The majority were emotional after the passing of the former minister mentor.
His passing ensured that there was a huge swing of pioneer generation votes
to the PAP. The Pioneer Generation Package and SG50 celebration was timely
and just reinforced that outpouring of goodwill towards the PAP.
The younger generation overwhelmingly voted for PAP after seeing their
parents and grandparents crying during the week of mourning for the deceased
former prime minister.
The passing of LKY is a one time occurrence, so PAP will not do any better
than it has at this recent GE.
The only way PAP’s overall percentage will go up is if the minor parties
like RP, SingFirst, PPP, NSP, SDA, etc. continue to contest and lose big.
People know from the start that these parties cannot win, so most of them
don’t see the point of voting for these parties. Such parties only exist to
help PAP get a better percentage overall.
NSP claimed they will rebrand after losing the GE. No news from them till
now. Whether they rebrand or not, it’s still a minor party with the same
insignificant members whom voters have rejected again and again. It’s just
old wine in a new bottle. Who wants to watch Steve Chia, Sebastian Teo and
Cheo Chai Chen lose yet again? So exciting watching the same old faces lose
again and again! NSP has the dilemma where old members die die want to
contest. NSP has not spoken up on any major issue since the GE loss, so
expect them to be non-existent till the next GE.
SDP has been vocal and many TRE readers like SDP because they are bold and
dare to speak out. However, SDP does not do enough groundwork and if we are
true supporters, it would be good to let them know about this weakness early.
I repeat myself here. SDP cannot win UNLESS Dr Chee Soon Juan himself visits
every house. He needs to talk to residents, especially those who did not vote
for SDP. The best way for SDP to counter PAP’s smears against Chee is for
Chee himself to prepare early and let people know him early. If you know
someone personally, you are less likely to believe what a third-party says
about that person. Hopefully those who know Dr Chee or SDP will let them know
that the safest strategy is for Chee himself to spend the 4 or 5 years
walking the ground in Holland-Bukit Timah, visiting every house.
As for WP, I notice that they have tripled the frequency of their house
visits and activities in Aljunied GRC. Take for example the Christmas
celebrations. WP repeated the celebrations for Bedok Reservoir/Hougang North,
Paya Lebar, Eunos, Kaki Bukit and Serangoon, in addition to Hougang SMC. Six
or seven celebrations for just 1 festival. WP MP Sylvia Lim even visited the
rental flats in Serangoon to wish them personally and give out sweets.
They are leaving no stone unturned this time. If this continues, WP will win
Aljunied GRC again at the next GE. But PAP has succeeded in forcing the WP
leaders to stay put in Aljunied GRC. WP will have to stay put in Aljunied for
yet another GE. The ‘A’ team will remain there due to the narrow win at
GE2015.
An interesting observation is that some of the rising stars in WP have
started their own initiative in the wards where they lost. NCMPs Leon Perera
and Dennis Tan have been very active in East Coast GRC and Fengshan SMC.
Despite the loss, they are still coming back to the places where they lost.
This time round, their house visits aren’t short ones like during the GE.
They are actually spending time, visiting houses and chatting with those who
did not vote for them.
Another wild card is MacPherson SMC where the WP candidate who lost, Bernard
Chen, is regularly visiting. He is not only meeting residents but also
writing on their behalf to government agencies to help them with estate
issues. You can see that from his fb page here:
https://www.facebook.com/chenjiaxibernard/?pnref=story
He may not win at the next GE, but this guy is going to give Tin Pei Ling a
challenge for sure.
For now, WP is actively involved in Aljunied GRC, Hougang SMC, East Coast
GRC, Fengshan SMC and MacPherson SMC. These are the areas where they have a
regular presence. I feel WP should be more active in Punggol East SMC (over
48% support there) and Sengkang West SMC (38% support there) but perhaps they
will come there later. Punggol East already knows WP anyway. So maybe it’s
best for them to concentrate on East Coast for now.
Mack
A.S.S. Contributor
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