Tuesday, April 09, 2019

TOTD: What matters most in Politics?

Thought of the Day - What matters most in Politics?

I have put up a teaser just not too long ago, asking my FB friends to guess what I had replied a reporter's query on "when are you going to do ground work?".

My answer shocked him. I said, I am not going to "walk the ground", so to speak. Not going to knock on doors, shake hands and kiss babies.

His reaction is quite "normal" as this is the "default thinking" that politicians, be it PAP or opposition, should "walk the ground" in order to "win votes".

I explain to him clearly, I am not going to play the games according to the "indoctrinated rules" set by PAP.

PAP has not only drawn the electoral boundaries but also the "invisible political boundaries" for Opposition, to its own advantage, of course. PAP has always been trying to "mislead" and "misguide" political engagement via subtle "brain washing".

It all started way back in 1981, right after JBJ won the Anson by-election. The almighty PAP has lost its very first seat in one and a half decade. Naturally, the late LKY jumped with anger.

The often DULL parliament sittings had suddenly become all fiery with exchanges of missiles and dramas. It was apparent that the total dominance of PAP in the past immediate decade had made it complacent and lost the art of debate in the face of a strong and fiery opponent, JBJ. Parliament in the past could be an "empty rubber stamp" without the need of any real debates or even the need of attendance of MPs and Ministers. JBJ had changed all that. Even LKY himself had to make it a point to attend parliament whenever JBJ was making his speeches of criticisms.

In 1984, PAP lost another seat in Potong Pasir and this led to a serious rethinking of political strategy. Town Council Management entrusted to MPs was the solution.

It was an attempt to divert voters and politicians attention from the REAL CORE RESPONSIBILITY of an MP in parliament to drain their energy and attention into municipal issues.

In the Westminster system, municipal issues are taken care by District Councillors, who are also voted in by residents. An MP is never expected to manage the estate or be bothered by municipal issues because they are voted in to speak up on policy matters in parliament.

But PAP, knowing that they do not have strong MPs in parliament while having all the resources to take care of municipal issues by subcontracting out to professional estate management companies, tried to change the focus and direction of political engagement towards municipal matters instead of policy debates and law making in parliament.

PAP has successfully to mislead and brainwash both voters as well as opposition politicians to think that they should put most of their energy in knocking doors, convincing voters they can run town councils instead of putting up strong debates, policy ideas and scrutiny in parliament. After opposition won some seats, they will compete with PAP which has the whole machinery of People's Association (PA), in conducting durian tours, temple tours, organizing events etc... instead of spending most of their time in policy research and debates.

In the end, we have political parties doing Charity Work, giving out goodies, organizing events .... instead of doing the REAL political work of analysing, researching and commenting on Real political issues. Political parties are more like Charity Organization or Event Organizing companies or simply Social Clubs nowadays.

Voters are judging the "quality" of candidates by looking at whether they "serve" them by "knocking doors" or "visit" them. Or whether they attend wakes or temple dinners and such. Or organize any events for them...etc. The most illogical thing is, they even expect opposition who have not won any seat to do all these!

Instead of looking at the political views, ideologies or ideals of political candidates, we have voters basically "voting blindly" according to "party branding" or whether candidates "walk the ground"! These totally misguided perception and concept of politics is the direct result of PAP's subtle brain washing.

It always irks me when people start talking about "I only vote XXX party and not small parties" or "if you are contesting under XXX party, I will vote for you". I consider that as an expression of political immaturity. One who cannot discern good candidates from bad but resort to some "fuzzy branding", he must be too lazy to really study and understand each and every choices presented to him.

This is the reason why we ended up with lots of empty chairs and empty tables in Parliamentary sittings most of the time. When voters and politicians have WRONG and misguided priorities in politics, that's the end result we will get.

I will vote or support a person or a team for only two reasons:

1) Not PAP because I do not want them to be complacent when they get too high votes.

2) In the event of multi-corner fight, I will support the candidates who make good sense and have good political ideals or ideology which resonate with my belief, regardless of which party he or she is from.

I have gone through 3 General Elections. GE 2006 WP made great progress up from the devastating state of 2001 GE. This is partly because we played according to the brainwashed setting of PAP configurations, doing house visits, shaking hands and kissing babies.

In GE 2011, I changed the methodology subtly. I didn't knock on all the doors in Tampines but decided to ignite the fire on policy issues, mainly HDB issues. It set on a fire which ran wild and benefited all opposition.

I thought Singaporeans have evolved and matured politically. Finally they understood the importance of checks and balances, with a desire to vote in more opposition MPs. The path of Democratic Development should be on the right track of no return.

I was proven totally wrong in GE 2015. Voters are basically more Emotional rather than politically matured with the determination of making progress for Democratic Development.

I decided to stop all "political wayang" which is totally misleading, misguided and even detrimental towards REAL political Democratic progress for Singapore.

