Breaking The GRC Stronghold

So the votes have been tallied and the results are out. On 8th May 2011, Singaporeans woke up to the reality of a stronger Workers' Party; having wrested the Aljunied GRC stronghold containing 3 Ministers no less from PAP and retained their traditional bulwark of Hougang, their presence in the Parliament has strengthened from 1 seat to 6 (not including any possible NCMPs too). This is also the most number of elected Opposition seats taken up since Singapore's independence.

But the feeling of dissatisfaction is strong in the air and one wonders if PAP will take heed. They have clearly lost ground; the previous election in 2006 PAP having garnered 66.7% of the votes, only 60.14% voted for them in 2011. Two PAP heavyweight ministers, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister Mah Bow Tan also received poorer scores for their "report cards" this time round, having lost a significant share of votes from the previous election. These 2 constituencies were also notable for their 'wins' due to the slate of fresh candidates offered up by National Solidarity Party. For first time contestants, their share of votes gained were very credible and noteworthy.

But on a whole, what tips could the opposition parties glean from this election?

1) Consistent Messaging

The Workers' Party's communications plan was the strongest and the tightest amongst ALL the parties contesting this time round. Yes, even the PAP could take a lesson or two. Having attended their rallies and watched their videos online, every candidate knew the party's mission and ideals by heart and embodied it. Ending every speech with a consistent "Vote for the Workers' Party towards a First World Parliament", that line became synonymous with the party and in fact, the strongest rallying cry for the election.

I will not go into whether the message itself could have been better, but their consistent delivery cannot be faulted. The PAP recognised and went for the jugular by attempting to tear it apart, with MP Indranee Singh leading the pack. But Mr Low successfully rebutted every attack backed up by Ms Sylvia Lim in the press and the messaging was reinforced credibly by every candidate during the rallies. So not only did they settle on a communications message, but plans were laid for a vigorous defense and strong comebacks to what was a rather predictable PAP challenge.

2) Brand Loyalty

Workers' Party candidates also stand out by having a strong loyalty to the cause, something in which every other political party (besides PAP) suffers heavily from. In this aspect, I actually believe that WP took a leaf or two from PAP's own book!

The leader and "star appeal" from the get go has always been Mr Low Thia Kiang, flanked by the very capable and charismatic Ms Sylvia Lim and the extremely credible Mr Chen Show Mao. Mr Pritam Singh also came into his own with his steadfast delivery but overall, the strongest spotlight was trained on Mr Low and nobody else fought to detract that from him. And it worked for the voters. Mr Low came across as a strong party leader backed by strong lieutenants and the voters bought it. Having stepped out firmly into the unknown to contest for a GRC, the challenge was thrown during Nomination Day and the battle lines were drawn.

PAP tried to play a game of chicken, challenging Aljunied GRC voters if they dared sacrifice Foreign Minister George Yeo for a normal MP like Mr Low but that strategem backfired tremendously. And it went to show that voters were not impressed with titles and fancy sounding portfolios; instead a strong character coupled with integrity was what counted and WP came out the stronger winner.

The National Solidarity Party got off to a shaky start with the loss of their Principal Election Agent and older brother of party chief Goh Meng Seng. From then on, it sadly became the Nicole Seah Show, with attention within and without the party trained solely on her young shoulders with very little else coming from the rest of the party candidates. But what a marvelous job she pulled off, backing Senior Minister to the polls with only 54% of the votes garnered. This was an incredible feat made no less by the fact that she was a political newcomer. Very little was heard from party chief Mr Goh Meng Seng through out (the other Mr Goh) despite Mah Bow Tan's obvious unpopularity and SM Goh's clumsy gaffes. Previously touted star candidates or "A-team" comprising of former scholars and couple Tony Tan and Hazel Poa also failed to impress or garner much traction amongst voters.

But it could have been better. The musical chair of opposition candidates played out prior to Nomination Day did not help the cause overall with personas and egos jumping ship every so often. The Reform Party suffered the worst of this and generally arrived at Nomination Day with an air of having cobbled their candidates from anybody and everybody willing to "have a go at it". Not the sort to inspire faith in a voter from the get go if they knew that your candidate joined you just a couple of months or even weeks / days prior to the elections. The only party that stood above and away from the opposition fray with regard to "talent" was Workers' Party and they have the results to show for it. Voters like to know you are in it for the long haul and that includes your membership to the party. After all, Singaporeans like stability even when voting for change.

I think Alex Au once stated that to argue for the greater cause of "unity" was to be disloyal to the party's cause of gaining more seats and sadly, this has played out to be true. Perhaps it is the very nature of an opposition candidate that makes him or her unable to stay within a party that has a set of rules and regulations he or she can't agree with. After all isn't the hallmark of a PAP candidate one that submits to group-mandate?

