Ardeedee, at this level, without more people to come forward to participate
in opposition politics, how do you expect us to provide "alternatives"? And
this is partly due to the general apathy of the population and PAP's
instilling the FEAR factor.
We are campaigning quietly alright. But at this moment, even though we are
the fast growing and most progressive alternative party right now, we are
not in a position to raise our level of political status yet.
I am in no position to represent other political parties but as far as
Workers' Party is concerned, everyone of us is working very hard right now.
You don't see it or feel it because with our limited resources, our work is
mostly localized.
Even with this localized politics, we are making them panick, nervous and
restless. Imagine that you start to see your MPs or even the anchor minister
walking the ground! MPs waking up early in the Sunday mornings just to sit
there and observe WP members selling Hammer in their turf.
We are not perfect or even strong yet, but with little, bits by bits, we
progress. We understand and know our limitations and weaknesses at this
moment and we are working towards improving it. If you are really interested
to contribute your ideas (from a minority perspective), we have an
alternative forum ready right now for your contributions. But this new forum
(unlike discuss Singapore) is not open to public, mainly to party members
and associates to discuss policy matters. Serious contributions only.
I believe in instituitional building, not just mere political participations
or even going for elections. Most of the politicians in the past (even
present) are more interested to give fiery speeches, raise issues but at the
end of the day, the party mechanism is totally neglected altogether.
Politics to them is all about "ME", themselves. This is why we ended up with
this pathetic state of affairs in alternative political parties, across the
board. Workers' Party is the very first one to realize this problem and
fortunately, we have a strong group of like minded people who are determined
to rebuild Workers' Party right from scratch, so to provide an alternative
political instituition that will outlive our own political lifetime.
Just look at SDP under Chee SJ, the past Workers' Party under JBJ or any
other alternative political parties right now, they are not building up a
strong and reliable instituition to provide Singaporeans the assurance of
having an alternative choice in coming and future elections. Talks of
Democracy is ironically, empty, if you are not prepared to spend your life
and effort to build up a mechanism that could ensure Singaporeans having the
alternative political choices.
Ardeedee, for me, it is just simple as that. No need to talk so much about
Democracy, but make sure we do our part in enhancing and building up the
substance of Democracy. Even though ironically, Democracy itself, may not
sell in Singapore's context, but if we believe in it, we build on it, not
merely talk about it.
I am very confident that there will come a time that Workers Party will be
strong enough to play a bigger role in Singapore politics; but this could
only happen if and only if like minded Singaporeans are WILLING to step
forward to engage in alternative politics. Most people want the "glories" of
standing on the stage and give speeches during election rallies, but
unwilling to contribute and work hard in building up/ strengthening the
party mechanism. It is relatively easy to fill candidates in general
elections of this sort but are we really contributing to process of
Democracy for Singapore by doing so?
Ardeedee, one thing to be sure and I am confident to promise you is that for
the coming elections, we would be fielding candidates that have done their
part on the ground, not just any dom dick or harry that walk in last minute
to sort candidacy. This may sound "insignificant" to you but for us, it is a
great step forward. For the first time in decades, Workers Party would be
able to field many candidates that have worked hard on the ground and these
candidates have their own "following" of party helpers who have followed
them throughout the process of working on the ground! WE want to field
people with dedications and passions that have been proven by their
consistency in working on the ground for a long period of time, not just
anyone that come by and knock on our doors. After having saying that, we
still need more injections of people to either to become a potential
candidate or party helpers that could support the ground activities carried
out by the present slate of candidates.
I have asked for helpers to join me in my ground work, but it seems that
nobody is interested at all. Neverthless, I carry on my ground work with
whatever resources I have and I am satisfied by the positive responses I get
from the ground. Talk is easy, but when it comes to the crunch of making
commitments and dedicate yourselves to consistent ground work, it will
differentiate those serious dedicated, passionate people from "mere
talkers".
Goh Meng Seng
Post by ardeedeeAs an oppositionist what have you done about it - can you raise objections
or even participate in show of dissent or even campaign quietly against the
imprudent or illegal decisions affecting a true democratic elections - NO -
so how can you lead the pack that is baying at the gates of hell.
Post by Goh Meng SengErr...yes and no!
MORE THAN HALF of PAP MPs just walk into parliament without being
elected
Post by ardeedeeor
Post by Goh Meng Sengendorsed by their constituents! What mandate are you talking about?
And it turns out that the in-coming PM is endorsed by these MPs who don't
even get their own endorsement....haha...what an irony!
Goh Meng Seng
Post by zipperYou sewer rats here must be running all your lives in the drain to
forget
Post by Goh Meng SengPost by zipperthat PAP is a legally elected government. You people talk as if that
PAP
Post by Goh Meng SengPost by zipperare in power because of some kind of military coup! Please, 70% of
Singapore put them in power voluntarily. So, stop accusing the PAP of
abusing their power. The power is given by mandate. If PAP is so bad,
did
Post by zipperyou see anyone protesting on the street like in Hong Kong?
Even if PAP is a supressive government, it is probably you sewer rats
deserved it.