What we need is more public political discourse and education, not more door knocking saying Hi and Bye, shaking hands, kissing babies and making people "feel good" so that they will vote for you.

I decided to spend most of my time writing on my FB and copy some of the postings to my blog as an archive. I hope more people will be enlightened and provided with better reasoned ideas for them to talk about in their daily lives so that they could convince more people in their real life circles. Share the public discourse, ideas and ideals through FB or real life chats with friends and strangers.

This is a slow and painful process. It needs consistent commitment, nothing less than sweating out in knocking doors.

All political movements always start with evangelism of alternative ideas and ideals, not with knocking doors and kissing babies. When the seeding of ideas and ideals take root in the minds and hearts of voters, their emotional sway will be dampen and hopefully, what happened in 2015 GE will not repeat again.

Dr Sun Yat Sen had done that all his life, in order to convince people that a change of regime from Monarchy to Republic was a necessity. He changed China, not by knocking doors, kissing babies or doing charity work or organizing tours. He did it through endless and continuous evangelism of his political ideas and ideology, which were so alien to his people of his time.

Thus, I decided to break through the walls and boundaries set by PAP's political brainwashing. I will not play into their game of political patronage and wayangism. I will do what is MOST important in politics, the evangelism of political ideas, ideals and discourse.

If you expect me to knock doors, kiss babies, do charity work or organize events, then don't vote for me. If you only want to vote for some "big party with big brand", then I am not for you.

But if you want an MP who will put 101% in parliamentary work, scrutinize each and every policy and laws which PAP wants to pass, then I will be an extremely good choice for you.

My "Track Record" has nothing to do about how many blocks of flats I have "walk and knock", has nothing to do about whether I have run a town council before, definitely nothing about whether I am a good organizer of events or involve in giving out goodies as charity.

My "Track Record" is my consistency in providing my political views, ideas and ideals. Ideas and views which PAP would even adapt quietly without giving due credits, even million dollar "elite" ministers would read and adapt in their policies.

So next time, anyone of you start to talk about "walk the ground", "start campaigning" or "track record", think again.

I have never stopped "campaigning" since I graduated from university, against bad PAP policies. I "walk the hearts and minds" and my "Track Record" of policy ideas and ideals are thick.

Anyone who wants to be in politics, must have some policy views or policy ideas to start with. If you have none, sorry, I won't even bother.

Goh Meng Seng

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Here is what has happened. It was difficult for the non PAP parties to unite as many of the leaders seem to have a low opinion of some of the other leaders. Instead of looking at their strengths, they look at the weaknesses."
Tan Kin Lian in
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1344&fbclid=IwAR2A0iAxKfuA3r_CPvMF2tQ9pDtHvM01BCjl3ntaD45NK_PF_e1eCfX-sdc

Goh Meng Seng, are you guilty of what TKL described above?

Do you have a low opinion of some of the other opposition leaders and vice versa?

And if non PAP parties cannot unite, sure lose and lose big one, I tell you.

Anonymous said...

Goh Meng Seng, whether you walk the ground or not, or what not, you will still not win lah as long as your party is not ready to be govt.

Some more your track record of being like a frog jumping from one party to another and forming last minute "one man show party" is another liability that will make you lose again.

Till now do you know why you got less than 30% votes in GE 2015?

And what has changed since 2015 that makes you think you or your party now is better than in 2015?

Anonymous said...

I have a low opinion of Sinkie political frogs.

I will never vote for them, no matter who or what they are.

Anonymous said...

Attributes of good leaders. 1)Give us clear objectives 2) Be consistent 3) Make us feel like

an owner to decide our lives 4) Show that your policies add value, not create more roadblocks

5) Lighten things for the people when they get heavy 6) Give people room to err, but not

thrice 6) People are victim of time, do not waste our time unnecessary 7)Show that you care.

Anonymous said...

Commoners blood are overboiling. Fights are a common. Got police camera . No police presence.

Anonymous said...

You're better off not hiring a relative- because you can't fire them.

Anonymous said...

The biggest mistake in hiring is not always the brain but the inside of a person's heart. We can hire brains but not the hearts. We undervalue the passion that the person can bring.

Anonymous said...

Some things are "must-have" and some are "nice-to-have." Separate them.

Anonymous said...

I don't participate or read about the NUH saga. At the very least that perpetrator had his punishment. One can go to court with the result that you lose everything and anything than you can taste what is injustice. One cannot go through life without being hurt and having ones way all the time. Go live in Malaysia and see justice.

Anonymous said...

Remember that each person is an individual. Understand what is important to that individual.

Anonymous said...

We all have unfair things happen to us. We made mistakes, hurt people we love, make a fool of ourselves, and experience crushing disappointments. Whoever said they do not experience any of the said things might not be telling the truth. We cannot avoid life's difficulties. Period.

Anonymous said...

