Terence Lee
In this third installment of our “Youth in Politics” series, we speak to Koh Choong Yong and Ng Swee Bee, President and Vice-President of the Worker’s Party Youth Wing.
Don’t expect rabble-rousing politics from the Worker’s Party of today. Unlike the late JB Jeyaretnam, who was nicknamed “The Tiger” for his unrestrained election rally speeches and rambunctious attacks on the PAP government, the party is set on treading the careful path.
(The ExCo. From left: Chelsea Lu, Frieda Chan, Ng Swee Bee, Nathaniel Koh, Tan Thuan Tong, Koh Choong Yong, Alfred Ng, Bernard Chen / Courtesy of the Worker’s Party Youth Wing. Not in photo: Aaron Peng, Koh Chee Wei, Jamilah Lim Bt Md Lutfi Lim)
At least, the Worker’s Party seems adamant about avoiding the bevy of defamation suits suffered by its former Secretary-General.
And if The Online Citizen’s e-mail interview with its Youth Wing leaders is any indication, such an approach seems to be its future as well.
Mr Koh Choong Yong, who is 36 years old but “born” in 2006 as a result of the unfairness he felt at the General Elections against the opposition, is unapologetic about it.
When asked how he would respond to criticisms that the party is too mild, he said: “There are many labels critics give [to the Worker's Party], but we are sure you won’t find that any of them can call [the party] not credible and be able to back that claim up.”
The President of the Youth Wing added: “The Worker’s Party of yesteryear was less ‘mild’, but it only took the party to a certain point. We believe the current approach of taking the cautious path to build up its strength will be more beneficial to Singaporeans in the long term.”
Both Mr Koh, and 28-year-old Ng Swee Bee, who is the Vice-President, were appointed to their posts in August this year to facilitate leadership renewal.
The Online Citizen (TOC): It was mentioned on the party website that the last elections motivated you to join politics. Are there specific experiences that you’d like to share that ultimately led to that decision?
Choong Yong (CY): My interest in local politics is more of a gradual build-up, with many factors influencing me to learn more about it bit by bit. However, if I am to pin it down to a specific trigger point which catalysed my decision to contribute [it] is the fact that I finally had the opportunity to vote after 33 years of living in walkover constituencies. This motivated me to attend rallies from the different parties: WP, PAP and another party to know more about them. Along the way, I also learnt about the huge imbalance in the decision-making process in Parliament, where every bill can be bulldozed by the mere fact of the numbers of ruling party MPs in it.
Added to this is the fact that I began to learn about the problem of Peak Oil (and the related problem of Global Warming and Climate Change) earlier on in 2006, and I felt that something needed to be done about it. It became an obvious next course-of-action for me: to contribute my effort and time to help reduce the imbalance and eventually help make the needed changes happen.
Swee Bee (SB): I joined the party in 2003 and was Mr Low’s Election Agent for the last election. When I joined the party, I was hoping to be more involved in social activities through the HGCC (Hougang Constituency Committee). But later I became more involved in the party level activities as I feel that there is a very thin line between politics and social activism as both aim to serve and benefit the populace as a whole. Political action is necessary to effect political changes and policies, which include social policies.
TOC: Choon Yong, congratulations on being appointed the new president of the Youth Wing in August. What are your vision and goals for the Youth Wing?
CY: Thank you. I am a more hands-on person rather than a vision or goal person, so I don’t have a flowery statement on such things. My belief is that the Youth Wing’s main role is to help engage younger Singaporeans, so that we will be able to attract younger members who might be the party leaders tomorrow. Its secondary role is to show Singapore youth that politics is not something that is confined to older people, and youngsters can and should be part of this process, whether inside or outside a political party.
TOC: Swee Bee, it seems that most politicians in Singapore and abroad are male. What are your personal thoughts on this?
SB: I think it is just an “old” mindset that needs to be educated [sic] and changed. This thinking is the same as the olden days’ thinking that females should stay at home to be housewives. However I am confident that in time to come there will be more females coming forward to become politicians. Of course, the main issue is not about more male or female politicians as this is just numbers to me.
