Punggol East By-Election -- WP Lee Li Lian

last SG · 2013-01-10T00:47:48+00:00

me no get to vote lehmove to Punggol East. Me dun wan to vote. Just wanna watch drama.

ditzy SG

My gut instincts tell me the ST forum page going to see a letter from Lionel de souza soon.

ditzy SG

This is another interesting read.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-flipside/three-reasons-why-dr-koh-poh-koon-lost-230036743.html

I enjoyed the 2nd portion on identifying a heartlander, and it all applies to me, dunno about the chai png part, coz I don't like chai png.

ditzy SG

This KJ still so smug, still say PAP is the biggest loser.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/headline--rp%E2%80%99s-jeyaretnam-and-sda%E2%80%99s-lim-unbowed-by-low-number-of-votes-193750625.html

1888 SG

coffee shop talk now...why the last WP YAO got affair WP never lost but this time Mic P got affair PaP lost...?

ditzy SG

coffee shop talk now...why the last WP YAO got affair WP never lost but this time Mic P got affair PaP lost...?

The thing about hougang is its loyalty for the WP. No matter how bad light the WP is, hougang will still pick WP over any other. This is the anomaly.

Aljunied and PE on the other hand needed convincing. This is obvious from how many votes the SDA and RP got.

SJS6638 SG

Yahoo! Newsroom – 5 hours ago

They wanted change and, in the end, they were heard loud and clear.

So said Punggol East residents Yahoo! Singapore spoke to following Workers' Party's decisive win in the by-election on Saturday.

WP candidate, 34-year-old sales trainer Lee Li Lian, came home with nearly 11 per cent more votes than her closest rival, Dr Koh Poh Koon of the People's Action Party.

[VIDEO: PAP responds to loss in Punggol East]

"I'm ecstatic. I was not surprised at all, in fact I expected them to win due to a lot of things that PAP did not fulfill, like the upgrading of Rivervale Plaza," said a 42-year-old logistician who only wanted to be known as Chris.

"Sometime during the election, only then PAP went to the Plaza to see what they can do. They are one step behind WP, they should have worked harder," said Chris, who was among a group of almost 400 people who had gathered outside the counting centre at North Vista Secondary School.

Marketing co-ordinator Xavier Chua, 24, also said he expected WP's Lee to win and hoped change would be on the way.

"I support Workers' Party and I hope she (Lee) will bring changes. But I hope they can finish up Rivervale Plaza -- they don't have the government to help for the funds," he said.

Home-maker Irene, 42, said she and her family were rooting for WP's Lee.

"We are very happy about it, in fact this victory is what we expected. A lot of people are not happy with the standard of living right now, everything is so costly. We expect her and WP to speak for us in Parliament," she said.

Engineer Mani, 52, said although he had hoped the PAP would win, he was disappointed how "it all boils down to profits"

"That is the setback for them. Everything they want to do, they want to see profit. You take the MRT, they want to see profits, you can take transport, they want to see the profits, and it's the same with health care. They should be more human, they are not treating the people right," he said.

Other Singaporeans also took to Facebook to post their reaction following WP's win.

Responding to PM Lee's statement on his Facebook page congratulating Lee Li Lian and the WP for their win, Samster SG wrote, "Please listen to the people. This was a major swing in votes. Punggol East by-election is a report card of the ruling party performance. There are serious frustrations on the ground which you have to acknowledge".

Another Facebook user Ivy Lee also wrote on the same page, urging the Prime Minister to work with the WP MP-elect.

"Mr Lee, PAP has done a good job in many areas. You can't please everyone. But please stop dangling carrot or threatening the people. Show that you really care for the people regardless which team has won. Give the opposition sufficient support so that we all move together as one," she said.

SJS6638 SG

coffee shop talk now...why the last WP YAO got affair WP never lost but this time Mic P got affair PaP lost...?

this is a good one. worth discussing

SJS6638 SG

By Belmont Lay | The Flipside – 3 hours ago

In "The FlipSide", local blogger Belmont Lay lets loose on local politics, culture and society. To be taken with a pinch of salt and parental permission is advised. In this post, he talks about why the PAP lost Punggol East SMC by-election.

The People's Action Party candidate at the Punggol East SMC by-election has suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the Workers' Party's Lee Li Lian.

Nobody thought that this would happen to Dr Koh Poh Koon, a colorectal surgeon with so many credentials and too much ministerial calibre.

Which is why -- as hindsight is always 20/20 -- it is easy to look back and point out these three reasons why Dr Koh Poh Koon lost.

1) Too corny

First and foremost, nobody appreciates corny political pick-up lines. What is this deal about Dr Koh being touted as the "Son of Punggol"? How does one even try to fuse biology with geography?

I used to stay in Ang Mo Kio. And now I stay in Sengkang. What does that make me? Geographically promiscuous?

Ok, yes, I know, I know, you stay in an HDB flat. I stay in one too. But that doesn't give me the licence to go round telling everybody about it.

I don't go to my next job interview and try to relate to my potential boss how we are so alike as our homes are basically overpriced spaces with four walls and two toilet bowls.

As a matter of fact, I definitely don't try to find common ground with anyone else that way.

How unsexy is that? Besides, what's the big deal about staying in a HDB flat anyways? More than 75 percent of Singaporeans reside in one.

2) Is he 'heartlander' enough?

Furthermore, residing in an HDB flat doesn't make one a heartlander. It is what one does that makes one a heartlander.

Look, a real heartlander is someone who knowingly cheats on his parking coupon by five to 10 minutes each time.

Or go to NTUC FairPrice supermarket to steal clear plastic bags.

Or order dishes at the chai png (economy rice) stall that contains both meat and vegetables for a better deal at 2-for-1 price.

