GE2020: Singapore General Election - 10 July 2020

[Kangadrool]

8 minutes ago, Kopites said:

Happy ending or happy evening?🤣

Happy ending in the evening.

[13177]

16 minutes ago, Daniu82 said:

Luckily for the MIW, the leaked list of retiring MPs not all true, if not this time lose more. Next election if more retire then floodgate might be opening for the opposition. MIW better buck up this 5 years, if not good luck. This time they really saw the power of the people. 

If they want to buck up, better be true and really sincere to change for a better, and not for wayang show just to win back those lost GRC/SMC from opp. Then after win back liao and back to square one?!

[Staff69]

41 minutes ago, Solar said:

Signed up 🪒🪒🪒

If you run for 2025 elections,  I fully support you 

[Volvobrick]

1 minute ago, 13177 said:

If they want to buck up, better be true and really sincere to change for a better, and not for wayang show just to win back those lost GRC/SMC from opp. Then after win back liao and back to square one?!

Won't change one. Anyway another problem for them is really mediocre people left to choose for ministerial appointments to replace the 3G ones. 

 

[Yewheng]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sgopposition/permalink/632807200669286/

 

Tharman replied on why Ivan lim was in jurong grc pap Facebook live session after the election results was announced. Gotta respect the team decision. But then really hope Ivan lim does reflect on his past action and make it good and not just work hard on helping pap side on volunteers and forget on why he was so disliked by the public in the 1st place.

 

Even if he is not going to contest anytime in the future, don't know, its like public are teaching him how to be a good human being. Whether he would want to listen and improve himself, it's all up to him lao.. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Yewheng

[yishunite]

21 minutes ago, Weez911 said:

I prefer them not to buck up...

Paiseh I want a new government. 

I said b4 the election that the best result for all singaporeans is pap with weak mandate... unfortunately i dun think mandate is weak enough lol... we shall see a bunch of things push thru that ppl really hate... satellite erp and gst for sure

[Piyopico]

What is the WP position on foreign workers aka Manual labour that Singaporeans shun in sectors like F&B, Cleaning and Shipyard ? 

I hope they focus on the EP and PMETs instead of broad stroke cuts across All industries done by PAP. 

[Kopites]

1 hour ago, Tianmo said:

OKOK, this part all personal opinion, I am not going to argue...

But I believe many will agree with me that both LHY and LWL are born with a silver spoon, not just into a wealthy family, but the most powerful in where they live. Their getting in politics is worse than any paper generals. 

You think they will be interested in anyone no food on table or lose their job? I am guessing they will ask you go Kan tidu if you go ask them to help write letters on summons...

I have heard gossip of her as well. Hahaha

However come to local politics by putting LHY and LWL against their brother for that reason alone the international community will surely take note.

Many local folks still buy the Lee surname.  

[Yewheng]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3132582813476138&id=150548608346255

 

Hmm.. 

[Angcheek]

2 hours ago, Voodooman said:

Yes. There was a political party calling for all HDB to be allowed to enbloc, then where will our young family get their "subsidized" BTO?  Private developers? Lol... Everyone wants to get rich quick without paying for it.

HDB flat, which is supposed to provide a roof over our head, should go back to what it is meant for before MBT messed it up.

I agree with @Solar, the next few years are going to be difficult (even without Covid), the economy and employment numbers are going to remain weak, everyone will be managing cost.

Cost of biz and living became high ... a deadly trap 😆🍻  Hard is the word ... not that kind of hard i wanted ✌😆

 

[Fcw75]

Singapore government in denial

12 July 2020

Author: Michael Barr, Flinders University

The People’s Action Party (PAP) government of Singapore has suffered its worst ever election result, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has suggested merely that the result was ‘not as strong an endorsement as hoped’.

Individual swings against the ruling party of up to 27 per cent and typically 6–15 per cent were insufficient to defeat well-entrenched PAP candidates who enjoyed a multitude of unfair advantages. If the result is not recognised as a disaster, the government is in denial.

Elections are Singaporeans’ twice-a-decade opportunity to send messages to the government and, on this occasion, the message was clear. A national 7.62 per cent swing against the PAP delivered its second-lowest national vote since independence — 61.24 per cent, only 1.1 per cent better than the train-wreck 2011 election.

The opposition Workers’ Party enjoyed massive swings to strengthen its hold on its existing seats and to win four seats in a newly-created multi-member constituency. This added four more MPs to bring the opposition tally to 10, against the PAP’s 83. The Progress Singapore Party, led by former PAP MP Tan Cheng Bock, separately came within a whisker of defeating the PAP in its West Coast heartland.

