Andrew Loh /
“At the start of [our] pre-election public outreach, I have brought up instances where the PAP has abused its power as a government to secure political advantage for the PAP, to perpetuate itself in power and to deny more opposition being elected into Parliament,” Mr Low Thia Khiang, Workers’ Party secretary general, told the packed field at Kallang Avenue on Monday.
“They have been very successful in the last 46 years in doing this,” he told the crowd.
This abuse of power has led to the opposition being unable to grow and develop, Mr Low said. He cited the increase in the number of people voting for the opposition but yet only two elected opposition members have been in Parliament the last two decades.
It is because of this “political reality” facing the opposition and “to help Singaporeans seriously contemplate the future for Singapore” that the Workers’ Party has chosen the election slogan, “Towards a first world parliament” for the general election this time. This is the vision the party is offering Singaporeans, Mr Low said.
“A first world parliament is one which is able to balance a strong Executive with a check and balance mechanism formed by a credible and responsible opposition which is given the mandate by the electorate,” Mr Low told the enthusiastic crowd. “This is the first step to stop further abuse of power by the PAP.”
Mr Low cited the People’s Association (PA) as an example of such abuse, through its network of Residents’ Committees (RCs), Citizen Consultative Committees (CCCs). “They also organize activities which PAP candidates are invited to attend so that these new candidates can build up rapport quickly on the ground,” Mr Low said. The party had brought up the matter in earlier rallies. “The PAP has yet to respond to the issue,” said Mr Low.
He cited a recent example of a resident in Aljunied GRC who received a message some days ago from the RC.
“The message reads:
‘I am the RC chair. I would like to circulate some election info to you, if it’s ok with you.’
The resident replied: ‘Which party do you represent?’
The reply came back: ‘Hi. We’re not representing any party.’
Then she [the resident] received this message on general election info: ‘There’s a rally at Serangoon stadium from 7pm tonight.’”
“It was informing the resident of the PAP rally!” Mr Low said. “Why is the RC promoting a PAP rally?” he asked. The rally crowd then echoed “Kelong! Kelong! Kelong!” – the colloquial word for cheating.
Mr Low went on and raised two other issues which showed the abuse of power by the PAP government – why the PAP is able to have kindergarten branches while the WP could not; and why he, as an elected Member of Parliament (MP), has had to conduct his Meet-The-People sessions at the void decks for the last two decades, an issue he had also raised at a previous rally. “I have yet to get an answer from the PAP,” Mr Low said.
The GRC system and the issue of gerrymandering were also highlighted by the WP in its other rallies. “Again, no response,” said Mr Low, referring to the PAP. “Instead, we have MM Lee jumping up and down about the contest in Aljunied GRC.”
“But I think he has to watch his Tanjong Pagar GRC teammate, Chan Chun Sing, carefully,” Mr Low said, who referred to the answer Mr Chan had given when asked for his views on new PAP candidates not serving National Service (NS).
Mr Chan had said:
“For me, I don’t just ask where you come from. More importantly, I ask where you are going. In the past, if you have not been a citizen, you may not have contributed to NS, or maybe different walks, different sectors of society.” (See here at 3:40 mins.)
Mr Low took issue with Mr Chan’s comments. “Is he saying that National Service is not important? That it does not matter whether one serves National Service? I do not feel [it is] right that the PAP should fill a foreign talent who just became a new citizen without serving National Service as a candidate.”
“He is now trying to seek your mandate to represent the people in parliament,” Mr Low added.
Although Mr Low did not mention the candidate by name, it is apparent he was referring to Dr Janil Puthucheary, the PAP candidate for Punggol-Pasir Ris GRC, which is helmed by Mr Teo Chee Hean. Dr Puthucheary, 38, became a Singapore citizen three years ago – at the age of 35. The issue of his never having served National Service was a point of criticism among some Singaporeans. When asked about this, he had said that while it “is a fact” that he did not do NS, he however had “spent the last 10 years saving kids’ lives.” (Read here, here and here.)
Mr Low reminded the crowd of what Defence Minister Mr Teo had said in Parliament in 2006 on the matter of NS defaulters.
“Besides, the fact that they are talented and can contribute to Singapore does not detract from the fact that they have defaulted on their NS duties. Everyone, regardless of talent, must play their part in our nation’s defence.” (Mindef)
“Mr Chan Chun Sing was the Chief of Army before,” Mr Low said. “How can a former Chief of Army publicly state something contradictory to the Minister for Defence?”
