Loss in popular votes is a failure for PAP, but success for Singapore

Loss in popular votes is a failure for PAP, but success for Singapore

In an article published titled “How will the PAP fare in a long recession“, Senior writer Chua Mui Hoong warned that the PAP may lose the popular vote in a prologed recession and it will be a ‘failure’ which both the party and Singapore have to contemplate. (read full article here)

Let me first correct the three factual inaccuracies in Ms Chua’s statement:

1. The PAP has never quite won the popular vote since the introduction of the GRC system which has seen nearly half or more of the constituencies being “won” by them without any contest.

In the last general election, only 56.6% of eligible voters were able to cast their votes. The PAP claimed it won 66.6% of the popular votes but this percentage is only a pathetic 29% of the total number of eligible voters.

2. The loss in popular vote will be a failure for the PAP, but a success for Singapore as this will usher in a new dawn in Singapore politics where voters are no longer held swayed by the “carrots” and “sticks” dangled at them by the PAP.

3. The PAP’s stranglehold on Singapore is what we have to contemplate instead: why can’t we kick it out of government after so many years?

We have to draw a clear demarcation between the party and the state. The PAP is a registered political party under the Registry of Societies. The government of Singapore is formed by the political party or a coalition of parties which won over half the popular vote in general elections held every 5 years as stipulated under the Constitution.

The PAP can fail, but not Singapore and Singapore will not fail in the event that the PAP does because I have confidence in our tiny, but highly educated population to produce another team of leaders to take over from the PAP.

The political party which is able to defeat the PAP at the polls will surely have sufficient talents in its ranks to form the government already.

It is high time the PAP fails to make way for a more deserving team of Singaporeans to run the country. In fact, it has already failed and failed miserably at that.

It failed when it decided to peg their salaries to the private sector while remaining oblivious to the plight of the lower income-group resulting in widespread disaffection and cyncism amongst the populace towaeds the government.

It failed when it chose the easy way out by opening the flood gates for foreigners to compete with the locals for jobs instead of doing more to develop our own human capital.

It failed when it turned a blind eye to the blatant blunders made by senior leaders instead of holding them accountable.

And most importantly, it failed when it gambled our future away recklessly. We are still kept in the dark on the amount of reserves remaining in our kitty.

These are just some of the PAP’s failures. The complete list is surely longer than what have been elucidated.

The PAP is an obsolete party living on past glories and achievements and has nothing to look forward to in the future other than preserving its own self-interests and legacy at the expense of Singapore.

Its obsession with controlling all facets of Singapore life has stifled creativity, impaired our competitiveness and created much resentment and frustration on the ground, especially in the young who are increasingly voting against them with their feet.

Why do young Singaporeans have no sense of belonging to their land of birth? Why do they yearn for greener pastures elsewhere? And why are they so apathetic towards current affairs of the state and averse to politics?

These are symptoms of a nanny state which is a reflection of the overbearing dominance of the party leading to a weak, divided and disillusioned citizenry.

The PAP must fail for the sake of Singapore. Either it reforms itself and expunges the dynastic pretences of a particular family to become a political party again to compete with others on a level-playing field or it continues down the slippery slope into oblivion and taking Singapore along with it.

As Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Kishore Mahbubani argued in a thought-provoking article in The Straits Times last Wednesday, contemplating the prospect of failure is one way to stave off failure.

Which matters more to the PAP - the prospects of its own failure or the demise of Singapore?

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