't need your reminder. Unlike you, I know I am never always correct.

 

[yellowarse]

The politics of the Scholar in White

By Dr Wong Wee Nam

The Scholar in White (白衣秀士) is not an idiom referring to those scholars selected by the PAP to be its candidates for general elections. It is actually the kungfu nickname of Wang Lun (王伦), a character in the famous Chinese novel, The Water Margin（水浒传）.
To understand the character Wang Lun, it is necessary to know what the book, The Water Margin, is about.

The book is made up of short stories of various characters and their adventures. Set in the last days of the Song Dynasty, corruption, incompetence in government, political disorder, oppression by the ruling class and the powerful and cruelty in meting out punishment were the norm. The 108 heroes in the stories are labelled “outlaws” because of their opposition to the establishment.

However, because of their determination to fight for universal justice (替天行道), they are regarded as heroes by the common folks and strikes a chord with generations of oppressed people because the stories are about the heroism of the common man that even peasants can identify themselves with.

The historical background that formed the basis of the book was the reign of the useless Emperor Huizong, of the Song Dynasty. After he ascended the throne, he robbed and exploited the people so much that he aroused peasants to rise up against him. Water Margin is a fictional account of one of the uprisings led by a hero named Song Jiang.

This book is not just an ordinary Chinese kungfu novel. The reason why it is one of China’s four greatest novels and the story an enduring one is because of its serious underlying theme which carries a universal and eternal message. For generations after generations and dynasties after dynasties, the inspirational message is to oppose oppression and fight for the rights of the people. It is about the spirit of the people and that everyone can decide his destiny. It is about democracy – consensus and equality, group decision against dictatorship. “Within the four seas, all men are brothers” 四海之内皆兄弟也。

The Water Margin is not just a political novel; it is also a political primer. It is about how a revolution comes about – by being forced by oppression. It is about how disparate and weak little groups can gel to form a formidable force. Lu Xun, the great modern Chinese writer, described the book as having a reformist spirit.

The book was popular during the Yuan Dynasty because it contained inspirational stories extolling the virtue of heroism against domination. For this reason it was banned during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Even Chairman Mao Zedong was an avid fan. He told a lot of people so, including Edgar Snow, the first westerner to interview him. By his own admission Mao had read the book more than ten times and drawn many political lessons from it. He had advised people to read it as a book of politics.

He proclaimed, “The Water Margin reflects the political situation of its times. The Golden Lotus reflects the economic situation of its times. Both books must be read.” (20/2/1956)

“《水浒传》是反映当时的政治情况的，《金瓶梅》是反映当时经济情况的。这两本书不可不看。”

We now turn back to Wang Lun, the Scholar in White. During the oppressive reign of Emperor Huizong, there were more than ten opposition parties fighting against the established order. Each group established its various bases on the many mountains in the country and each was led by very strong leaders. Nevertheless, the parties were weak and ineffective because they were disparaged and fragmented.

Amongst these opposition parties, the biggest and the richest was the one at Liangshan Marsh led by Wang Lun. Unfortunately Wang Lun lacked talent and was intellectually sub-standard. Even worse, he was small minded and was therefore ineffective.

To the credit of Wang Lun, he had foresight to choose Liangshan as his base. This mountain stronghold was very secure, easy for fugitives to escape to and difficult for enemy forces to attack. There was an early warning system in place and no directional landmarks in the marsh. So it was impossible for any enemy force to launch a surprise raid.

In spite of these advantages, Wang Lun never made it big. In fact, in the book, he never even became the 108 heroes of Water Margin. There is a good reason for it. Though he ran the biggest opposition outfit and all the other opposition parties looked up to him, he was a small minded person. His fault was that he was satisfied with his lot and simply turned away talents and people whom he considered better than him. As a result his party could not grow. Furthermore, since he was not willing to provide the leadership, there was no opposition unity to talk about to challenge the government forces.

Two incidents illustrate this negative trait of Wang Lun.

In the first, a fugitive by the name of Lin Chong went up to Liangshan to seek refuge. Lin Chong was a government military instructor with exceptional fighting skills. He would have been an asset to Wang Lun. Yet when Wang met him, his first thought was that Lin was definitely more skilful than them and no one would be able to stop him should he challenge them for power. (His actual thoughts were: 我又没十分本事，杜迁、宋万武艺也只平常。如今不争添了这个人，他是京师禁军教头，必然好武艺。倘若被他识破我们手段，他须占强，我们如何迎敌?).
He thus feted Lin, told him that he lacked accommodation and food and then gave him gifts of silver and silk and bade him to seek refuge in another place.

In the second incident, when the "Righteous Seven" led by Chao Gai came to Liangshan for refuge, Wang Lun again tried to send them away again with gifts. He used the same excuse he had used on Lin Chong earlier. Lin Chong became even more incensed with Wang Lun for his narrow-mindedness and self-interest. Under some instigation, Lin Chong finally killed him and Chao Gai was voted the new chief.

For this reason Wang Lun left behind a poor reputation. Nowadays the phrase “Scholar in White, Wang Lun” is used to describe a mediocre person who squeezes out or rejects others who are more capable than himself or someone who preserves his own position by elbowing out others except those who are inferior to him.

Needless to say, under a mean character like Wang Lun, Liangshan did not grow into a formidable force. It was only after his assassination that opposition unity became a reality. All the chieftains from the ten opposition camps then decided to throw their lot in with Chao Gai and his group at Liangshan marsh and the rebels became a force that could match the government forces.

For his decisive act, Lin Chong became a popular legendary folk hero in the folklore of China.

