look at Sylvia Lim’s face at 7:21 when that elitist PAP man equated good talents with “scholars”

what other better way of self-praising his party? he sure is a “good talent”

at 2:00 of the part 2 video, Sylvia Lim simply couldnt hold on to her laughter at the PAP man’s self-praise of himself burning weekdays(?) and weekends. i wonder what a PAP MP should be doing during the weekdays anyway…

what makes he think that those working in the private sector dont burn weekends too?

the PAP is simply out of touch.

Sylvia Lim is really cool man….

sacrificing weekends? big sacrifice eh…

this coming from the party that accepts MPs who have jobs outside the politics…. Part time MP…

Lim Wee Kiat had a nasty habit of butting in as Sylvia was trying to make her points, and I observed that there seemed to be very little airtime provided for Sylvia. Wee Kiat should learn to allow others to complete their sentences — especially when he has been hogging all the airtime.

In my opinion, the whole show is a waste of time, as it throws out nothing new. However, I am particularly concerned how every single PAP members are parroting the same point of views that PM, SM and MM had made. ” yadda yadda yadda PM said this, yadda yadda yadda SM said this….” They are supposed to be leaders not mouth-pieces. Are they capable of independent thoughts?

Two other observation:

1) Wee Kiat seemed very defensive, and uses a lot of words to say very little, and 2) Sylvia is very cautions — she seemed to think A LOT before she says anything, but is more efficient. She made as many points as Wee Kiat despite the former’s rude interruption and hoarding of airtime.

Why did they keep interrupting her?

“…especially if you are young, you have a family, career…there’s a lot of consideration…” Lim Wee Kiak @2:00min, clip 2.
Unfortunately, this does not justify the false image of ‘giving up’ the ’stability’ of private, corporate life to take-up the ‘unpredictability’ of ‘political’ life! Heeeeeloooo! This is Singapore where ‘honest mistakes’ r tolerated: do Ministers who let terrorist escape under their watch kena fired! Do Ministers get served warnings for screwing up the property market? HELL NO! Do Ministers admit screw-ups and apologize for their mistakes? HELL NO cos we bloody hell hear only the good news!
This Lim guy is just very niaive lah.

Sylvia has learnt the lessons of her forebears and has to be careful in what she said, less it is been exploited to oust her from the political scene.

This is the reality of being opposition member. As such, they deserve that much support from us for walking through a political minefield that can blow up on their face anytime.

Wee Kiat is a doctor, Sylvia is legally trained. Doctors and lawyers think differently and talk differently. Personally I prefer the thought process of a lawyer than a doctor.

By the way, did this Dr Lim serve as MP and man a MPS in Pasir Ris before? He looks so friendly here but the Dr Lim I saw previously during a MPS was aloof and arrogant. Throughout the MPS with me, he didn’t say more than 3 words! Are they the same person? If yes, what a hypocrite.

And if we are going to see alot more of these niaive guys for next erection…the state of politics in Singapore is really going down, down, down, down….
Politics died in Singapore when the Barisan folks raised their white undies in defeat, perhaps.

PAP gets doctors to become MPs? Do doctors make better MPs or what? or do we have so many doctors to spare? or so much doctors time to spare? It is crazy! Absolutey crazy!

Of all the 3 talking, I like Sylvia’s accent best. Her ‘P’ as in ‘MP’, ‘PM, ‘PAP, does not sound like ‘pee’ from the nose.

Lawyers question and challenge powers that be.
Doctors are “respectable” in the eyes of most Singaporeans.

Yes, renewal is very difficult as Dr Lim admitted. Good talents will think twice about joining PAP. The odds stacked up against the opposition will deter good men and women to serve too. Poor Singaporeans.

Yuchengko, exactly! Real talents are no YES men, they don’t go PM says this and PM says that.

First, the it is the Talking Point episode which featured Sylvia Lim and Indranee Rajah. Now this.

Together with the print media’s blackout especially of SDP related news that can help mitigate the SDP’s image that has been deliberately dragged through the mud by the PAP, and the occasional mention of the WP only in print reports, it should be clear that the PAP has granted PAP-approved status to the WP and is engineering the outcome of the next elections (for a Sylvia Lim win) by featuring her as if she were the only person from the opposition parties who can speak to the issues.

manufactured dissent.

Robox : a reflection of the dearth of talents … in the opposition as well as the PAP.

A typical stepford husband programmed to please only his masters. Look at those eyes…totally blank!

To Yuchengko on November 12th, 2009 7.17 am:

Re: “…a reflection of the dearth of talents … in the opposition as well as the PAP.”

When it comes to political talent, skill, knowledge, conduct, and acumen, we know very well that it is the PAP that has set the bar really, really low; it’s disgraceful and embarassing after the constant boasts of ‘world’s best education system’ which isn’t the case either.

