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Let us wind the clock back to General Elections 2006. When James Gomez, a minority candidate, for Workers’ Party (WP) had claimed that he submitted his minority candidate forms but video footage showed that he had not, he was to become the focal point of the hustings.
Senior members of the PAP leadership were to concentrate their attacks on Gomez, questioning his integrity and character, so much so that WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang had refuted that the PAP made baseless allegations.
WP finished with 43.91% of the votes, the best losing margin by the opposition that was sufficient to send Sylvia Lim into parliament as a Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP). A statement from the PAP branch secretary at Aljunied, Tan Bee Lan, implied that the WP had gained from ‘canvassing’ for sympathy over Gomez. Tan’s contention can be easily rebutted; what happened to Gomez took two hands to clap. Gomez made a mistake, but the PAP leadership had a choice on whether to move on immediately or keep harping on the issue. Bottomline was, if anything, the focus on Gomez had indeed won WP sympathy votes.
Fast-forward 6 years later, we are seeing the repeat...
- http://newasiarepublic.com/?p=38744
Senior members of the PAP leadership were to concentrate their attacks on Gomez, questioning his integrity and character, so much so that WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang had refuted that the PAP made baseless allegations.
WP finished with 43.91% of the votes, the best losing margin by the opposition that was sufficient to send Sylvia Lim into parliament as a Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP). A statement from the PAP branch secretary at Aljunied, Tan Bee Lan, implied that the WP had gained from ‘canvassing’ for sympathy over Gomez. Tan’s contention can be easily rebutted; what happened to Gomez took two hands to clap. Gomez made a mistake, but the PAP leadership had a choice on whether to move on immediately or keep harping on the issue. Bottomline was, if anything, the focus on Gomez had indeed won WP sympathy votes.
Fast-forward 6 years later, we are seeing the repeat...
- http://newasiarepublic.com/?p=38744