Advising his comrades, Chairman Mao Zedong said, “Don’t become like the Scholar in White Wang Lun from The Water Margin. He does not allow revolution. Any person who does not allow revolution puts himself in a dangerous position. Wang Lun didn’t and he paid for it.” (Selected Works of Mao Zedong.)

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[tanwahp]

Don't need to be overly defensive, just as you have been so towards WP.

You should be feeling speechless with such "clarifications" by WP Aljunied Town Council. I empathize with you, it is not easy to defend the indefensible.

Goh Meng Seng

If I were you, I would admit that I get most things wrong because of the refusal to be objective. I don't see much interest in your views of WP or me, even from the WP biased.

WP can do its own defending. Instead, if you are interested in objective discussions at all, I will let you guess what I think is the biggest problem with this AHTC's initiative of offering the lucky draw. It's none of your gibberish arguments that you have offered so far. Go ahead and make the guess.

It's open to other forummers too. (No lucky draw though.)

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

For a person who first jump up with an apologetic attitude to give various excuses to help WP explain away its problems to claim that he is "objective", Oh! Please give me a break lah! Why do people keep practicing kindergarten politics nowadays?

I am not interested in a guessing game, definitely not some political lucky draw. I will just write up my views of how disastrous WP had failed in this saga.

Goh Meng Seng

If I were you, I would admit that I get most things wrong because of the refusal to be objective. I don't see much interest in your views of WP or me, even from the WP biased.

WP can do its own defending. Instead, if you are interested in objective discussions at all, I will let you guess what I think is the biggest problem with this AHTC's initiative of offering the lucky draw. It's none of your gibberish arguments that you have offered so far. Go ahead and make the guess.

It's open to other forummers too. (No lucky draw though.)

 

[wwabbit]

Hey look, it's a molehill. It looks JUST like a mountain!

 

[tanwahp]

For a person who first jump up with an apologetic attitude to give various excuses to help WP explain away its problems to claim that he is "objective", Oh! Please give me a break lah! Why do people keep practicing kindergarten politics nowadays?

I am not interested in a guessing game, definitely not some political lucky draw. I will just write up my views of how disastrous WP had failed in this saga.

Goh Meng Seng

If you are not smoking pot, I suggest you move your face closer to the screen. I repeat, I am offering a very strong bullet that would cause some dent in WP's armour on this issue. I am not asking for royalties or said that you can't mix that with your own gibberish. You're rejecting? Wow, you became a WP sympathizer or what. Maybe it has always been that you have been offering weak arguments to make WP critics look bad.

 

[GoldenDragon]

excellent wisdom! i'm framing this up in my office so my colleagues can wonder and ponder all week what the real meaning is. thanks and up yours!

You are lucky. After reading what he wrote, I had to take 2 panadols.

 

[SgParent]

I am a little disturbed about the report that Aljunied GRC has conducted the polling for upgrading and the Town Council actually celebrates the "success" by having "lucky draw"... Err, did I read wrongly or the report is wrong? What has "Lucky Draw" has to do with upgrading? To reward the residents of supporting the upgrading? Who sponsored these prizes for the lucky draw? Is there any conflict of interests? Is the Town Council doing some "promotion sales" or anything like that when they decide to go to the residents to provide them upgrading?

Goh Meng Seng

For someone who thinks he is always right but is running out of reason for his own existence, sure this looks like smoking gun.

So what? Now WP needs your permission to celebrate anything or throw in a harmless lucky draw to make more people happier?

 

[eatshitndie]

You are lucky. After reading what he wrote, I had to take 2 panadols.

hope you recover. i framed it up, and everyone reading it was going "wtf?" it has been 2 days, and i'm still pondering "wtf?" :*:

 

[Fook Seng]

You are lucky. After reading what he wrote, I had to take 2 panadols.

As I was saying in another thread, the CPT has not tasted success in any of his political effort. As a release, he finds success in the gloating of the misfortunes of others, or so he perceives.

 

[scroobal]

The Singapore constitution requires all votes for upgrading must be secret. It is fundamental principle of a democracy. Everyone is entitled to vote confidently and without fear on what type and colour of toilet to be included in an upgrading exercise.

 

[hawker]

As I was saying in another thread, the CPT has not tasted success in any of his political effort. As a release, he finds success in the gloating of the misfortunes of others, or so he perceives.

I am still waiting for publicly apologise to Tan Kin Lian for the 5% fiasco. :o

 

[hairylee]

I am still waiting for publicly apologise to Tan Kin Lian for the 5% fiasco. :o

 

[tanwahp]

As I was saying in another thread, the CPT has not tasted success in any of his political effort. As a release, he finds success in the gloating of the misfortunes of others, or so he perceives.

Captain doesn't know the meaning of "pork-barrel". To compare this to the votes-for-upgrading is once again stretching the truth to the skies. Votes-for-upgrading was offered at the offerer's benefit. The offerer has to be put in power and earn his million dollar salaries before he gives upgrading. WP doesn't benefit more by giving NRP. People can still vote against WP after the NRP. The lucky draw entitlement is to reward people who vote for NRP, not vote for Pritam. Note that I said "entitlement", not "prize". If it's a prize, then it's still a bribe.

There's a whole world of difference obvious to the eye and it goes to show how blinded over jealously GMS is. I offered him a better angle in whatever he wanted to write but he refused. He made a fool of himself (again). It's the same way he defined plagiarism. If he was WP's guardian angel, WP would be better off not doing anything and wait to lose all their seats. Or if not, next time they want to repaint their blocks with new designs, they will be accused of vandalism.

 

[BuiKia]

Goh, were you ever a MP? Had you ever manage a town council?

Talk is cheap, get into the fun then give your views. If not, it is like a poor man trying to teach a rich man how to manage his wealth.