With the Presidential Election (PE) over and Dr. Tony Tan getting ready to be sworn in as Singapore’s next president, Singaporeans are all talking about the razor-thin margin of his victory. A lot of people are now wondering and asking “what if…”, and while I can understand this, there is one scenario being talked about that I do not understand.
There had been a lot of people who says that opposition member Mr. Tan Jee Say was the reason why Dr. Tan Cheng Bock came in second and he (Mr. Tan Jee Say) gifted Dr. Tony Tan his victory. The thinking is that people who voted for the opposition would vote for Dr. Tan Cheng Bock if Mr. Tan Jee Say is not on the ballot.
I totally disagree with this. I think everyone need to remember one simple fact; both Dr. Tony Tan and Dr. Tan Cheng Bock are long-time members of the People’s Action Party (PAP)! Not only that, they are both long-time Members of Parliament (MP) of the PAP!
Mr. Tan Jee Say got 25% of the votes in the PE and I think we can safely assume almost all of them were from diehard supporters of the opposition. Anyone who thinks that these diehard opposition supporters will vote for a long-time MP of the PAP like Dr. Tan Cheng Bock is in dreamland. If Mr. Tan Jee Say isn’t there, it’s far more likely that those 25% will go to Mr. Tan Kin Lian who finished a distant on the ballot than Dr. Tan Cheng Bock.
I do not understand how anyone could blame Mr. Tan Jee Say for Dr. Tan Cheng Bock’s loss. A loss is a loss and Dr. Tan Cheng Bock’s supporters should accept the loss much like how Dr. Tan Cheng Bock did; with dignity. To blame Mr. Tan Jee Say just sound like sour grapes.
6 comments:
Not true. If the read some neutral online forums like sgcarmart and sammyboy, HWZ or CNA Market Talk, most of the decision point is between "Should I vote TJS OR TCB?" prior to the election. There are very few asking for opinion between "TJS and TKL". Even in the Yawning Bread survey (which was done before the election results), most the respondents who are going to vote for TJS place "TCB" as the choice if TJS did not compete. That says a lot. There are significant opposition voters who voted for TCB. BTW, TCB won in all the WP areas. That says a lot about the size of the "thinking swing voters" who do not vote based purely on party colours, but based on the actual credibility of the individual and his track record and beliefs.
Pls do not discredit TJS voters. Not all of them are blind SDP followers who will vote for opposition just for opposition sake. Many of them did go through a proper thought process before casting the vote for TJS. Many were misguided to believe that TJS stood the greatest chance due to websites like TRE. Some TJS voters actually regretted on hindsight. Many voted for him not because they shared his vison on gay rights or ISA or reducing penalty for drug trafficers and closing down our integrated resorts or 60 billion spending. Many voted for him because they thought he stood the best chance against TT.
I just want to add. Just because someone who was ex-PAP member must be "bad". Just because someone is SDP must be "good president". This is really immature thinking. Sometimes a rebel or defactor from PAP knows the internal workings and is the best person to effect change from within.
I’m sorry but I think there are too much assumption in your thinking. You cannot use the Yawning Bread survey as a guide or benchmark about who voters will vote for and you also cannot assume opposition voters will willing vote for Tan Cheng Bok who is a 20 year PAP veteran. Would hardcore, diehard opposition supporters who for a 20 year PAP MP? I find that highly unlikely.
One more thing is that at no point did I ever said Tan Cheng Bock is bad. It's a matter of whether opposition voters will vote for him. Sure a lot of voters were disappointed as you said, but they were disappointed after knowing the results! It's a classic case of "what if".
Would they had voted for Tan Cheng Bock on election day, before the results? I doubt it.
Now the fact is that TT is the presiden, so life goes on as usual for the pro establisment ppl , to get more out of the system.
Property prices sky rocketing, who earns, we all knows. Btw seems good to join the PA for some PA (property agent), to get to know more ppl to sell their properties).
Yes, the PA seem to have stupidly publicly back the PAP. A bad mistake in my view. They should not have said so in public.
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