Opposition Unity Vs Teamwork

Opposition Unity Vs Teamwork

Most of the common debate about working towards the Alternative, lies in the concept of “Opposition Unity”. The formation of the Singapore Democrat Alliance (SDA) back in 2000 has raised hope of an all encompassing one united front “against” PAP’s powerful machinery.

SDA’s component parties have always wanted Workers’ Party to join them, in order to add strength to this alliance front. WP has resisted the idea of joining the Alliance for various reasons and it is seen as a political party that is against “Opposition Unity” by many political observers and opposition supporters.

In the recent poll commissioned by the Chinese daily, Zaobao, about 94% of respondents know about Workers’ Party but only 50+% of these respondents know about SDA. Even Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) fairs better with over 80%.

This demonstrates that SDA’s brand barely passes the popular awareness level. What went wrong? The component parties of SDA did not concentrate their efforts in selling their common vehicle, SDA. There is no concerted effort from each individual alliance members to come together to work as a team to market their alliance brand name. SDA is just an alliance of convenience for these parties to put up GRC teams to contest elections. Is this what opposition unity is all about?

In my personal opinion, teamwork is the substance of “Opposition Unity”. An alliance that lacks coordinated effort to work together, promote their common election vehicle, is as good as none. Even within a political party, there might be instances that each political “chiefs” wanted their own ways and there is little effort to work together as a team.

Teamwork is more important to the road towards alternative. Our Casino Forum and subsequently, the policy statement made, are the fruits of effective teamwork among party members as well as non-party helpers. Even my Anti-Casino speech is a direct result of teamwork, convergent of all contributions made by many individuals that have come forward to help us. Our weekly Hammer sales are also the result of teamwork derived from articles contributed by various individuals and coordinated effort of party members to burn their weekends to go for these weekly Hammer sales. Walking the ground is a tedious and thankless job. It would not be sustainable and possible if there is no teamwork among various members and non-members.

“Opposition Unity” would sound very hollow if it lacks coordinated teamwork in every aspect. We would rather all parties merge with us as one party and we will formulate strategies that work towards team building as well as coordinated movements. If we are serious about working towards a REAL ALTERNATIVE, then we should not wait for General Elections to come before we talk about “Opposition Unity” with any visible substance of teamwork or team building.

We are definitely not against “Opposition Unity”. However, we put more emphasis on team building and teamwork during off-election period, to lay a good groundwork and foundation in order to enhance our battle capabilities during election time.