TOC: Why did you choose to join the Worker’s Party over the other opposition parties?
CY: A primary reason is that the Worker’s Party fielded the most numbers of candidates in the last General Elections, and to me (as a member of the public at that time) it was a more credible party. I was impressed by candidates from the Worker’s Party. The second reason is that the party contested in the constituency I lived in during during the last Elections, and I felt that I should join the party that was “responsible” for my political awakening.
SB: I am a Hougang Resident and saw for myself the quality of a constituency under a Worker’s Party MP.
TOC: List two of the most important public policy issues in Singapore that you think needs change. What recommendations would you make?
CY: The first would be energy policy. It is a given fact that fossil fuels are faced with two challenges: Firstly, a finite amount that is not renewable and secondly, higher CO2 emissions that contributes to the Global Warming problem. There is a commendable effort in recent years to change the local fuel mix such that approximately 80% of the fuel used for power generation is natural gas, which emits less CO2 when compared to other fossil fuels.
On the other hand, the price of natural gas in this part of the world is tagged [to] the price of fuel oil, which is ever increasing due to the fact that it is not renewable. This directly impacts the households in Singapore with increasing electricity tariffs which saw only a slight breather during last year’s economic crisis. There was some mention of building coal-fired power plants when Tuas Power was sold, as coal is a much cheaper fuel, but it is also a much [more] dirty fuel with high levels of carbon emission.
My recommendation for this is to make early plans and conscious efforts to gradually reduce our reliance on fossil fuel. Left to the free market forces currently in place in our liberalised energy market, it is without a doubt that large scale investments in renewable energy will not be looked at with the current high costs of implementation.
The commonly cited reasons for not relying more on renewable energy is our location and land size, but with advances in technology, these will be small obstacles in the future. The key thing is for the government to take the lead in making infrastructure investments in renewable energy. These investments may be expensive today, but with the increasing price of crude oil, they will be looked upon as relatively cheap early investment on hindsight. The profits gained by the current energy-related companies still under the government’s control (they should not have sold some of them in the first place) should be used to finance these investments.
My second concern is with food security. We currently import most of our food from overseas. Local production of food is limited to mainly fish, eggs, vegetables and chicken, which constitute a low percentage of the total amount of such food consumed here. It is already estimated that with Climate Change and the increasing price of crude oil, food prices will remain high going forward. There was a recent announcement of a Food Diversification Fund and Food Capability Development Fund, worth a total of $5 million to enhance local food supply. However, the news report seem to suggest that these funds are for the refinement of farming methods of current food types like fish farming. There needs to be a separate effort to increase the food type in local production.
SB: Education is a concern for me. I feel that our education system is still too “ranking and scoring” based. Though the government is making improvements on this, most parents’ mindset are still not changed as I think there is a lack of the education process [or] parents. They should be educated that ranking and scores are not the only things that matter in education.
I also feel that political education is still quite weak in our education system which lead to a “can’t be bothered” mindset of most youths today.
With regards to housing, I feel that our HDB flats will become more and more difficult to afford. Our HDB flat prices should be lower and a maximum cap should be introduced in selling prices for resale flats instead of leaving it to the open market that results in the current high prices of a HDB flat.
CPF should provide housing loans at market rates to first and second-time flat purchasers with CPF having the first charge on the property, to prevent [cases] where one’s flat is seized and placed under forced sale, that the savings in CPF can be gone and one can be left with no roof over the head.
TOC: Talk about your married lives. It certainly isn’t easy to juggle work, family, and politics! How do you maintain that balance?
CY: For me, I am fortunate to have a wife who holds the same views as me and is supportive of my work. When I am busy with party work, she helps to look after our two boys, a 5-year-old and a 20-month-old. The one that demands my attention the most is the 5-yr-old, whom I sometimes bring along to the social events in WP so that he can better understand why I am away from home for a few evenings every week and every Sunday morning.
SB: My family is always supportive of my participation in politics.