But when opposition party members – and I speak primarily about the conservatives in the Workers Party and the one-man party Chiam See Tong – benchmark themselves against the PAP and its low standards when they are free to chart their direction, it’s definitely NOT of any service to the Singaporean electorate who want political diversity.

How can you bring the much needed diversity when you are trying your level best to becoming a PAP clone? That being the case, why vote them when the electorate can vote for the REAL PAP?

PS. I would normally not write posts like this, but because the readers in this forum clearly belong to the category of those who pay lip service to the “idea” of opposition unity, except when it comes to the SDP, I don’t mind returning like for like; the WP and the Chiam See Tong are NOT above criticism. The difference between them and I though, is that I have no prepackaged lines by Lee Kuan Yew to use to criticize what I consider to be the PAP’s mirror image in the opposition. My critcisms are entirely my own and based entirely on my own perspective.

The constant rude interruptions of Dr Lim demonstrated a lack of respect for a fellow politician. In addition, Dr Lim seemed to be unable to substantiate his infatuation with his party and the prime minister.

@ walau:

I’m not defending the guy, far from it, but as I understand, being an MP really takes the mickey out of your personal time.

I’ve had a conversation with an MP once and i asked him about how he handled the pressures of having corporate job as well as having to attend Meet the people sessions etc. and he replied that it was a very tough having to balance his family, his career and politics all at one go; i recall that he was quite happy to have served for one term only.

But he did acknowledge that was the price he had to pay for going down that path. He never made any grandiose, self-serving/self-praising statements.
Wonder what he would have said about this.

Don’t use the word PAP-approved opposition. In the first place, it is an oxymoron word, like pregnant man. They don’t exist. If PAP appeared to approve an opposition, it is either because they are not confrontative, or it is the design of PAP to sow disunity among opposition and their supporters. If we fall into this trap, then they win.

Sylvia Lim, if she is elected into parliament, will cause PAP to lose 5 seats (since she will most likely contest in a GRC). That will be a big blow to the credibility and capability of PAP, not other opposition. In fact, it will help opposition cause since once a precedent is set, the idea of voting in opposition in GRC will take shape.

Individual opposition parties must not think they can go at it alone. No one in their right mind would think they alone can take on PAP.

We will need all kinds of opposition MPs, the noisy ones as well as the quiet ones. Even the strongest opposition supporters know that not all laws or ideas from PAP are to be opposed. Only those that do not serve the nation and the citizens.

Personally, I’m comfortable with WP and SPP’s current performance as they focus more on grassroots activities, the critical factor in getting votes to be in parliament. They recognised their miniscule number of MPs will have negligible impact to the government and they do what they can.

What we need to do, if we really want to see issues being discussed in parliament robustly, then we have to vote in 10+ opposition MPs. Each MP will then able to tackle various issues relevant to different sectors of the populace.

But all these will have to start somewhere. Now that Sylvia is being showcase by the mass media, hopefully those with eyes can see the quality of opposition and be encouraged to vote for them in the coming election. If they can win, eventually others can win as well.

@ tralala

I understand & totally agree with u. This Lim chap, honest & decent as he is – is not cut for politics. Its one thing to claim yourself to be self-sacrificing etc and another for people to believe you to be self-sacrificing etc. And I reckon what all those claims of self-aggrandizement do are to legitimize PAP’s authority. Their statements r not really about ‘renewal’ or ‘attracting people to join politics’ as much as staying in power.

yah yah…criticise the oppositions…yah…pap clones..yah yah

is it a pap ploy or reverse psychology? make u think no difference, must as well choose the ‘authentic’ one. like dat forever no strong oppositions lah.

get them in, when there’s a critical mass, they will be strong

I do hope more will share the view that talent is not measured by academic success and wealth. However, the sad truth is we are all products of the system although some may defy the manufacturing QC and become mutants. Will the electorate have confidence in talents as defined by different set of criteria and move away from the sterotype bureaucrat model that dominated the last 20 years. Instead, most people are indifferent.

The opposition should not aim to become like the PAP but to present itself as an attractive alternative that could fulfil in meeting needs where the ruling party can’t.

Slyvia Lim is a talent in her own right who is different from most new generation PAP MPs. I believe she would go far if she treads carefully, draft a workable strategy and get more to join her slate in the coming elections.

Lim Wee Kiak looks so unpolished and unsophisticated next to Sylvia Lim. If I didn’t know anything about Singapore politics, I would have thought that Sylvia was the elite scholar PAP MP and Wee Kiak the Opposition.

I’m not just talking about Wee Kiak’s poor pronunciation and Chinese accent, but how he carries himself. Sylvia is more composed and dignified, and even when Wee Kiak is hogging the airtime, she manages to communicate her disdain and incredulity through her eyes and facial expression.

In contrast, when Sylvia speaks, Wee Kiak looks more like a school student, his eyes darting about in their sockets as he tries to parse her words and compose a reply. He comes across as being overexcited and doesn’t seem to be conscious of how he looks on camera, in contrast to Sylvia who deliberately controls her expression and movement.