What are the chances of an alternate Government taking over in the next election? Nil, if the current disparate opposition parties carry on with their present agenda. All we can hope for is there will be more opposition MPs to provide “an alternative voice” in Parliament.
The constant clarion call of VTO (vote them out) will be futile if the opposition parties continue with their current “modus operandi”. Not that their “MO” is not right. It is just that they are mosquitoes compared to the monster-size PAP which apparently controls every RC, CCC, PA and civil service streams.
Take any opposition party and compare it with the overwhelming might of the PAP’s intrusion into every aspect of life in Singapore. The only way the opposition can mount a credible challenge against the PAP in the next General Election is to come together in a coalition to contest GE2016.
Pooling the resources of each opposition party into one coalition will make it a heavyweight to match the PAP. This is what voters are attracted to – big and formidable. No amount of good intentions and “feel good” ideology will win over voters if you are just a mosquito.
Opposition parties must put aside their differences and form a united front that gives the aura of MIGHT to show voters that they have the wherewithal to form the next government. What voters want to see is an equally heavyweight to challenge the PAP. Not a mosquito buzzing around and creating some irritating noise.
When you have gained sufficient weight, then you can make alternative proposals for such matters as health care, economic growth, and social benefits, etc. But so long as you remain a mosquito, the man in the street may admire your altruistic ideology, but they are intelligent enough NOT TO BELIEVE YOU CAN CHANGE ANYTHING.
So to become a heavyweight like the PAP, opposition parties must form a united front. They must put aside their differences and agree on a common MANIFESTO. They must not be INFLEXIBLE with one another. THEY MUST NOT HAVE THE ATTITUDE THAT “WE KNOW BEST” (HAVEN’T WE HAVE ENOUGH OF THAT?).
But will the opposition parties be “man enough” to do that – for Singaporeans’ sake? A coalition of parties forming a Government is not a bad idea. It ensures that no one party forms the Government and has all the say and makes all the decisions without a broad spectrum consultation and representing different voices of the citizenry. We have experienced one party rule for the last 5 decades. What we see today is a government that does not listen to its citizens, makes decisions and policies that serve its own interests and, because it reports to no one and is accountable to no one, pretty much does what it wants, stepping all over the citizens along the way.
I sincerely believe that only a united opposition, forming a heavyweight challenge to the PAP, can win the election and form the next Government.
KTK