I wasn't surprised with the results - not with the lower national vote for the Whiteshirts, or with Messrs Chiam and Low holding on to their constituencies. Things to note: ignore the 2001 GE results. Take them out of your mind, pay no attention to them.
Then, compare this year's results to those from 1985 onwards.
1. The national vote of this election is within the Whiteshirt average of 62-67%
2. WP fielded its best team in Aljunied but came nowhere near Francis Seow's Eunos results. Best team, as in most credible, etc.
3. The people have given WP the mandate to be Singapore's major opposition party. It has consistently outperformed both the SDA and the SDP.
Yes, I reacted to Minilee's 66.1% with some glee, but that's not anywhere near the important facts of this election. Minilee has failed, but for other reasons.
Minilee originally claimed this election to be a mandate for his personal leadership.
One would expect this campaign to be a showcase of PAP's policies. One would expect this campaign to show voters how each policy has led to Singapore's economic recovery, and which policies are due in line, and how they compare to policy suggestions from other parties. One would expect this campaign to be conducted with the personable, gentle style that Minilee has carefully cultivated with help from his PR consultants over the past half decade.
Instead, the Whiteshirts chose to:
1. Counter WP's 40-page manifesto with a 5-page manifesto that promised much but gave no concrete proposals (aside from that hospital in the North),
2. Focus on demolishing James Gomez and the Ang Mo Kio suicide squad,
3. Contest the elections solely on upgrading issues, and
4. Minilee chose to give a speech saying how too many opposition leaders in Parliament will force him to find ways to fix them and to buy his supporters votes.
Regardless of the results of the vote, Minilee has failed in every possible way to obtain the mandate for his personal leadership. Minilee demolished his kinder, gentler, open leadership image with his personal and his party's tactics in this election.
Singaporeans will no longer trust Minilee when he says "but there is no angst in Singapore", or "I want an open, consultative society". The PAP won the election, but Minilee has lost his mandate.
2 comments:
the PAP campaign was very poor; LKY's harsh handling of the young panelists on TV and of Gomez, GCT's inability to help PAP candidates in Hougang and Potong Pasir, LHL's fix remark, WKS and George Yeo's wasting time talking about Gomez, and the virtual silence of the 24 new guys, all add up to a sad picture
all those new guys saying the same thing, that they are not yesmen.. now how effective is that?
Frankly speaking, this election strategy sounded very much the way how Uncle Lee would handle matters: The Hard Way. Just look at the tactics he employed over the years to last till today, and how he dealt with the forum's youths.
It's so in contrast to (quote) "the personable, gentle style that Minilee has carefully cultivated ".
So which side is really minilee? Or is it a jekyll/hide combination?
nevertheless, this sounds very much like a puppet wayang show to me.
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