I personally believe that in the months ahead, we will see loser candidates leave their current parties and join others or set up new ones.

3) Having A Media Plan

A pleasant surprise from this election was the improvement of coverage allocated to opposition parties this time round. The local press had obviously realised that they no longer had the stranglehold on news in the era of Facebook and the Internet. Unfortunately most if not all opposition were caught off-guard but how nicely the press was playing this time round and were still playing by the old rules i.e. do not trust or rely the local press to get your message out. This in a way, is a sad indictment of the trust our local citizenry has towards the press but that's a post for another time.

So aside from the traditional podium pounding speeches and the clumsy fumblings of urging supporters to "share" links and videos online, the opposition failed by and large to play to the local media, something that PAP has had the luxury of since inception. By the time various opposition figures realised this, it was rather too late into the campaign and PAP has as usual stolen a march on them.

Vivian Balakrishnan's attempted smear campaign on SDP backfired and ironically hit him in where he least expected it; via the local press. Disapproving and unforgiving opinions were published and aired in local papers for once, reflecting the louder disgust heard online and within days, the PAP camp found itself in a position of scrambling to regain lost moral high ground. But the fair play exhibited by the local press was unexpected and to be honest, unprecedented and the opposition failed to capitalise on their gains.

All that said, whether this continues to remain as a normal state of affairs remain to be seen as PAP evaluates the performance of the media under their control and whether hidden repercussions are dealt or felt with after the results are known. The loss of a GRC and a well-liked Foreign Minister is guaranteed to rattle the highest management and as history has shown, PAP is not above changing the rules or altering the playing field to suit itself.

Confessions of a Once-PAP Voter

Originally posted at http://www.facebook.com/notes/nicholas-lim/confessions-of-a-once-pap-voter/210916142266133

I grew up in a PAP household. Mum worked for the PAP & was only one reporting level away from a Minister himself. I even volunteered for a couple of PAP events but was vaguely uncomfortable with something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Election periods while growing up meant losing Mum for those campaigning days where she accompanied the Minister as part of the grassroots team going door-to-door canvassing for votes. I recall one GE in particular where Cheng San GRC was The Hot Seat. Mum allowed us to stay up to watch the results come in and we all burst out in spontaneous cheering when PAP won. The just and right government had won and I was proud of my Mum for being part of that process. I didn't understand what were the consequences of a PAP-dominated parliament; these were matters best left to the adults.

Getting to know friends who stayed in Hougang were like getting to know another species of Singaporean. "What's it like living in an OPPOSITION ward?" was a question asked with much gleeful curiousity. My first glimpse of Potong Pasir disappointed slightly; I was expecting a bunch of HDB dwellers really down in the dumps, probably going about their day with snarls and grimaces. Instead it was just like any other HDB neighbourhood, just with more visible wear-and-tear around the edges. I was so glad my parents chose to live in AND vote for a PAP-led ward; I can't imagine life without lifts on every floor and a thriving neighbourhood hub with its own MRT station! Upgrading being allocated to PAP-held constituencies seemed like a logical extension of things, the way the government explained things. But then again, I couldn't vote and these were matters best left to politically-inclined individuals.

The advent of the Internet changed all that perception. Curiosity had always gotten me into trouble before (another story for another day) and one fine day, for the life of me I can't recall why now, I decided to look up political parties on the Internet. PAP's website was a natural starting point; everything was as you can expect it to be. Information was parsely doled out with the usual tidbits on how successful Singapore was and how PAP being in charge was responsible for this and how you as a Singaporean, was truly lucky to be part of this utopia we were all working towards. It further amplified my sense that if I wasn't satisfied and happy with the state of things, I wasn't a true Singaporean then.

The first opposition website I peeked into was Worker's Party. It wasn't very well fleshed out back then (this was before 2005) and a lot of it seemed statistics based or focused. I lost interest pretty quickly and looked for more.

Then I found SDP's and I was blown away. For the first time, there were questions I had always thought about vaguely & then quickly quashed as undeserving of a true Singaporean. Far from the much-demonised caricature one usually sees in the mainstream press, the figures of SDP were normal and caring Singaporeans with a difference but oh what a large one. They dared question the status quo and refuse to settle for less. They put forth in not so many words that the government should be accountable to the people, not the other way around. They fought against blind acceptance of governmental "edicts" and spoke up regarding alleviating the plight of less fortunate Singaporeans. They told me that I had rights as a citizen, rights which were summarily dismissed and taken away without my knowledge.

