Dear Nicole,
I like you because you have the potential to become an elected member of parliament. You did very well in the last general election, given that you were a new face, teamed up with a group of weak candidates and your opponents were political veterans, including the Senior Minister who was also a former Prime Minister of Singapore. There was no doubt that you were the anchor person of your team. Your performance was impressive and you became a political superstar within a short period of time! To some extent, I believe, your fame was also due to Tin Pei Ling’s weaknesses.
The local newspaper, My Paper, reported that you admitted to the “terrible, irreversible mistake” of lobbying for presidential hopeful Tan Jee Say in 2011 Presidential Election. You were quoted to have said, “I didn’t realize the kind of influence I could have on people. They were coming up to me to say they supported him because of me.”
I am not sure whether the local newspaper had misquoted you.
Personally, I doubt you did manage to swing a significant enough votes to Tan Jee Say that caused Tan Cheng Bock’s razor-thin loss in the Presidential Election. Tan Cheng Bock required a further 7,383 votes to beat Tony Tan.
In that Presidential Election, Tan Jee Say stood out like a 16-inch gun pointing at the ruling party – the PAP. His speech on nomination day was filled with gun powder and – was even regarded as provocative, in some Singaporeans’ view! I thought, however, it was a clever marketing strategy, i.e. to differentiate himself from Tan Cheng Bock and Tan Kin Lian.
You see, the parliamentary election was just over a few months ago with the PAP sweeping more than 90% of parliamentary seats. Opposition supporters were still fuming at the outcome! I knew, in fact many people knew, Tan Jee Say would sweep most of the anti-PAP votes. I never believed he would be the winning candidate, but I believe he would make a name for himself. And he did!
Among all my friends and relatives, most of them voted for Tan Jee Say. They voted for him because he is Tan Jee Say, a 16-inch gun pounding hard on the PAP; absolutely nothing to do with you or what you said. In fact, it was because of what he said and the way he carried himself! For those of my friends who did not vote for Tan Jee Say, most gave their votes to Tan Cheng Bock even though they supported Tan Jee Say and disliked Tan Cheng Bock. Why? The logic was simple to them : Tan Cheng Bock had a much better chance of beating Tony Tan, so any vote given to Tan Jee Say would be wasted.
(Only a small number of my friends voted for Tony Tan. If I recalled rightly, none voted for Tan Kin Lian – till this day, I feel so sorry for him).
So, Nicole, my dear, please do not feel bad or guilty about you having made a “terrible, irreversible mistake” in the 2011 Presidential Election. It was not a constituency election in which you were contesting, it was a Presidential Election which did not require a team-mate to run for Vice President. I am not even sure whether you did make any difference to Tan Jee Say’s rally crowd. May I make this confession : I watched Tan Jee Say’s Presidential Election rally on youtube – and I only watched his speeches, not yours.
Nicole, you are young, hardworking and have the potential to become a parliamentarian. I am pleased with you and I like you, just like so many other Singaporeans.
It is alright to make mistake, especially you are still a young lady. The PAP ministers made mistakes all the times! We pray that any mistake you made or will make in future is not serious enough to destroy your political career.
We love you, Nicole!
I wish you all the best in your preparation for the next general election. And I wish Tan Jee Say the same best!
Celia Lim