Or get annoyed when able-bodied neighbours who stay on the second floor can walk up one flight of stairs to their doorstep but still insist on using the lifts.

If Dr Koh were to admit to any of these idiosyncracies, he might have just fared better. And found some real common ground.

What's more, his weird little story about how he was left with only enough money to buy chopsticks after buying a HDB flat just doesn't jive with reality.

3) He is overqualified

Last but not least, Dr Koh, to say the least, is overqualified for politics. And Punggol East residents recognise that.

What is a surgeon doing in a domain like politics? Politics is better suited for lawyers. And misfits.

If he really wants to do good, he should be in social services. Or consider being a philanthropist. Or volunteer at SPCA.

And he could just spend more time inside the operating theatre.

Moreover, if he has so many things on his plate, how is he going to be effective as a member of parliament? Have you seen that man's credentials?

Will he be there whenever parliament convenes?

Well, honestly, I don't think all of these reasons matter now.

What the PAP should recognise by now is: the electorate no longer wants superhumans who can save them from themselves.

They want someone they can relate to. Someone who is motherly, caring and soft.

Like Lee Li Lian. Unassuming, underdog and underwhelming.

And it will be a bonus if she really does stay in an HDB flat. Precisely because she doesn't brag about it.

SJS6638 SG

By Annabelle Liang | AFP News – 8 hours ago

Singapore's ruling party suffered a rebuke on Saturday when it lost a parliamentary by-election despite promising more reforms and massive public spending to appease a restive electorate.

The opposition Workers' Party defeated the People's Action Party (PAP), which has been in power for more than 50 years, following a campaign dominated by issues including the rising cost of living and immigration.

Workers' Party candidate Lee Li Lian, 34, a middle-class corporate trainer, comfortably beat PAP candidate Koh Poh Koon, 40, a prominent surgeon who was strongly backed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"This is a devastating loss to the PAP," said Bridget Welsh, an associate professor in Political Science at the Singapore Management University.

"There's a gap between what ordinary Singaporeans are experiencing and what the government is telling them," she told AFP.

The prime minister congratulated the winner and said the PAP "will continue to work to improve the lives of Singaporeans, and present our report card for voters to judge in the next general elections."

The PAP has now lost two by-elections in less than a year, adding to its woes after suffering its worst performance in a general election in May 2011.

But it remains in firm control, holding 80 of the 87 seats in parliament despite its falling popularity. The next general elections are not due until 2016.

Saturday's hotly contested election turned a quiet residential suburb into the focus of a nation.

Two smaller opposition parties had also fielded candidates, raising hopes among PAP supporters that the opposition vote would fragment in its favour, but the Workers' Party won 16,038 votes to the PAP's 12,856.

MP Sylvia Lim, who chairs the Workers' Party, said the election was an "important episode" that showed "the value of political competition in getting the government to sit up and take notice".

The PAP, founded by the prime minister's father Lee Kuan Yew, who ruled for 31 years, has also come under attack for a rapid influx of immigrants accused of stealing jobs, driving up housing prices and straining public services.

After the PAP garnered an all-time low of 60 percent of all votes cast in the 2011 election, the government slowed down the intake of foreigners, who now make up a third of Singapore's population of 5.3 million.

It promised to spend billions of dollars to improve mass transport, expand public housing and give cash and other incentives for couples to have more babies and help reduce the island's dependence on foreigners in the long term.

Saturday's vote was called to fill a seat left vacant when parliament speaker Michael Palmer stepped down and quit the PAP in December after he confessed to an extramarital affair.

The Workers' Party now holds all seven non-PAP seats in parliament.

The PAP first came to power in 1959 when colonial ruler Britain introduced self-rule in Singapore, which became a republic in 1965 after a brief union with Malaysia.

SJS6638 SG

Next we shall see if PAP is goigng to make things difficult for the handover of Town Council to WP.

SevenEleven SG

there was a fear that multi corner fight might drain the oppositions vote in favour of the PAP, but there seems to be none. In fact everything went over to the WP. What do you think?

2. If SDP had joined the fray, what do you think would be the outcome?

lce SG

Next we shall see if PAP is goigng to make things difficult for the handover of Town Council to WP.

well , let us see how sore loser is the pap , tot some1 said TC is a political entity?

SJS6638 SG

SDP would have gotten the lowest number of vote

SJS6638 SG

TCis political entity. no wonder we have the $2 company ..................

SJS6638 SG

PAP has nothing solid to offer. All they are doing is boast and boast, thick skin to even said they are on the side of the Singaporeans. They are so damn good to take all of us as fools.

Hey lee hsien loong, you have been using all the wrong move. picak lobang.

may be lee hsien loong's party lost because it did not cry during this election campaign to garner majority of votes for PAP .

lce SG

TCis political entity. no wonder we have the $2 company ..................

just hope tat they dun say CPF is a political entity too Laughing

SJS6638 SG

just hope tat they dun say CPF is a political entity too Laughing

Hard to say.... they are always desperate for money ............

love of money is the root of all evil

already they have raised the cap for CPF withdrawal few months ago.

coveting ................

fudgester SG

there was a fear that multi corner fight might drain the oppositions vote in favour of the PAP, but there seems to be none. In fact everything went over to the WP. What do you think?

2. If SDP had joined the fray, what do you think would be the outcome?

Maybe slightly more than RP but not enough to trip up WP. They seriously screwed themselves with that insane proposal to WP. Even TR Emeritus criticized them brutally for that even though they are pro-SDP.

laurence82 SG

Congratulations to the Spoiled Votes for coming in a strong third in the Punggol East by-election.

ditzy SG

PE is now belong to us, hougang aljunied.

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