Daily Lessons from Life 26 April 2011 - GE: PAP to face biggest contest in this General Election

"GE: PAP to face biggest contest in this General Election - CNA 26 April 2011

SINGAPORE : The People's Action Party's (PAP) will likely face its largest contest in a General Election this time round.

Eighty-seven seats are at stake and the opposition is likely to contest at least 82.

General Election 2011 will see several constituencies - which have not been contested in years - battle it out.

Among them are Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and West Coast GRC.

A tough fight is again expected in Aljunied GRC.

In 2006, the PAP team led by Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo defeated the Workers' Party team led by Chairman Sylvia Lim by a 56 per cent majority.

The PAP has said that the coming polls is about leadership renewal, with a likely core team of the fourth generation of leaders emerging from its 24 new candidates.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: "The candidates coming in this General Election have to master the responsibilities in the ministries, they have to learn how Singapore works, they have to win the confidence and respect of the voters and trust of the voters, and take over from my colleagues and me."

The PAP's manifesto is entitled "Securing Our Future Together", and this will be a task for the core new team.

This time, most opposition parties have launched their manifestos as well, ahead of Nomination Day.

Inderjit Singh, a PAP candidate for Ang Mo Kio GRC, said: "Some of the ideas look compelling, but I think we better go through the depth to understand some of the implications. Like if you say eliminate manufacturing, are we willing to eliminate 500,000 jobs. So these are the types of questions we want Singaporeans to ask."

It is unlikely that the PAP will form the government on Nomination Day itself, given that almost all constituencies may be contested. During the campaign period, the ruling party is expected to emphasise the possibility of a freak election result, and that the General Election is about securing the future of the country."

Tomorrow is Nomination Day and we will know if PAP will be the ruling party then. If PAP is not the ruling party from the start, it can be worrying if there is a freak result as some in PAP worried about and 'warned' the voters about such an event.

Lessons for me are:

1. if such a freak result did emerge, it simply means the ruling party has totally lost touch with the voters regardless if voters were rational or otherwise. That could be the only reason!;

2. if there is a freak result, what will happen to Singapore? Chaos? Cries of frauds? What? It will not be pretty for sure. So, hopefully even when the rulig party read the ground wrongly, the voters of Singapore can still exercise their 'intelligence' to vote wisely. Most would like to have a few more opposition MPs to 'really' perform the check-and-balance role that the ruling party insists are present now. Again, it is a matter of 'I know we are doing it BUT the people do not thnk so' situation. Again, if this is the case, was there a communication breakdown?;

3. assuming there really is a freak results where the ruling party was voted out of power, it will be left to the 'shell shocked' opposition parties to form the government and run Singapore. I think they will NOT be able to do so. No. I am SURE they will not be able to do so. Unless, the civil servants, the people who truly operate the states affairs are professional enough to continue to do their jobs. It can be disastrous. Then, if it really happened, we just have to deal with it. Blaming the voters will not be helpful.

p/s: I was a bit disappointed with the 'star catch' WP candidate, Mr Chen Show Mou, upon watching his introduction as WP candidate press conference performance. Let' see how things go...