TOC: What kind of activities does the Youth Wing organise? What’s coming up on your calender?
CY: We do some social events, some charity work, outreach work and of course discuss policies. Social events organised include a bowling competition, a movie screening of “An Inconvenient Truth” back in 2006 and our annual year-end BBQ. For a number of years we collected items from residents to be donated to charity and there was one year where we help to organise a small carnival in a children’s home on Children’s Day.
We also hold regular Night Hammer outreaches, where we go to areas that are frequented by youth, like Bugis Junction and Tampines Central at night. When it comes to discussing policies, we have established a series of forums known as YouthQuake, where we invite speakers to speak on different topics each time.
So far, which current PAP MP or cabinet minister has impressed you the most, and why do you say that?
CY: The one that I am impressed with is not a current MP or cabinet minister, but an ex-DPM, and PAP party chairman if I remember correctly. He is Mr Ong Teng Cheong, one of our elected Presidents. I think he is a man of integrity to be able to stand up and question the government with regards to the Reserve, although he was from the same party previously.
SB: Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam – he has improved the education system by moving it towards a more creativity and hands-on based one.
The Online Citizen would like to thank Mr Koh and Ms Ng for their time in doing this interview.
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this sb is out.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam didn’t even prove his reforms works and cannot answer qns on th losses.
Avoiding defamation suits, it not a sign of cowardice.
It is a sign of gd sense, sumething JBJ didn’t always have. He had balls of brass.
Wimps
Credibly mild, that’s the only thing we can depend on from them now.
A party destined to fail. If u want change, you have to be the change. You must never oppose in an “endorsing” way. Defamation suits happen when one question s the integrity of another individual. Just focus on your opponents flawed policies and you will be sheltered from any lawsuits. I just could not vote for this party. Not with their ambiguous policies.
CY’s interesting take on 1) Renewable Energy & 2) Food Security.
i briefly watched a programme on Discovery/NG channel, was about “farming” in high rise building! Building flats is our forte. Singapore can and should aggressively do research into high rise farming since land is scare here.
Very interesting. Thanks CY.
er, you might want to re-look into your blue polo shirt uniform design…? The blue jeans i guess is ok.
i quite like the SDP’s red polo and beige casual trousers. It conveys boldness (red), in touch w/ the ground (earth coloured – beige), also quite representative of the nation Singapore – Red and beige ( a lighter colour to represent white in this instance).
no preference for any political party, just like to observe how they communicate their corporate identity to the public. It’s very important too.
PAP realised this very early on, that’s why they adopted the all white approach to convey their “corporate identity” to the electorate.
in chosing blue, my guess is that the WP wants to convey the union of “oneness” with the working class, the blue collar. That is right. Should continue in this vein but re-look into the design, other blue perhaps? material?
Thanks for tolerating my trivial nonsense. All the best to WP.
They become so mild,how to vote for them??
Vote must vote for the most credible: PAP ! PAP! And we are not mild at all.
U think these people can give u a stable economy? Affordable HDB? World class cheap public transport??
Dun play with u & your children’s future..! Vote for the PAP!
I read from newspaper that 4 minister sons become saf offical in the same batch.
Disappointing. I think bloggers such as TOC, Alex Au, Singaporemind, etc have done more than WP. At least they speak up. WP, on the other hand, has been missing in action since ge 2006.
I don’t think I will be voting for them this time round. At worse, I will spoil my vote.
Vote for them and last 3 years do nothing. No point voting for this “mild” party. Useless.
In all honesty, I don’t think WP’s approach differs that much from the Reform Party. I remembered a conversation with a RP CEC member who said that they want to do as much as they can, but within the confines of the law in Singapore. The question for those who accuse WP of being too mild would then be: Would SDP’s approach of civil disobedience work in securing votes from th Singapore populace? Does getting yourself sued for defamation until your pants drop really get you anywhere?
The Privy Council, which was then the highest court of our judicial system, ruled that J B Jeyaretnam was “put through a series of mistrials for offences which he did not commit”.
