Saturday, April 30, 2011

In The Heat Of The Battle

If seasoned politician Low Thia Khiang can't figure it out, neither can we. What the fish was George Yeo trying to say when he claimed that Aljunied voters have to choose between "enlightened self-interest" and the "opposition's interest"? He can't be serious to suggest that the guys who vote for the PAP will be doing so for selfish reasons, such as covered walkways for their own block - who cares if the other dwellings will be turned into slums. Yeo must be one of those cocky salesmen who thinks they can tell you to go to hell and expect you to thank them for the good advice.

He was supposed to be the Brainiac of the bunch, always giving fancy speeches in high falutin language. Trouble is, when others see through his hypocrisy, less intimidated politicians like the Taiwan foreign minister did not hesitate to call the country he represented at the United Nations a "piece of snot". The original dialect version is more colourful, several notches better than the Little Red Dot sobriquet bestowed by Habibie.

Maybe, like those others who sneaked into parliament via  the GRC without the baptism of fire of a honest electoral fight, he is just not battle hardened to handle the rough and tumble of the hustings. After all, this is just another desk jockey brigadier general who's more at home with the pen than the sword.

Fighting the good fight
Goh Chok Tong laughed at the opposition last night, saying they shoot randomly, hoping to hit a hot button issue with a stray bullet. Maybe he should have been at the SDP rally at Jurong Stadium. Those guys were downright viscereal. While Low and his dream theme appealed to logic, Tan, Ang and Gomez et al went for the jugular. Stories of a man who lost his job to a foreigner, a student asked by his principal to take a year off so the O level results for his cohort will not be pulled down, a teacher who had to seek psychiatric help, etc, all spiced up to fuel the simmering dissatisfaction of the down trodden. Emotional dilemma? George Yeo should really get down on the ground for a taste of the raw unfettered emotions. Like the hiss of venom that echoed throughout the packed stadium at the mere mention of Vivian Balakrishnan's name.

8 comments:

  1. Good Job! Love your post, keep them coming for the twitterverse!

    ReplyDelete
  2. One of our cocky PAP Ministers said sarcastically that the big turnouts at opposition election rallies do not necessarily translate to votes for the opposition candidates.

    Of course he forgot to explain that one of the possible reasons was probably because most of the opposition supporters did not get a chance to vote because of walkovers.

    But this time it will be different. Many furious voters especially those who has neveer voted in their entire lifes will be coming back with a vengeance. In Philipines, it's called People's Power.

    Maybe in Singapore it's should be called People's Anger. Never estimate what an angry voter will do to those in power, especially those who are arrogant, ruthless, evil and cocky types.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you! More! More! More!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi,

    First, I apologize if this looks like self-serving spam, but I hope you read on a bit.

    I've developed a tool for "rating candidates holistically on multiple criteria". My intent was to get voters to assess candidates on all relevant criteria. Especially the issues.

    It may be found at: http://vote.individualpreference.info/

    I think we need to take the "quantitative techniques" used to assess alternatives in the public service to assess candidates holistically. Especially to balance the cognitive effects of over discounting the future by forcing people to make explicit judgments (e.g. which is more important: a candidate's views on issues or electoral promises? by how much?) To quote a snippet of MM Lee's remarks to the press:

    SINGAPORE: Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has a simple message for voters in the heat, dust and clamour of the election campaign - he has urged them to look at the fundamentals. In a statement issued just two days before Nomination Day, he reminded Singaporeans not to risk their assets, property values, and job opportunities...

    Issues relate to the future, risking assets, property values and job opportunities in the near and distant future (as well as those of one's children) should matter as well.

    What I am asking for is that you take some time to take a look at it and, if you think it worthwhile, share this with your readership. I have not been blogging and curating a readership and cannot push this out as effectively. I want to get this out to Singapore net users. The strategy is to go through the politically conscious, and have them involve their less politically conscious friends. It is those people that I would like to reach. I want them to more effectively weigh pork vs issues. (Issues and, thus, the future tend to be hyper discounted by Singaporeans.) I hope you will help.

    (I'm not doing this for self-serving reasons. Publicity of this nature does not really help me. For more details, please contact me at the indicated e-mail address.)

    [This comment is out of place. Feel free to delete it.]

    ReplyDelete
  5. George is a two in one.
    He is a 'xiu cai'(scholastic) and a 'ping'(soldier and a general at it) within himself, so we know it is hard for him to understand his own self.
    And
    how else can we understand a pious folk like him approving casinos just like the many other pious Buddhist, Muslim and other Believers amongst his colleagues?
    Vice as an addiction or business is never accepted in most Faiths.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
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