“I propose that we consider amending the Constitution for the qualification for male candidates for election, to reject those who have not served National Service,” Mr Low said, to loud applause from the crowd. “This is only fair to us. We have all done National Service, including myself, including Chen Show Mao,” he added, referring to his teammate for Aljunied GRC who was reported to have served his NS even before he became a Singapore citizen.
Mr Low asked if this was the attitude of Mr Chan, who is considered one of the new PAP candidates with the potential to be office holders to lead Singapore into the future, towards National Service, a duty which every male Singaporeans have the obligation to fulfill.
Mr Low then turned to the point he had made at the beginning of his speech – that Singaporeans should not allow one party to dominate their lives.
“We should not put all [our] eggs in one basket by voting in just PAP candidates, leaving the entire legislature to them, to operate, to allow them to dominate your lives,” Mr Low said. “We must not let them shortchange us!”
Ending his English speech, Mr Low urged, “If you are concerned about your livelihood, and our children’s future, then vote Workers’ Party, towards a first world parliament!”
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Low Thia Khiang is sour that he is losing support from the supporters on the ground. He abandoned the residents of Hougang. He will use the residents of Aljunied for his own interest and chuck them aside later. Despicable!
@Dave
Its really sad that you are blind to truth.
@Dave 4 May 2011
Low Thia Khiang is sour that he is losing support from the supporters on the ground. He abandoned the residents of Hougang. He will use the residents of Aljunied for his own interest and chuck them aside later. Despicable!
: so what? so long if wp can check on them and really help our happiness in long term, serve us with a better mind and heart, not swell heart like pappies.
pappies also not that good lah, if good wont apologize… disappointed that you have been made use of… they are not so pure as a kind hearted child
read http://www.goldclubasia.com/forum and you will understand why ruling party is crappy, for one big thing, the overprinting of currencies by countries.. dont keep on thinking sgd appreciation is good, these PAPER currencies will bring us double sided woes like mncs and big corporations pull out..
on a side note- lots of people buying usd, they are to be pitied as usa going down due to overprinting of money and issuing of worthless trillions of bonds-how many zeros are there??(unless they buy for short term)
SM says majority Singaporean does not mind the high ministerial pay… Hahaha… I wonder where he hear from? From the shit times? Or his lackey RC people? I dare say a lot of us mind on this pay issue.
Apologies are good. In general, it indicates that the policy makers are listening. Top level salaries demand top level performance. In many private organisations, you don’t get to be told not to make the mistake a second time. You are asked to leave. Apologies are only mere apologies if the accountability on top level performance was not there earlier. Issuing them only when election is around the corner, without accountability thoughout the term, is extremely detrimental.
PM Lee only apologized due to pressure build-up.
I do not think it is sincere as the pooling date is near and he hope to win over some faint heart person.
So.. do not get con again. Just remember that they told us many years that ERP was introduced to taek over current road tax system and it did not happen. Sam goes to GST and many others
hi all,
the pappies has only lost abit of online space, but they still have their advantages as the traditional media and older generations who dont access online or internet still TRUST the media.. THEY OUTNUMBER us by at least 20-30%… although our internet take up nationwide is about 70-75%, how many are concerned with politics(only 1 out 10 or 20), and how many uses online to browse is unknown.
That’s why pappies could control traditional media and control us for 50 years..
please dont think one grc would be enough to help us, as they would think ways to discredit or disadvantage or try to overthrow them… in the first place the opposition is more gentlemen, but is the pappies, always belittling our representatives. We need at least 2, but i doubt so maybe aljunied also lose as media control is still well done by pappies
the traditional media like straits time, new paper, today, tv like channel 5, 8 and channel news asia…
PLEASE, I URGE SERIOUSLY, the hdb blocks and condos blocks, please please NSP, WP, RP, SDP do your rounds for next 2 days using 2-3 representative of smc and grc to capture these. We need more senior citizen support, circulate your presence there… but please have quantity and quality conversation.
The children can show their dad and mum and elders youtube to help them also…
We the online community still need 5-10 years before we can be the force of people power to be reckon with…
PLEASE do our parts to help as responsible and far sight and yet pragmatic singaporean.
why singaporeans say say only and eventually never vote for non-pappies is because of
1) the goodies given before and during election like even upgrading and better housing when we know that it is very bad as singaporeans struggling to pay very high prices for it
2) the myth that without pappies we cant survive, no one is indepensible. and they will still win very majority seats.
3) the myth that vote is not secret, actually they can check(that’s why they shifted the same grc and smc blocks to different smcs as REMEMBER the polls stations from there they know which block dont support them and which block supports them as they wont waste resources to recount the votes and see who are not loyal to pappies), but even if they check so what? they can burn our houses or lock up everyone? then the democracy truly dead, although now with grc it is dying 99% now, or democracy dead from day 1.