Now, it looks like from this bunch of nincompoops, it is the fault of JBJ to have gone on “unrestrained election rally speeches and rambunctious attacks on the PAP government”. And the “Worker’s Party seems adamant about avoiding the bevy of defamation suits suffered by its former Secretary-General”.
I wonder whether these clowns have heard about the Privy Council’s ruling and that soon after its judgment, Lee Kuan Yew abolished appeals to this outside body which according to LKY until then “is the litmus test of Singapore’s judicial independence”.
Some additional questions to discuss about: What is the best strategy to win Singaporeans over to the opposition? Is there a one-size fits all strategy, and should different parties work on attracting different segments of the population.
((The question for those who accuse WP of being too mild would then be: Would SDP’s approach of civil disobedience work in securing votes from th Singapore populace? Does getting yourself sued for defamation until your pants drop really get you anywhere?))
Did the SDP say anywhere that its “civil disobedience work” is aimed at “securing votes”? As far as I know SDP’s political struggles are in keeping with the Constitution and the National Pldege to create a “democratic society” based on justice, equality, etc.
In what way these actions of SDP are not keeping “within the confines of the law in Singapore”?
When SDP holds demonstration against high cost of living it is an offence, but when CASE holds its demonstration at the same place, it’s legal? Where is the concept called rule of law?
Nobody wants to be sued for defamation. But in Singapore, the authoritarian PAP drags before its compliant judiciary those it considers a threat to its system that’s based on greed.
Mild, milder than the PAP?
Yes I think that they are. If nobody talks about them, I actually forgot that they even existed. I will vote for JBJ anytime but he is gone. JBJ fights for the people. WP? What do they really stand for?
Do we want an ‘alternative’ government to have a weak stand on this and that? Comeon, Low Thia Kiang could not even open his mouth when this PM Lee Hsien Loong asked him if Wong Kan Seng should resign over MSK.
Seriously the WP younger ones, instead of organising things like a bunch of JC students, start voicing out. Don’t be like your senior ones. If one keeps thinking that taking a strong stand and coming out with strong (but constructive) criticisms of the government will get you into defamation suits, then stay at home. We do not need fearful parliamentarians or even people who pretend to care but are not passionate enough to genuinely care.
Sorry, pardon my old man rant.
What has the WP degenerated into? I really thought the TOC was interviewing a bunch of social workers. When will they learn that politicians must ‘play’ politics and not play ‘masak-masak’.
Perhaps you are all too young to know that the WP was led by a fighter – not a gangster – who never flinched when taking on the PAP. It was the PAP who had used unsconstitutional means and all the tricks up its sleeves to screw him up. To effect real change we need more fighters like him, not less.
If he had not been such a fighter who succeeded in capturing the imagination and support of the electorate and break the PAP stranglehold your LTK would not have captured Hougang. Perhaps you should ask him about it.
They did not even discuss about the great giveaway of Spore PRs, work permits, employment passes to any Ah Tiong from China, Rajah from India, Tom Dick & Harry from USA, Australia & Europe?
Come on, WP, given your chance on TOC and all you can say are those non-contentious topics. Did you read TOC or not and know the pulse & angst of ordinary Spore citizens before you gave this interview?
What about WP’s stand on PRs buying resale flats, leaving the country & returning back to their home country & selling it for a huge profit when price is high which in turn drives up the high price of HDB flats? I was hoping that WP has some alternative plan that will ensure that PRs can only rent HDB flats & not buy from resale. PRs can jolly well buy from the private market for all I care.
WP can reinforce their argument by saying that since PAP has openly declared that PRs are not citizens & has no obligation of long term loyalty to this country, then in the same vein, an HDB flat which is deemed as subsidized housing for citizens likewise should not be flagrantly tossed to PRs as a birthday present to enhance their assets which then goes into their piggy banks in their homeland countries.
WP, do you have brains or not??? Like what one poster said above, if this goes on, I jolly well too have to spoil my vote. Neither PAP or WP meets my needs.
