I REFER to Mr S. Ramamirtham's letter ("NSP's offer confuses
voters"; last Wednesday) and am bemused by what he is so confused
about. We should be applauding the opposition's ability to finally
get their act together and avoid three-cornered fights.
Opposition parties have limited resources and avoiding
three-cornered fights allows them to maximise their ability to
compete in more wards and group representation constituencies
(GRCs) while not splitting votes, which gives voters a proper
alternative at the ballot box, possibly speeding up the
electorate's political maturity along the way.
The opposition has been disadvantaged with the redrawing of
electoral boundaries, so this is a wise move on the part of the
National Solidarity Party (NSP), and possibly the Workers' Party,
to ensure that they have a more level playing field heading into
the elections.
This is also a sign that Singapore's political scene and
democracy are flowering when so much has been mentioned in the past
about how apolitical Singaporeans generally are.
I have faith that the Moulmein-Kallang GRC voters will not be
confused at the ballot box. After all, it all boils down to whether
one wants to vote for a change or more of the same.
Hong Chou Hui