by Cassandra Chew
DEPUTY Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng fired a salvo at opposition
parties on Wednesday.
He accused them of wanting to capture a group representation
constituency (GRC) for the wrong reasons.
'Some say they are doing it for party renewal, some want to be
the first ones to do so, but what is the election about? Is it
about the ambitions of a political party or individuals to make
history?' said Mr Wong, who is also Coordinating Minister for
National Security, and an MP in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
He was referring to comments made by opposition leaders Low Thia
Khiang of the Workers' Party and Chiam See Tong of the Singapore
People's Party in recent weeks on their plans to possibly contest
in a GRC.
He urged voters to back the stronger team that can serve them
better, and not simply for the sake of having more opposition,
especially at a time of global uncertainty when Singapore must keep
pace or risk being left behind.
He noted that Parliament will have at least nine opposition MPs
after the next election under the Non-Constituency MP scheme even
if they are not elected.
Mr Wong was speaking at a media conference held on Wednesday to
introduce three new candidates for the People's Action Party at the
party's headquarters in Bedok.
They are Ms Foo Mee Har, 45, Standard Chartered's global head of
premium banking, Mr Steve Tan Peng Hoe, 38, executive secretary of
Young NTUC, and Mr Desmond Lee Ti-Seng, 35, associate director in
the legal and regulations department of Temasek Holdings, the
government's investment arm.
if opposition parties r wanting to capture the GRC for all the
wrong reasons, can it not b questioned then, if the ruling party r
bent on control over GRC for all the wrong reasons too? pot calling
kettle black. typical politicians.
to top it off how credible r his words after the mas selamat
saga? almost wish i hadn't seen the episode in parliamentary debate
when apologies were made, stares were thrown n no questions
answered. it's laughable. the question was not over y it happened
in the 1st place for bad things do happen, rather how it was
handled after it happened. when will leaders learn that disproofing
the integrity n credibility of their competitors does not make them
look any better nxt to them anyway? if only to govern a country is
as easy as showbusiness.
when will leaders stop hacking old schemes n irrelevant policies
that stopped working more than a decade ago? how do we stay
relevant?
when will it stop being all abt the alien things like the MPs,
the Constituencies, the System, the Walkabouts, the Candidates, the
Fingers pointing, the libel Suit Filing, the ungainly Protesting,
unjustified Jailing and the contested Districts? when will they
realise that these categories, objects n classification did not,
will not gain them public favor nor inspire confidence in the next
generation, much less majority of us singaporeans?
weren't we warned of appearances?
so what if ministers r well rewarded n incorruptibl? so what if
candidates have world class education, r backed by years of
experience, so what if any darned party consists of a multiplicity
of races to engender the engineered multiplicity of colors? what
exactly does issuing another generic statement on global
uncertainty got to do with the people? r we wrong to demand
Virtue in those who govern our blood n tears?
might as well make them crawlers on national tv. make us a
chronic repetition of the same threat made in 2001, 2006 n the
years have gone on.
come to think of it, when was the last time the world outside of
sg had been certain n predictable anyways?
when will this finally be abt the people n their welfare? when
will this be abt improving the quality of life for the aged and
alive? better still, when will this stop being all abt which party
gets to grace the front pages on ST?
this country is a joke. y on earth wld we care abt the general
elections?
voters r uninterested because we r regurgitating frm the surfeit
of mess ruling n opposition parties alike have made for themselves
for the past 20 years.
darn circus clowns.