To be fair, WP do have a Focus Group on policies. So i guess their leaders feel that it’ s better to keep everything in their chest and won’t be revealed until the GE is near. They called it “time bomb”. Btw, it’s known that their members are proud of how they position themselves – WP don’t oppose for the sake of opposing.
There is so much to speak up upon, do you know? So many things unsaid by WP. Their silence on so many things is disappointing. What is the point of anyone voting for them based on their election speeches when they actually hardly do anything at all when they become parliamentarians. How many of us will live til then? On the ground people suffer and you never do anything much.
Sorry WP, you have lost the vote of this old man here since JBJ left and Low Thia Kiang replaces him. No one can ever replace the man of such fire and passion and Dr Chee Soon Juan is second to him. Low Thia Kiang? Ha ha ha sorry no vote for the man. Worst than Wong Kan Seng!
This Koh CY said, “There are many labels critics give [to the Worker's Party], but we are sure you won’t find that any of them can call [the party] not credible and be able to back that claim up.”
First of all, this is a big boast by someone who is a rookie in politics, let alone opposition politics. His tone sounds like PAP – “We know better. Who are you to criticise us? Can you back it up?”
Anyway, what does Koh CY mean by “credible”? And who says WP is “credible”? By what measure is it “credible”?
Sad to see such PAP-like thinking among the young people in WP. I agree that WP look more like a social club than a political party.
And worse still, it’s leader Low Thia Khiang once said he is proud to be compared to the PAP.
No wonder Koh CY now talks like a PAP member in tone and attitude to criticisms.
Lets take a look at the WP Youth Wing website: http://wpyouth.sg/youth/
Its last entry was on 31st August 2009. Yes, 4 MONTHS AGO!
Yes, Koh CY, very “credible”.
Its last forum was in August also. Yes, 4 MONTHS AGO! I wonder how many people attended the forum. And before that, the WP Youth Wing had an ESSAY (yes, ESSAY) competition titled: What is Your Ideal Singapore?
This was also in August. Yes, 4 MONTHS AGO!
Yes, Koh CY, very credible indeed.
Why should the opposition be fighting over what is the best approach to topple PAP GRCs?
I feel that all opposition parties need to sit down and think which strategy suits which constituency the best. Surely factors such as voter demographics (age, gender etc.) must be considered. The Youth Vote is not a lock for the opposition for example.
I wonder if all opposition parties are willing to direct all members to vote for each other.
The self-congratulated “credibility” of the WP is actually given by the PAP’s MSM which, like his master, naturally prefers a docile and tamed opposition.
They are using a very sensible approach same as taichi “use soft power to overcome the all mighty” in our current political situation. This may create a ‘no nonsense gentleman image’ that are more acceptable to the majority of the electorate.
WP guys… don’t go on “hammering” PAP… it’s how well you eventually serve the people, not how much you “hammer” PAP. Tell the pro-WPs (some may be extremists) to stop that because Singaporeans are educated and they can tell.
I hope all opp parties can unite and fight the common enemy – PAP, rather than bickering against each other. Only by uniting, like the Malaysian PKR & DAP & PAS did can we hope to win at least 1 GRC and dent the arrogance of PAP.
Please stop the bickering among the opps. Work together!
@Green box – I would strongly urge you to reconsider spoiling your vote just because you disagree with the WP’s moderate approach. A spoiled vote is effectively a vote for the PAP. I’m sure you will make the PAP very happy if you spoil your vote and their candidate ends up winning by a close margin against a WP candidate.
If you are waiting for the perfect oppositionist to come around before casting your vote for the opposition, then Singaporeans are going to continue to “enjoy” one-party rule for the rest of our lives. Is that what you want?
“Milder” as compared to whom?
“More credible” as compared to whom?
Are WP youth unconsciously using that someone as their yardstick?
To: Gerald Giam
“A spoiled vote is effectively a vote for the PAP. I’m sure you will make the PAP very happy if you spoil your vote and their candidate ends up winning…”
Please go and tell your WP’s AMK candidate Yaw Sing Leong, as he didn’t just spoil his vote but went even further to vote for the PAP’s Dr Teo Ho Ping.