Worryingly for the government’s succession plans, Prime Minister Lee’s designated successor and favoured family friend Heng Swee Keat held his constituency with a mere 3.4 per cent margin, down 7 per cent from the 2015 election. Heng was also in charge of the PAP’s national campaign, so he bears heavy responsibility for the flop. It is a sign of the state of self-delusion, both in cabinet and among what passes for Singapore’s political commentariat, that a recurring theme of the election-night coverage was that ‘this is not a referendum on Heng Swee Keat’. It was.

The most sobering lesson for Prime Minister Lee and his inner circle is that the next generation of leaders — known collectively as ‘4G’ — have failed to cut through to the electorate, and do not seem up to the job of government.

Between them, the 4G leaders have presided over a massive COVID-19 failure, government data breaches involving personal medical records, rising health and transport prices (and failures), new restrictions on when retired Singaporeans can access retirement savings, and a flatlining economy.

Amid these failures has been an alarming 4G initiative: empowering cabinet ministers to issue directives to websites with supposed correction notices, backed by huge fines for those that don’t comply. During the election campaign this power, known as the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), was wielded by permanent secretaries, thus politicising and weaponizing the civil service against the opposition. Tellingly, civil servants wielded POFMA fairly freely during the election campaign.

Heng’s personal contribution to government has been a series of inarticulate speeches, that are perhaps the consequence of the lingering effects of a massive stroke he suffered in 2016, but which are making him something of a figure of fun, not just in Singapore but in the region.

It is hard to believe that Lee is not aware, but it is even more difficult to accept that Heng’s colleagues, who he beat in the race to the top, are also not aware — especially as nearly all of them polled better than Heng himself.

The 4G leaders have been basically running government for the last year or more and this was the election where Singaporeans were asked for their judgement — which they gave, though no one seems to be listening.

Lee Hsien Loong was planning to step down as prime minister in the next year or so. He has postponed these plans indefinitely, but in his post-election press conference he made it eminently clear that Heng is still the anointed successor. So desperate is Lee to keep his succession plans in place that he is willing to keep his senior team in place for another parliamentary term to protect Heng from his own shortcomings, and from the ambitions of his colleagues.

Why is Lee so keen on Heng? Perhaps because he is the only candidate he can rely upon to step down at a time that suits Lee’s longer-term succession plans.

The election points to secular deterioration in the standards of Singapore’s government. The outcome for the opposition is now much rosier. The Workers’ Party has confirmed its status as the main opposition party under its new leader, Pritam Singh. It was particularly instructive to see a new generation of political activists — including high calibre minority (Indian and Malay) candidates — take leading roles in the Workers’ Party’s successful campaigns. Looking ahead, it will need to think more strategically in choosing where to run its most effective campaigners.

Tan Cheng Bock has also declared that he will be back for another round in five years’ time — keeping alive his fledgling party, which nearly defeated two ministers on the West Coast.

If these ‘Davids’ can find a way to form a single alignment with a fused brand and a cooperative strategy, they might even be able to do some serious damage to the common ‘Goliath’ they confront.

Michael Barr is Associate Professor in International Relations in the College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Associate Editor of Asian Studies Review.

[Fcw75]

1 hour ago, Solar said:

Signed up 🪒🪒🪒

Me too. Hope to see some MCF members there. 

[Yewheng]

Anyway the point of being a full time mp keep surfacing by opposition party. Look at tpl, she's a full time mp, and look at how well she managed to gain support from residents. Shes the only one that gain vote share for pap. 

 

So yeah.. Full time mp really does help, as like many said, if part time mp, then the residents needs might not be fufilled as well as full time mp. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Yewheng

[Yewheng]

 

Great refreshing ideas.. Mail calling cards to all the residents that is under his charge. This shows a good step of being want to be contactable. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Yewheng

[Fcw75]

Taken from Facebook. Seems to be from WeChat.

[Volvobrick]

1 minute ago, Fcw75 said:

Taken from Facebook. Seems to be from WeChat.

May not be new citizen. Could be any shit stirrer from other countries. Out to disunite us. 

[Lotr]

25 minutes ago, Yewheng said:

Anyway the point of being a full time mp keep surfacing by opposition party. Look at tpl, she's a full time mp, and look at how well she managed to gain support from residents. Shes the only one that gain vote share for pap. 

 

So yeah.. Full time mp really does help, as like many said, if part time mp, then the residents needs might not be fufilled as well as full time mp. 

 she took over sun xueling as  the ceo of business China. Not sure which is the part time job though, mp or ceo?

[t0y0ta]

18 minutes ago, Volvobrick said:

May not be new citizen. Could be any shit stirrer from other countries. Out to disunite us. 

Confirm shit stirrer.

New Citizen will also hope the place is well-run and no funny business, and they are definitely clever enough to see through the "ownself-check-ownself" crap that they already ran away from in their original home.