BEGINNING OF THE END? What the Punggol East result says and doesn’t say about the future. Predictably, the Workers’ Party’s decisive victory in Punggol East has prompted speculation about whether this spells doom for the People’s Action Party in the 2015/16 General Election. Such thoughts – wishful or alarmist, depending on your point of …
THEY’RE NOT KIDDING AROUND The Punggol by-election reintroduced Singaporeans to laugh-a-minute opposition parties. The Workers’ Party is not one of them. In the end, the three-way split in the opposition assault on Punggol East proved immaterial. The Workers’ Party has won the constituency with an outright, unambiguous majority. This had seemed like the ruling …
CAN IT REMAKE ITSELF? The obstacles to internal reform are formidable, but citizens shouldn’t discount the possibility entirely. Picture a PAP government that lets an independent election commission draw constituency boundaries, introduces freedom of information laws and fights for equality even when it’s unpopular. This would be a PAP that committed itself to democratic …
WHAT WOULD MAKE ME A FAN Now that the public is more assertive, it wouldn’t hurt to think about what exactly we expect from the PAP. Here’s my own wish list. For most of 2012, Punggol made national news mainly as a showcase for the government’s prowess in public housing. There were international accolades …