We all know that the PAP is certainly not mild. Do we want a party to replace them that is like them?
Contrary to common perception that the best confrontation to the PAP is least like the PAP, I would say it is the other way around. Politicians can, after all, change tack on their policies with just a snap of their fingers. It is the attitude that remains constant because it comes from the inner self.
Give me a mild WP anytime. At least I know I won’t be subject to lawsuits, jail or ISA if I am with another party when a WP government takes over.
>> Please go and tell your WP’s AMK candidate Yaw Sing Leong, as he didn’t just spoil his vote but went even further to vote for the PAP’s Dr Teo Ho Ping.
It’s a fact that despite voting against an SDP candidate who wanted to oust his SDP Sec-Gen, Yaw doesn’t represent the whole of WP and most WP members voted for the opposition. Whether NSP, SDA or anything. Now do you want to spoil your vote for WP just by singling out Yaw when WP members voted for any opposition. Yaw has also reversed his position, the young man knows he made a boo boo and next time even if a clown returns he will vote for the clown.
actually there is a problem with this title.
WP has always been credible.
It was just the wave of incredible defamation/bankruptcy suit from LKY that killed JBJ.
What JBJ promoted is not as bad as it seems.
yeah. what ever JBJ did as a felony is nothing compared to an ex member of parliament Hong Kah Town Council 2000-2004.
That lawyer cheated his clients of money. A lot more (just by adjusting for inflation) if JBJ’s claimed amount.
And of course it is a lot more than what Chee SJ was claimed to have cheated.
That guy only got a fine. The latter two were bankrupted.
Talk about Justice.
the sad thing about the WP yaw is not because he voted PAP but the guy he voted, the pig Teo is an agressive pig.
HE went around telling his residents that in spite of losing monies from the town council fund, he is doing them a good service.
The sadder thing is he actually think the pigs’ rherotic that opposition needs to be gentle unlike Chee SJ is right.
It never occur that Chee was mis represented by the media.
How would you feel if you were bankrupted for a few dollars felony and what you believe in?
We all now know how bad the official media is against the opposition.
Gerald,
Why would I want to vote for a party whose leader said he is proud to be compared to the PAP? What’s the difference between WP and PAP? Just because it’s a different name? What has WP fought for these last 3 years? What has its members done? Name me one.
I would rather spoil my vote to show WP (which is suppose to be an OPPOSITION party) that I am unhappy with the way it is going about things.
Vote for WP is the same as voting for the PAP. Thus it is better to spoil my vote than to give it this impression that it is “credible” (according to Koh CY) and that Singaporeans like me are supportive of their approach.
Yaw Shin Leong voted for Teo Ho Pin because obviously he found Teo Ho Pin “more credible”. But as it turned out, Teo Ho Pin is a numskull who told residents they should be “thankful” that the town council accumulated so much money even thought they lost $12 million.
It shows that people like Yaw Shin Leong have poor judgement. Now this Koh CY, president of the WP Youth Wing, is also talking nonsense, implying that JBJ was “not credible”.
Koh CY, when JBJ was putting his neck on the line, you were not even born yet.
Don’t be too haughty.
>>> Now this Koh CY, president of the WP Youth Wing, is also talking nonsense, implying that JBJ was “not credible”.
Stop spreading lies, SDP jealous pigs. When did the interviewee say JBJ is not credible.
@green box
W/o Teo who helped the TC accumulated much more times than the 12 million..we can afford the 12 million. Do u think any opposition TC can even have 12 million to lose??
its stupid to spoil your vote..anyway,makes not much difference to us.
Aiyoh! Again and again, do not try to emulate or simply mimic the ruling party and worst, just provide refinements to the ruling party’s present policies, even a small-kid understand that; that very basic principle that, why shall I vote for the insurgents (another political party) with similar or almost the same ideologies as the incumbents (present ruling party)?
