TEMASEK REVIEW
By Lawrence Pek
With the looming GE slated in 2010 / 2011, there are plenty of
issues that need to be reviewed by any respectable Opposition
Party. Playing the role of a Campaign Manager, I would like to add
value with Election Strategies, rather than the issues itself.
1.
A Clear and Concise Message
a. Pick 3 to 5 Issues
and Hammer Hard – People cannot remember so many things, 3 to 5
things will do, It is important to keep repeating these issues and
use clear BUZZWORDS. People remember these key words.
b. DO NOT ATTACK THE
PAP – 2 reasons here – 1stly, PAP will NOT attack unless provoked
(because they want the moral high ground), with SPH (with all its
newspapers and CNA) under their control, you cannot win this
battle. 2ndly, If you attack the PAP, this will cause the
electorate to deviate on your message. For this election, the PAP
will be on the defensive, they will spend a lot of resources in
explaining their unpopular policies.
c. Know the IN and OUT
of these issues so that you will never be blindsided by any
response from the PAP – Be ready with clear and strong responses
from the PAP camp – “if they say this, we need to say this…” Let
PAP attack you, then respond robustly, engage the issue. Make sure
your audience gets these messages clearly. The MSM will have the
burden to carry any Opposition responses, since it has to carry the
initial attack from the PAP camp.
2.
Sympathy Votes:
In Singapore’s political landscape, it is strange that none of
the Opposition used this tactical advantage. If the opportunity
arises, Opposition needs to play the Underdog card, a lot of swing
or undecided votes can be curried over.
3.
INTERNET:
The Opposition cannot depend on SPH (newspaper and CNA) to give
you the same space and time support. You will need to expose your
message to your audience via the various online platforms – you
will need to choose carefully as choice of online platform will
associate you accordingly i.e. you will be branded accordingly.
a. Videos and Audio –
the strongest trend recently in political reporting is On Line
Journalism – e..g. “CNN’s I-REPORT” – have an armada of
student activists that will record your rally messages, carry
interviews from Opposition Leaders and Public responses (kopitiam
comments are critical).
b. Time to Air – this
is a critical strategy, you need to deliver your content faster
than the PAP – usually, you can win mindshare faster and you will
be seen more credible with 1st to Market. Put the PAP on the back
peddle.
c. Create “Talking
Heads” videos of key Opposition Leaders – video clips which will
delivers key points about the issues, about their party and what is
happening daily during the campaign period. Email these opposition
supporters and make sure that they forward to as many people as
possible. Stay away from traditional print media – they are too
expensive and many legal issues.
d. Create a “Jingle” –
similar to Buzzwords – easy and catchy. Create a simple jingle –
this can be a simple 10 sec jingle to a full 3min song – which can
reflect the entire the pissed off mood of the local Singaporeans.
There is a song on you tube from Dick Lee that uses Billy Joel’s
“we did not start the fire”…I thought that was catchy and sticks on
people’s minds.
4. Measure
the responses from the ground:
a. Prior to the
Election, even now, there are so many raw sentiments on the grounds
– regarding the various issues. What they think, Why they
think that, and What should be done. Carefully, you need to
understand that this is different from what YOU think, why YOU
think that and what YOU think should be done. It is important to
understand that it is NOT YOU, the Opposition Party against the
PAP, but rather – it is the PEOPLE against the PAP. Carry the
people’s messages effectively, and you will be OK. Position
yourselves as the People’s Alternatives Voices.
Summarize what they are thinking, saying and use key Buzzwords
to position your summary. If possible, use local dialects to carry
these responses effectively. If financial resources, it is
important to do a simple poll for these issues and these
buzzwords.
b. After each rally,
it is important to know what the attendees think about the
speeches, the speaker and most interviewees will be more than happy
to provide their responses as well as their recommendations.
Preparation is key – know what resources you have and how you
can use them effectively, clear roles and responsibility should be
assigned. Campaign Manager should not be just that, managing the
resources as well as measuring the responses and tweaking the
strategies.
The election boundaries are such that period of campaigning will
be short so effective use all avail resources will be key. Even
though this is a given, my suggestions maybe more applicable to 2
major difference since the last election. The Internet as well as
how much more pissed off the local Singaporeans is now with their
policies. These 2 things create a potent mix that may spring a
surprise on the ruling party.