Six Best Doctors
in the World....:

1.Sunlight,
2.Rest,
3.Exercise,
4.Diet,
5.Self Confidence &
6.Friends

Anonymous said...

Time waits for no man-For most people the not enough time is because we are busy- which is true for all of us-it may also be a result of poor time management.
Policies that are time-consuming and unproductive should be revise. Ministers who struggle with wasting the people time should be censored.

Anonymous said...

Hallo nee hou….@%#!@*&^@^^+*$@!
I no understand
Nǐ huì shuō hua yi ma?

Facing this almost daily.

Anonymous said...

The Most Wasted
Day in Life is the
Day in which
we
have not Laughed.

Anonymous said...

Some ministers represent the super old condos and HDB. No matter how much you spent on even high-end renovations internally-the exterior is still old and run down-that is so it cannot get the price of new condos nearby.

Anonymous said...

Whose fault arh?
This kayu pregnant woman was wearing black . Some one bang into her and all her office frens scolded tis person who banged into her thinking she was just a fat lady. Pregnant woman shuld not wear black cloths. School shud not just teach how to pass exams. Shud also teach about two way hands to clap and take oneself responsible.

Anonymous said...

The overworked culture values money more than life, the result of pressures caused by high standard of living and exorbitant housing prices.

Anonymous said...

There are no perfect solutions to all our problems.

Anonymous said...

How to cook half-boil eggs; put the eggs half submerge in half boil water.

Which party will I vote; the party whose policies no against me, no care who the policies affect. Hard Truth.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that people in prime regions often tend to believe that land prices, is a significant component of home value will keep going up and up.

Anonymous said...

When one's heart is pure their conscience are clear.

Anonymous said...

5 year old girl fell to death from HDB.

26 year security guard old fell to death in pit.

To-be ROD pushed to death in well.


Civil servants getting 0.45 mid year bonus.


Lawyer cheating money.


Country still good or not sure?


Anonymous said...

All the caretaker must do is make sure every individual basic needs met. Food, water, shelter, education, jobs and striving for a safe and loving family. Jewels are a surplus.

Anonymous said...

Quotes About Lawyers
“A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns.” - Mario Puzo


“You win some and you lose some, but you get paid for all of them.” - Anonymous



“You cannot live without the lawyers, and certainly you cannot die without them.” - Joseph H. Choate


“A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.” - H. L. Mencken



Tribunal dismisses complaint of possible overcharging against senior lawyer over S$8.8 million legal bill.

Anonymous said...

When Heng takes over, those human beings will even be more daring.

Anonymous said...

If God had design this world, why is this world so frail and faulty as we can see?

Anonymous said...


Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too. "

Anonymous said...

Realty of a sane person have to admit that these just keep climbing-
* Murders

* Molest & Rapes

* Cheating cases

*Drunks

* Swimming pools they are not but bird baths

* Million $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ lawyers makes Edwin Tong looks like a peanut

*Drug addicts

*High tech keeps seeping in

*I cannot remember

*?

*?

*????

*Motor cyclist dying like

*?

*Give back my CPF

*HDB sizes shrinking

*

Anonymous said...

Country ; endurable.
PAP; endurable.
Some ministers and HOD; Amusing by their totally 'we know best' aggravating behavior.

Anonymous said...

What is Disruptive Technology ?

A superb article ...

When TV came to my house. I forgot how to read books. When the car came to my doorstep, I forgot how to walk. When I got the mobile in my hand, I forgot how to write letters. When computer came to my house, I forgot spellings When the AC came to my house, I stopped going under the tree for cool breeze. When I stayed in the city, I forgot the smell of mud. By dealing with banks and cards, I forgot the value of money. With the smell of perfume, I forgot the fragrance of fresh flowers. With the coming of fast food, I forgot how to cook traditional cuisines .

Always running around, I forgot how to stop. And lastly when I got whatsapp, I forgot how to talk.

Anonymous said...

What have they got that the people do not have other than money and power??

Anonymous said...

Now that they want to make money from sick and dementia patients, in future all public hospitals might be sold to private.

Anonymous said...

Leaders- you are just one voice in our lives.

Extreme makover said...

On a scale of one to ten, how comfortable are the people with TCB would be 5.5. The realty is he need not find fault with the G but concentrate on the lives of the people. Unifying,by not taking sides and focusing on agreeing at a level with the common people, not what the festers of a handful on social media. People are not interested on what Ho Ching earns, they are only interested in what they can earn. Please do not remain clueless. TCB must not repeat the concept of the other oppositions who had failed miserably. His strategy must be sincere with good intentions and centered around being different and unique, otherwise its just going to be another Tan.
TCB need to implement change to the other opposition parties. This may be his first and last chance. Act wisely. Please eliminate nonessential politics.

Col Rob Maness said...

It is a great post and informative content. Thank you so much for sharing this valuable post. Keep Posting.