With this type of mentalities, what are you trying to impress the electorates, either you are younger or more handsome or better looking, in-short more charismatic? If that is the case, as an electorate, it is better for him to vote for the same ruling party as it has “more resources and experiences”.
Mind you, an opposition is to oppose most of the time and only to agree to the least extent!! Is wp trying to endeavor to be a “diplomat” instead of a “politician”? People will only vote for the insurgents because they want “CHANGES”. If this type of mentality has been embraced by the wp, I can assure you that the wp will always be the shallow party of the ruling party; that is wp will always “be the mistress and never be the marital wife”.
I suggest strongly to wp, send all your (both old and young) members for political lectures to brush-up their political knowledge so as to be the real credible alternative opposition party!!!! It seems to me that they do not even have basic political knowledge and how to be a real politician? By the way work with other opposition parties to form a real powerful opposition!!!!!
Politics are dirty games, get your noses bloody, your hands dirty, my dear “?gentlemen?” and “?ladies?” Either you get wet or you get out!!!!
young white shirt,
“its stupid to spoil your vote..anyway,makes not much difference to us.”
It’s even more stupid to vote for a party which is proud of being compared to the PAP.
You said, ” makes not much difference to us”. Who is “us”? WP? Are you a WP member?
“I suggest strongly to wp, send all your (both old and young) members for political lectures to brush-up their political knowledge so as to be the real credible alternative opposition party!!!!”
That’s true. WP thinks it is the “more credible” opposition party and does not want to ‘dirty” it’s “credibility” by participating in forums organised by other parties. They have not participated in any of such forums.
Looks to me like WP is an elitist party, just like the PAP.
If opposition supporters and voters continue to fight among themselves, then PAP wins.
It makes me wonder if some of the so called opposition supporters here are really secret PAP agents stirring trouble.
There are also some TOC leading questions which I do not like.
“Why did you choose to join the Worker’s Party over the other opposition parties?”
This kind of question basically has the potential to sow discord among opposition voters. Why not just ask :
“Why did you choose to join the Worker’s Party?” instead?
Another one.
“So far, which current PAP MP or cabinet minister has impressed you the most, and why do you say that?”
TOC seems to be trying to subtly stir shit here, methinks. A better question will be:
“Which politician in the past or present has impressed you and why?”
I feel that Ng Swee Bee has fallen into the trap set by TOC.
I am starting to question TOC’s motivation now. I will be watching you guys closely.
Seems to me that many of the readers are quite critical towards the new blood from the Workers’ Party! Yes, they seem pretty ‘mild’ but people, please don’t compare them with JBJ, bless his soul, he’s from another league & era! It’s probably necessary to be a warrior of a fighter during the early days of Singapore politics; however I think being cool & calm isn’t a bad thing at all. No doubt, they haven’t touched on much things close to many of our hearts, but still, they seem pretty down to earth & perhaps we should give them a chance to prove themselves; after all, we gave PAP many years of chance & see what Singapore has become!
I think we shouldn’t be too early to judge these people & instead of giving up on them, let’s wait a little & see if they are any good during the election. I don’t know what’s credible to you people, but for me, as long as the person cares for the people of Singapore, then he/she will get my vote. Just look at the PAP candidates, many are professionals, doctors & what-nots, it’s really quite a show, but have any of them really bothered about your problems or at least pretend to be concerned? Have any of them rolled up their sleeves & got their hands dirty helping you? Or they just tell you that they will write a letter for you to some organization? If that’s true, then I think we just need to hire letter-writers!! It’s cheaper too.
It’s never gonna be easy to fill JBJ’s shoes & when he was fighting for us, how many of us really backed him up? I don’t think many of us wanna been seen with him within a 10ft radius when MM Lee sued him, isnt it? I remember JBJ as a warrior on the political battlefield; he was like a thorn in the PAP flesh & I respect this guts to go against MM Lee. So, if we really want a fighter like JBJ to represent us, then I must say that we, as Singaporeans, need to back him up till the end & not give up on him when he’s down!! Just put yourself in JBJ or the next JBJ’s shoes, would you really wanna go all the way with the ruling party when you know the supporters will desert you once MM Lee shows his hatchet? So, perhaps let’s be thankful that someone is willing to do the dirty job & provide an alternative voice in Parliament for us, lesser mortals!
