This article “GE2020 showed Singapore at ‘inflexion point’: Goh Chok Tong” is behind a Straits Times paywall, so I will just share my thoughts on this one segment of ESM Goh’s interview.
ESM cited some ‘stabilisers’ for Singapore – namely GRC and town council system. He said that these were ‘not aimed primarily at disadvantaging the opposition but to prevent disruptions to services.’
Getting opposition to run town council is fine with me. It is a way for them to show that they can run a town. It also allows elected MPs access to residents over their municipal needs. GRC was first created to ensure minority representation. Then GRCs got bigger and bigger and the justification was that you need economy of scale for town council management.
Gerrymendering aside, some scale is good. Anyway the GRC system has come back to haunt the PAP. Once the opposition has anchored themselves in the GRC, it too can leave behind anchor members and renew with fresh blood at each GE. Then it becomes harder for the PAP to win it back. GRCs are no longer fortresses for the PAP when the opposition slate is stronger.
What upset me the most in my time in parliament was to find the AIM deal. The key engine to running a town council, the management information system, was transferred to a PAP company just before GE2011. I was not involved in the AHPETC as I was an NCMP. It affected my comrades but not me from an operational point. However, as a trained and previously practicing IT professional, you know how important an IT system is to any large operations.
Yesterday, I had tea with someone who is a trained accountant and now holds a very senior position in an international firm advising on merger and acquisition deals. We happened to speak on the AIM arrangement. He said that in M&A, this is called a poison pill. The exiting shareholders cannot plant time bombs or put land mines for the new shareholders. In M&A, they look out for such poison pills. Exiting stakeholders cannot have the right to press any button to trigger destruction in their old organisation! Whether the old stakeholders did push the button or not is irrelevant. They should never have the right to the button.
If we want to truly have stabilisers for Singapore, then any handover must be totally responsible. Any way, AIM is behind us now. The AHTC has developed their own system.
I did not begin my adult life as an alternative party supporter. I voted for the PAP in my first GE. Several things done by the PAP that I felt were not right moved me gradually away from them. The tipping point was upgrading for votes. That was using the people’s money to hold them hostage. Philosophically, I could not accept any party that practices unfairness to this level.
Singapore belongs to Singaporeans, not to any one political party, no matter what they had achieved in the past. The decision as to who Singaporeans want is based on their choice at the ballot box. We need a stable Singapore. Thankfully, things have changed gradually and I hope that they will continue to change, for the better of Singapore.
Note: This is re-shared from my original Facebook post.