From then on, I started to read our local press with a much greater level of awareness and also questioned what I read. SDP updated their website with the greatest frequency and I devoured their insights and arguments with great relish. The mrbrown/mr-miyagi fiasco with TODAY (I can't recall ofhand now sorry) made me realise the government began to regard the Internet with fear. They were losing control on how information and more importantly, the truth was being disseminated and they didn't like it. The rise of socio-political portals like The Online Citizen and Temasek Review began to offer editorialised counter viewpoints to the current affairs in Singapore, albeit amateurish. But information was power and I began to feel empowered. I swore that the next time I voted, it would be with both eyes wide open.

Fast forward to 2011. The issues put forth by the Opposition are the same with one exception; the opening of the foreign labour floodgates. Cost of living in Singapore has shot up tremendously as compared to the previous decade along with housing and transport. The government's refusal to agree to a minimum wage system means the lower-income families struggle even harder just to survive and local Singaporeans across every level have to compete with an indiscriminate flood of cheaper foreign labour, loosely disguised as necessary "talent". The PAP always says that with them in charge, the years ahead will always be good. But this time round, I regard a PAP-helmed future with much trepidation.

Over the last 5 years, I have been marginalised and belittled as a Singaporean. I served my National Service with great pride but I witness stories of how locals are sidelined in favour of cheaper foreign imports. A Singaporean ten dollar doesn't go as far as it used to, even in Johor Bahru. Taking the public transport, shopping in our plentiful malls, eating in our local eateries, I have never felt the lack of our national identity more. If I were to order food, I have to be mindful to speak slowly to the China server. If I were to call regarding local services, I have to adjust myself to a Filipino accent. At work, should I be required to interact with the IT department, I have to get used to the thick India-n accent.

Today though, I had the luxury of an all-Singaporean experience at the Worker's Party rally at Bedok Stadium. A Malay family who had arrived early like me, brought spare mats and spread them out, inviting everyone to sit and share with them. During Somasundaram's rally speech, an local Indian was helpfully translating the gist of it to us fellow non-Tamil speaking folk. A Chinese uncle who had spare bottles of water offered them to us when it was 2 hours into the rally.

The irony struck me that for the first time in years, I felt connected and closer to my fellow Singaporeans at an event that is probably the most grudgingly sanctioned one by the PAP - a rally whose purpose was to TOPPLE the PAP. The outpouring of affection and camaraderie was a hundred times more genuine than any extravagant NDP parade, much less the farce that was the YOG. People all around me cheered, hooted and jeered in perfect synchronicity. Everyone were expressing their joy at hearing the opposition speak out against the silent injustices inflicted upon us by the PAP and how over the years, we were regarded less as citizens and more like statistics and figures crucial only to their ever increasing stratospheric self-awarded salaries.

So as a fellow Singaporean, the upcoming week is a crucial one. I ask that you do not take the PAP's words at blind faith; the information is out there and easily available. For those who prefer to harken back to the days of yore, I can only say this; the PAP of our parents' generation is long gone. The ministers of today are less concerned with our welfare and more interested in meeting "KPIs" and "benchmarks". Pursuing economic growth blindly is not the solution nor the answer. These are acceptable practises when it comes to work but when it comes to managing a country, a nation with our lives and our children's future at stake, it is not enough and should not be acceptable.

We have the chance to make things right. It comes only once every 5 years. Do you dare risk another half a decade with a careening PAP at the wheel?

ADDENDUM - Posted this after a friend's friend queried my stance regarding immigrants.

I have nothing against immigrants who are here to stay; I have Korean blood in me from my dad's side. Mum's family is Peranakan & I've got family in Malacca.

However I do take issue with these so-called "talents" who come here for a quick stint & easy access to a PR status with no intention of staying whatsoever. I am unhappy with a government that has no qualms in flooding our country with transient foreign workers.

The neighbourhood coffeeshops at my area have been taken over completely by PRC workers - from the kopi stall to the chicken rice to the fishball noodles to the zhar cai fan. The single malay stalls had to close down because the malay residents didn't feel comfortable having their meals there IN THEIR OWN NEIGHBOURHOOD.

I recently went shopping at Tampines Mall and nearly every shop I went into were unable to serve me in English. I can only wonder at the business logic that excludes non-mandarin speaking customers. Just because I happen to speak mandarin myself does not excuse anything.

A year ago, the firm I worked in hired a Filipino studio manager. Within 6 months, 3/4s of the original team were replaced with fellow Filipinos; a colleague close to her cited that she found it difficult to work with local designers and hence she made the switch. And they all talk incessantly of the day they get to go back to their own country and buy a house.

I have lots of expatriate friends who have come here looking for work and end up finding love, set up home and settled down. They are no less Singaporean to me than my other friends; but I do take offence at a government that refuses to implement a minimum wage and forces us locals to compete with cheaper imports who don't have to contend with the long term consequences of living here.