There are bound to be more strategies and I welcome lots more
ideas to add or refine to mine, but rather than blogging about the
issues, let’s consider specific strategies to win more and more
votes. Let’s think differently.
The Winds of Change is blowing….
TEMASEK REVIEW
Over the last few years there has been an increasing sense of
frustration openly expressed by Singaporeans on the internet about
their inability to end PAP rule. The primary reasons for the weak
position of Singaporeans are the disunity amongst them and the lack
of knowledge. Until these are resolved, there is no way any major
change can be expected.
TYPICAL REASONS GIVEN
Two main reasons
often put forth have been the disunity of opposition parties. The
disunity amongst opposition parties are always cited as the main
reason. This is an idiosyncratic expectation since political
parties in other countries are not united either. In fact they form
unity coalitions based on certain strategies only. That unity
coalition is just an electoral platform / mechanism. However
in Singapore there is a wierd expectation that opposition parties
have to function in the same manner. Some argue that there is no
unity coalition platform in Singapore either. The truth is even if
there is one, they will not be able to win the majority of the
votes.
The other reason that is often given is the passiveness of
Singaporeans who are indifferent to PAP when coming to the voting
booth even though they are full of criticisms before reaching the
voting booth. Some say this is due to fear and so on. Again the
truth is, even if Singaporeans have the courage, they will still be
voting the same manner.
DISUNITY AMONGST SINGAPOREANS
The core reason for
the weakness of Singaporeans is their disunity. Any two
Singaporeans of any contrasting background rarely unite in the area
where they are different. Rich Singaporeans do have friends or
relatives amongst poor Singaporeans. How often do you see the rich
Singaporeans endevouring to uplift the economic status of their
poor friends or relatives. The disunity amongst ethnic groups is so
pronounced and disguised under the pretext of cliches. The Chinese
Singaporeans still stick to the game of blaming the minorities for
their underperformance instead of admiting to the serious flaws in
the system that marginalises the minorities. The Chinese
Singaporeans have plenty of expectations for the minorities but
none are about uplifting the economic status. The same form of
disunities can be found amongst religous groups, groups of
different literacies and so on.
In such a divided population, the PAP can indeed rule for
another 50 years. To create unity amongst Singaporeans, they
themselves have to be the drivers. Firstly they will have to bury
the mistrust they carry for the last 50 years. They also have to
stop the blame game. Most importantly they must dream for their
fellow Singaporeans what they want for themselves.
UNINFORMED POPULATION
The majority of Singaporeans remain uninformed about the
realities of PAP and Singapore. It is this lack of knowledge that
gives them blind hope when they vote for PAP. In fact there are so
many Singaporeans who have unwavering conviction that PAP will turn
any desirable economic situation around and that nobody can create
a better Singapore than PAP.
Indeed the Chinese population in Singapore never enjoyed a
higher economic status in previous rules from 1819 till 1959. It
was only in PAP rule that they enjoyed the highest level of
economic outcomes. This is what the Chinese supporters of PAP tend
to think will be eternal. Nothing in this world is eternal,
especially whatever relating to mortal humans. The PAP model is in
serious decline. The Chinese population have slumped in their
overall economic outcomes from earlier decades due to skewness in
income growth whereby the rich is getting richer and the poor is
getting poorer. This however is little understood. What is much
further less understood is the fact that unless they vote out PAP,
there is no reason to expect their overall economic circumstances
to improve.
Even amongst the minority voters, a large majority of them
do not realise that their economic status has never been any worse
in the last 190 years except in the PAP era. Private home ownership
rate of the Malays was extremely high in Singapore till 1959, which
has slumped since then. The Indian and Arab community had
significant control over the economy till 1959. Minorities fail to
realise that the PAP simply excluded the minorities to the margins
in their economic equation. What is interesting is that some of the
biggest supporters and organisers of PAP grassroots are the Malays.
For every minority henchmen and token representative PAP uses to
tie down the minorities,there are a hundred waiting ernestly in the
queue to replace him / her. They are driven by both greed and
ignorance.
Andrew Thiam