3) please dont be complacent and think game over for pappies, THEY ARE STILL VERY POWDERFUL they are coming up with more tricksssss and carrots mark my words, but they are not changing their policies of foreigners, housing pricing, giving more discount, reporting the reserves transparently of our very hard earn money(some parties got to speak up for us)…
The cooling day magic is coming… it would be saddest and most disappointing day for democracy… as the pappies would use this day to utmost advantages… while non-pappies cant do anything except online…
Civil servants know the tricks and the going-ons inside.. hope they do the right thing on 7 May
http://voiceofsg.blogspot.com/2011/05/state-of-denmark.html
What apology? LHL should also apologise and take responsilibilty in creating the GRC mess from his predecessors. PAP forced the electorate to give walkovers because there are one or two Ministers in a GRC. Now, they are ‘crying’ that Ministers will lose because the Opposition is so much stronger to take a GRC. Who created this situation? They thought GRCs were invincible.
Dear Sirs,
PLs do not expect us to vote you just because you and your team want to be voted into our Parliment! Can you and your team tell us precisely what you can contribute and offer to us also economically? Tell us or teach us, can you and your team help to generate Income and Revenue for our nation?
Everyone know how to Spend monies, but do you and your team knows how to save money and generate income for our Nation? what is your plan in this aspect?
PAP will secure all our CPF $$$, so secure that cannot touch! who knows, those old folks who live in granny flats alone & pass away, the CPF $$ dunno end up where….
& yes our CPF is so secure that it cannot be used, even if you needed it. for security’s sake, people’s wages should all go to the state instead, let this nanny state decide how much or little “is enough” for you? if you are walking on 2 legs alone, i think its also safer & more secure if walk on all 4s.
how more secure it that? i say what, you just do it (& dun complain), good plan?
If everyone knows how to spend money, who do you think spend the most? Money put into mini sports hall, sheltered walkways could have served better cause. Would you still be paying property tax for your first small home, rice and transport if these gifts are made to grow in worthwhile investments? Who actually benefits when these money are invested in beautiful show-offs and foreign investments that takes ten years to break even? Let us not worry about not having the talents to run this nation, for I believe they are there waiting for the time to serve you and me. If you will make the right choice.
Dave 4 May 2011
Low Thia Khiang is sour that he is losing support from the supporters on the ground. He abandoned the residents of Hougang. He will use the residents of Aljunied for his own interest and chuck them aside later. Despicable!
……………….
wah! for a brief moment i thought you are gonna says lowthiakiang is GAY and liked to hold hands with 5 others to form a gay tagged team…
p.s. do you see lowthiakiang roped in his wife/nephew/presssecdaughters in the grc tagged team?
Did WP formally complain to the organisations at the time the organisations supposedly treated WP unfairly? If so, did these organisations indicate who instructed them to do so? Why is WP only making these known only during the election period?
I believe Chan Chun Sing meant that new citizens who did not do National Service are not discriminated against. What is bad about that? The Defence Minister was referring to people who are required to do National Service but deliberately do not. Please do not confuse the readers.
@muijeow
See for yourself what Chan Chun Sing did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ9fHdAi6rQ
He has absolutely no ethics n no integrity. He will even stoop to this level. It is not unimaginable that he will even defile the sacrifices of all who have bled for this country for the sake of political gain.
One of the biggest abuses of power is in the system of rewarding the chosen few who become MPs.
I don’t have a major issue in rewarding Ministers and MPs per se. I don’t think we should penalise people for making money.
What I do have an issue with is how the rules seem to be different for a select few.
Generally speaking, when you work for a company or in the civil service – you are only allowed to have one employer. You get a steady pay check while the employer gets your services for 8 hours a day for five to six days a year.
However, this rule does not seem to apply to MPs. I take the example of Mr Alvin Yeo, the MP for Hong Kah GRC, who is currently contesting in Chua Chu Kang.
Mr Yeo is the Senior Partner at WongPartnership LLP. His monthly pay is something in the region of $50,000 a month and nobody begrudges him that because he’s a very good lawyer and the clients are willing to pay for his services.
You would imagine that given Mr Yeo’s high pay, he’d be pretty busy and wouldn’t have enough time to work anywhere else.
However, that’s not the case. He’s got another job called being an MP where he receives a mere $15,000 a month and pension if he serves more than two terms.
Now, I wonder how is it that ordinary civil servants and company employees are normally not allowed to work in two jobs but people like Mr Yeo are allowed to have two jobs, both which pay more than the national medium wage.
I wonder why the rules seem to be different for some people.
SM says majority Singaporean does not mind the high ministerial pay… Hahaha.
