Monday, April 12, 2010

Empty vessels make the most noise

Was doing some bedtime reading before heading to bed when i saw the following article on CNA

It is healthy that there's political contest in S'pore: Ng Eng Hen
By Lynda Hong | Posted: 11 April 2010 1940 hrs
It is healthy that there's political contest in S'pore: Ng Eng Hen
SINGAPORE : Education Minister Ng Eng Hen on Sunday said it is healthy that there is political contest in Singapore.
He was responding to reporters who asked him about the recent activity by opposition parties in various constituencies.
Dr Ng joined 300 residents in Toa Payoh for some Sunday morning exercise.
Elaborating on his point that political contest is healthy, Dr Ng said he would encourage would-be candidates and opposition parties to meet residents so that residents could ask them questions about what they stood for.
He said: "I think it is healthier for Singapore, rather than just appearing before the elections and then not continuing. I have noticed that opposition parties are doing this more regularly, and I think all-in-all, it is good for politics in Singapore."
Dr Ng said PAP MPs assume that there would be a contest each time, and so the MPs have been working the ground to improve the lives of residents.
This point was also emphasised by Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong at a separate community event.
Mr Gan also told reporters that there has not been a shortage of ideas within the ruling party.
He was asked to respond to Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam's comments in a TODAY interview that a one-party system will lead to a society closed to new ideas.
Mr Gan said that PAP MPs have been proactive in implementing their ideas.
He said: "During the last recession, you also see that we have rolled out many initiatives, including the Jobs Credit, SPUR and so on.
"They were very effective in helping our companies and workers cope with the recession and allowing our economy to recover very strongly, very quickly since the second half of last year."
Mr Gan added that the PAP MPs have also been focused on serving the residents and improving their estates. - CNA/ms
Not wanting to elaborate too much on the highlighted text, but based on my own personal very unscientific, biased and non-proven experience, I would like to re-account on the following,

I have lived in my current estate since year 2001. I have NEVER seen any walkabout by ANY political parties until 2006. Given that my estate was previously a walkover GRC, only to be remove and gazetted into another zone for the 2006 elections, it wasn't all that surprising. That was the first time I started seeing any parties appearing in or near my estate. So BOTH parties i would say are guilty of what Mr Ng mentioned, "just appearing before the elections". It was during this period though, that attending rallies etc that i know more or what each candidate, not just their party stood for, before I cast my first ever vote in 2006.

Fast-forward to today, 2010. My estate is a PAP ward. Over the last few years, I have seen the Workers Party people around my area, but they didn't come door to door I assume, cause I never did get to speak to them, but I recognised them through their party uniform. I also saw Mr Low twice, and said hi to him because I know and recognised who he is. On the other hand, I have yet to ever see any PAP people around my area, maybe they weren't wearing the party uniform, or they were not doing any group event, I honestly do not know. I have NEVER seen my MP, who is a full minister, and probably very busy with his work to come down from his ivory tower to talk to us lesser mortal.

Or maybe its just me who never had the good fortune of running into them when I'm in around the estate, and/or that I'm never home when they visited my place over the last couple of years. Just for the record, I think I have struck 4d about twice over the last couple of years, yet I have not met my MP before. So my personal conclusion is that, its easier to strike 4d than meeting your my MP?

4 comments:

  1. "Just for the record, I think I have struck 4d about twice over the last couple of years, yet I have not met my MP before. So my personal conclusion is that, its easier to strike 4d than meeting your my MP?"

    An entertaining but irrelevant anecdote. The chap who goes for a meet the people session but does not buy 4D would have the opposite experience.

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  2. yes, i totally understand and agree where u are coming from. I could have probably met the MP if I had a need to, which I will then probably find out when and where the meet the people session is held etc. but herein lies the chicken and egg issue that I wish to pose, are we suppose to go looking for our MP with our problems or are our MP and their often claimed great grassroot support supposed to come to us to check if we are facing any problems?

    What I'm trying to put across in the last statement of the post is basically a light hearted view the similarities between both 'games of chance/probablities'. Personal experiences included. =)

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  3. Would you still feed a 'caught' fish?

    They would cast you the bait again when its 'open season'(GE)time!

    It's then up to you to bite or not.

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  4. a smart fish will nibble at the bait and avoid the hook,
    in other words, take the PAP goodies,
    support them verbally with a fork tongue and then backstab them with your vote, hehe

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