Workers' Party - Forever the Bridesmaids to a Tyrant

After observing this BE over the past few days, and reading all the various commentaries, I am starting to question if the WP has enough ambition to live up to their grand following.

While there are many who praise the WP and their role as underdogs in keeping the PAP in check, I wonder whether they have curbed their own potential by constantly using this underdog approach. Ito  am perplexed why they constantly say that their role in Government is to keep the PAP in check. Their mere presence being the justification for a MIW panic.

Is that really enough? Can we realistically, hand on heart, attribute all the positive (incremental) changes we have witnesses solely to a party that sits quietly in Parliament?

Shouldn't they aspire higher and really contest to take over control of the Parliament, to really make a change as a WP Government? At this stage it seems that their reach barely reaches their grasp. A First World Parliament was promised in GE2011, and what we got an opposition that strives to irritate, rather then replace the PAP. They should be aiming to form their own Parliament, a WP Parliament. 
 
You don t need to win Punggol East SMC simply to get control of another town council to check for shady transactions. To make the PAP work harder. What they should say is that they want to win Punggol East and thereafter garner enough seats to form the next Government! 

This is where I feel the SDP would have fared better. Dr Chee would not be content to play ombudsman to the PAP.  He wants to really transform Singapore for the better.  He and the SDP have a very clear vision for a totally different Government.

In this respect, the WP has been disappointing in this BE, wasting the graciousness of the SDP pull-out from the race.  How many elections can WP run on the same platform to be bridesmaids to the tyrant?  Without ambition in Parliament, WP have only themselves to blame for all the lame duck criticisms leveled against them by the PAP.  The WP should take a leaf from their greatest leader, JBJ who had single-handedly stood up without fail against the PAP in Parliament. I really do hope that for Punggol East, his son can beat the bridesmaids to the alter, and show Singaporeans how it should be done.

Punggol East SMC - Is the Workers' Party the Only Choice?

Following the sudden resignation of PAP MP Michael Palmer for having an affair with a PA staff working in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, a by-election has to be called for the vacated single seat at Punggol East SMC.

Shortly after the announcement, two parties have been quick to announce their positions. The Workers’ Party (WP) has affirmed their desire to contest the seat, and Singapore People’s Party (SPP) Chairperson Lina Chiam, has opined that “the Workers’ Party should have the priority to contest in the by-election, due to their earlier involvement in the constituency during the 2011 General Election.”

With the controversy surrounding WP’s Yaw Shin Leong’s resignation from his Hougang SMC seat under similar circumstances, it would seem like poetic justice for the WP to claim another election scalp. While the need for a by-election is certain, I would hope that the bout line-up is not prematurely fixed.

In the last General Election in 2011, Desmond Lim Bak Chuan of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), received a lot of criticism for initiating a three-cornered fight and not graciously stepping out of WP’s Lee Li Lian’s way. Back then I felt that this criticism was harsh, and I fear the same will be repeated for any party ‘full-hardy’ enough to get in WP’s way. While Lina Chiam might think that the WP has some pre-ordained right to contest Punggol East SMC, let us not forget that not one, but three other opposition parties have similarly contested this electoral real estate in the past. 

Back in 1988, Abdul Rasheed of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) stood in what was then, Punggol SMC. He attained a respectable 40.1% of the votes.

Subsequently in the 1991 elections, Punggol SMC was absorbed into Cheng San GRC. This GRC was contested by National Solidarity Party (NSP), which garnered 35.9% of the votes .

 In the 2001 elections Cheng San GRC controversially split into Aljunied GRC, Ang Mo Kio GRC and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. Pasir Ris-Punggol saw a walkover that year, but was challenged by the SDA in the next elections in 2006. And of course we all remember the 2011 elections, where Punggol East SMC was carved out of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

Therefore, contrary to popular belief and short-termed memories, the WP is not the only natural choice. I do hope that more qualified candidates from other parties give serious consideration to contesting Punggol East SMC. And if such a candidate should emerge, I wonder if the WP supporters are matured enough to recognize this.