Please read the interview carefully, guys.
“Milder” in that context was used to describe WP of today against the WP of yesteryear.
“More credible” appeared to be used by Choong Yong to describe his opinion when comparing the WP against other opposition parties during the 2006 elections.
TOC probably did him a dis-service by lumping the two terms together as part of the article title. They were used under two separate contexts. Reading the followup comments, it would appear many readers were misled into being unnecessarily ticked-off by the false assumption that JBJ was “less credible”.
“Disappointing. I think bloggers such as TOC, Alex Au, Singaporemind, etc have done more than WP. At least they speak up. WP, on the other hand, has been missing in action since ge 2006.
I don’t think I will be voting for them this time round. At worse, I will spoil my vote.
Vote for them and last 3 years do nothing. No point voting for this “mild” party. Useless. ”
Exactly.
Just vote for change. If you don’t change the culture of Singapore politics, things will continue at status quo at best. At status quo, I feel sorry for you if you cannot see that the amount of tax payer money spent to sustain status quo will leech each ordinary folks like us dry.
The only way to change is that one vote in the coming election to make all the difference.
Lastly, the question from me is, while you chided the opposition parties for being mild, what are you willing to do? Hide behind keyboard like me? At least, I am voting for change in the coming election while you guys are still debating what you want.
PS: You want JBJ, sorry, you just missed the train. – and JBJ missed your support when he sorely needs it.
those who want to spoil your votes are imprudent, if malaysian voters spoil their votes, will there be a tsunami? if japanese voters spoil their votes, will there be a change?
of course,it is personal choice to vote or not to vote but pls think it over,vote for the opposition for the sake of singapore, for the sake of true democracy,true check and balance . don’t miss the forest for the trees.
I am going to be 50 soon and I got to vote every GE since 1984 except for the 2001 GE. All my votes had been given to the oppositions and most of the time , I don’t even know their names, whether they were a monkey or a clown and I am sure there were WP candidates among them.
I am very very disappointed, to the point of feeling betray, after reading about this Yaw guy from WP voted for the PAP and I really feel like a fool for all those years voting for the oppositions.
While I pride myself for never given the PAP one vote, and I am sure I will never going to do that, I am not sure I will give my vote to the WP in the future.
As a political party, what have the WP done for the people? Yes, I might not know if they were helping someone in their Hougang ward. However, I felt that they should have voice out on some important issues and reflect the people’s view in a more open manner( as oppose to just putting in one or two questions in the parliament).
A case in point would be the burnt Lehman products sold by local banks. I am in the financial line and I can tell you 100% that this is a case of misrepresentations on the part of the financial institutions, As a political party, what is the problem for WP to come out to help a few lost soul, those uncles and anties? They might be accused of politicizing the matter but so be it. If not for the HK settlement, All these poor investors would be very much worse off. In fact, the HK activists that help those investors were mostly from the democratics componet parties which are the de facto oppositions in the SAR. ( P.S. I do not own any of these bad asset)
Please WP, it’s time to grow as an alternative party. I have live in many countries for an extended period of time and I have never seen any political oppositions as “mild ” as you!
WP Chairman: “We Singaporeans are quite capable of deciding what kind of country we want.”
WP Sec Gen: “I AM PROUD TO BE COMPARED TO THE PAP!”
WP Org Sec: “I VOTED FOR THE PAP!”
WP Youth Wing President: “WE ARE CREDIBLE!”
What a joke, this political party.
#45 (vote for any opposition),
“those who want to spoil your votes are imprudent, if malaysian voters spoil their votes, will there be a tsunami? if japanese voters spoil their votes, will there be a change?”
Malaysian opposition parties didn’t sit on their a**es and keep consoling themselves that they are “credible”. They went after UMNO like pitbulls – unlike our “credible” WP who has been missing in action.