WHIP!!

The entire concept of the whip being raised for some “opposition area” PAP members just sounds wrong, whither the double standards; is the desperation for a clean sweep at the polls so very strong? If a “potong pasir-ite” is to vote for PAP, I am sure it is because he wants PAP leadership in his area, not because he wants an MP who is going to go against PAP policies just because he can. The NCMP and NMP schemes have already given us ‘alternative’ voices in parliament but opposition constituencies still remain; a clear sign that the electorate wants ‘real’ and not simulated opposition; a view that political observer Seah Chiang Nee confers with.

We have enough trust in our leaders to know that they already asking relevant questions and will not vote for a policy that is radically “wrong” or one that they disapprove of. In 41 years of history, most policies have been apt and called for, those that were not, were soon amended.

The first such policy we learn about in Political Science Public Administration classes is the raising of taxi fares in the 1980s, a policy amended in merely 21 days due to the strong reaction of the taxi drivers. Despite being labelled ‘apathetic’ time and again, Singaporeans are sufficiently socially and politically conscious to realise that wrong policies ought to be changed and it is the role of the people to make their dissatisfaction heard. An opposition-type PAP member will make little difference to the larger scheme of things. One major effect it may have instead, would be to urge even more people to swing their crosses to the SPP or WP box in Potong Pasir and Hougand respectively since the SM himself is making opposiotion politicians ‘different’ from PAP ones in terms of the rights they are given to express the views of their constituents in parliament!

Mr Goh told an audience of about 500 at the Hougang Community Club: "If you vote for Eric Low, I can tell the Prime Minister to let him be the 'Opposition' in the Parliament. We can lift the Whip so that he can speak his mind. Then you can have the best of both worlds".

The very simple statement speaks volumes in terms of the “world” as it is now; where PAP ministers cannot “speak their mind”. The politics and logics of a party whip may not be immediately understandable to all and sundry, the SM’s statement serves to only create an image of PAP ministers as “yes-men”, undoing all the good that their education and excellent credentials do.

Threats that opposition wards will turn into ‘slums’ with no upgrading and such very radical promises with regards to party policies are creating a sense that the PAP is very desperate to win back opposition wards, an image that seem to portray them as almost ‘afraid’ of the opposition, not an image they would like to cultivate surely.