More peopl must laugh at this statement then go and vote the PAP out of office. If we vote them in…its like saying we agree with the SM. I am sure we are not so stupid to do that.
ourSecuredfuture 4 May 2011
Dear Sirs,
PLs do not expect us to vote you just because you and your team want to be voted into our Parliment!
………….
wow whoa! OUR parliament..not the people peoples’ parliament..
neigh we vote the pap party simply because there are gay mps/minister aroun right? indeed you been secured for far too long…
Un homme doit être maintenue sur son propre doit de 2 pieds jamais dépend d’autres à marcher en face de lui, car il pourrait manquer le trou d’homme découvert juste en face de lui en lui donnant une chute mighty grande où tous le Kingman ri et humpty dumpty pourrait obtenu pour le remplacer l’homme qui tombent
anglais ver 1.1b
A man must stand on his own 2 feet’s
Must never depends for others to walk in front of him
For he might missed the uncovered manhole right in front of him
Giving him a mighty great fall where all the Kingman laughed
And humpty dumpty might got to replace him the man who fall
I wonder why we pay billions of dollars for a “sorry” bunch of cry-babies.
Are we prepared to pay more billions for another 5-6 years of “sorry” government?
The PM and his team better provide concrete plans on how they will address the issues for the next six years. So far, all they do is just smear, sneer and jeer.
I often wonder why people want their home prices to go sky high. Are these people with BRAINS or just TISSUES of matter.
When the PAP is returned to power, your home prices will go to the ROOF, when mas imports of slaves comes in, but then the CRASH will also follow, look at the years prior to 1999, when HKG and Macau 999 lease over and they go back to China, mass immigration, 25k HKongier rushing at the Singapore high com in hkg for immigration to singapore, HDB flats went up and then, IT WENT DOWN also.
They buy into all the PROPAGANDA the PAP has BROADCAST VIA SHIT TIMES AND CNA.
DID the opposition CAUSED what happen ???
Some of my friends, against my advice, were caught in this, will you be caught too, or your children ? DON’T WOORY, EITHER ONE OF YOU WILL BE CAUGHT….GOD BLESS YOU .
But singaporeans are too SELFISH and STUPID to think ONLY about themselves.
They will reap, what they sow.
The 2 – 2.5 yrs we gave our blood sweat and tears to National Service should not be taken lightly. It creates live long bonds that cuts across race and lanugage. How about the unsung heros – casualties who lost their lives though unforeseen accidents. Lets not trivialise National Service.
During my dad’s era NS got to watch movies for free. Such was the respect given to them.
So asking that our MPs have served NS be a pre-requisite should not be taken lightly. Its part of our tradition. Its our RITE OF PASSAGE
To Wake up:
A CC is a public place. Any well wisher could have provided food and transport. Aunties and uncles may have assumed that people they regularly see at community events are “RC” or “CC” people. In any case, RCs, CCs are separate entities from PAP. Please do not mislead readers.
Public and social services are funded by taxpayers’ money and should be for all Singaporeans. No political party that is in power should use them as incentives for political gains or withhold them as punishments for those who do not vote for them. It is simply morally wrong and an abuse of power.
In a news report, PAP candidate for Potong Pasir said he would “move the lift upgrading programme swiftly” to “ease the burden of the estate’s senior citizens”. He would also provide more “community programmes” like “student care centres, active ageing activity centres and family service centres”.
But such services are part and parcel of Singapore’s public housing policies and social welfare policies. The HDB’s lift upgrading programme is an urgent public-housing policy response to our ageing population. Student care centres, active ageing centres, and family service centres are funded by tax payers’ money through grants from the MCYS for the welfare of our citizens.
Such services are meant for all Singaporeans where the needs justify them. They are funded by public money and are not for any political party to promise or to withhold from the citizens for their own self-interest.
PAP fields a candidate who has not done NS so that implies PAP does not consider NS important? That is not even a logical argument.
Be AWARE of new MPs pass their BILLS 2U
a) Energy Sector-Sale of Spore Power etc.Why the new MP from this sector?
b) Finance – New MP is from MAS,Why is he being voted into as MP?
c) Defence Sector–New MP why is our defence spent increasing?
We need a LOUDER opposition to STOP them to pass more unknown bills to SPOREAN
cracks through
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC-BBI5rmS4
I agree with Tang Li’s views. It has always been my thinking – how do lawyers who lead such busy lives are able to walk the ground and serve citizens’interest? I was a lawyer once before turning SAHM; a small timer like me compared to Alvin was already hands full with work and family….I don’t agree to with the $15k allowance and pension…incentive to serve with their hearts?