Written by Our Correspondent
The Singapore opposition has received a boost in its membership over the last few months with more tertiary-educated young Singaporeans joining them one of whom is a vocal online critic of the PAP, 22 year old project engineer Mr Alex Tan who embarrassed two PAP MPs with his sensitive and difficult questions during a YPAP forum last month.
Contrary to the Straits Times report that Alex joined the Singapore People’s Party recently after an online spat with the YPAP, he wrote on his “Vote out PAP” facebook which has garnered more than 2,700 members so far that he joined the opposition because he wants to serve fellow Singaporeans.
A mechatronics graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, Mr Tan told the Straits Times that he is ready to stand as a candidate in the next general election.
“I don’t think I’m too young. In fact, I think it might be an advantage because I could inspire younger Singaporeans not to be apathetic,” he was quoted in the Straits Times as saying.
Besides Mr Tan, former foreign service officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr Gerald Giam has joined Workers’ Party and Mr Jarrod Luo, a biomedical science and microbiology graduate from Australia’s University of Queensland was elected the honorary secretary of the Singapore Democratic Party’s Youth wing last year.
The Reform Party has seen an influx of new members who are graduates and professionals.
One of them is Mr Justin Ong, the president of its Youth Wing, who graduated recently with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from NUS and Mr Tony Tan, a former SAF scholar.
With more young Singaporeans joining the opposition, the next election will be the one to watch.
The PAP has seen its support base eroded over the last few years due to some ill-conceived policies such as its liberal immigration policies which had caused much unhappiness, frustration and resentment among Singaporeans.
Their cause isn’t helped by the fact that its Youth Wing is unable to reach out to the young IT-savvy Singaporeans which is further exacerbated by a string of scandals involving YPAP members.
To compound matters, Singaporeans are turning increasingly to the alternative media for news and the influence of the state media’s daily propaganda is fast wearing thin.
A few years ago, there are hardly any socio-political news sites with a high enough readership to challenge the mouthpieces of the ruling party.
Now, the new media is set to tilt the playing field increasingly in favor of the opposition with sites like The Temasek Review having a readership higher than TODAY Online.
Young Singaporeans between the age of 21 – 35 will form a critical voting bloc in the next few elections and may emerge as the kingmakers in a closely fought contest.
Time is fast running out for the PAP which has yet to establish a foothold for itself in cyberspace despite controlling all the major papers and internet forums in Singapore.
if these new members are not PAP people in disguise, then it's a most positive thing...............time is running out before the foreigners outnumber the locals...............and PAP will rule for more generations to come.
Opp candidates must learn to work together.
A three or four corners fight always works in favour of the incumbent.
Originally posted by 4sg:Opp candidates must learn to work together.
A three or four corners fight always works in favour of the incumbent.
they should form a coalition so their identity will be stronger..................i think most people only heard about the SDP and Workers' Party............
i thought the opposition always try to avoid 3 corner fights ?
Originally posted by As romanista2001:they should form a coalition so their identity will be stronger..................i think most people only heard about the SDP and Workers' Party............
i thought the opposition always try to avoid 3 corner fights ?
In Singapore, not so.....
The opp parties always go for places where they think their chances are high.
Ironically, they always end up fighting in the same localities.
i've always thought the opposition parties have been infiltrated by PAP moles or even created by the PAP itself..........................by controlling both sides, you control the outcome of any elections.............
Originally posted by As romanista2001:i've always thought the opposition parties have been infiltrated by PAP moles or even created by the PAP itself..........................by controlling both sides, you control the outcome of any elections.............
In the past, many believed this thing called PAP mole.
But now, I think with the forfeiting of $ deposit, I just hope that such thing never surface. But again, in politics, never say never......
Are the requirements to enter opposition party too liberal?
Originally posted by mlmersrlosers:Are the requirements to enter opposition party too liberal?
As long as you are a citizen of Singapore, you have the right to be involved in politics.
So if i'm 18+ i can join politics? Can i just check how to i join SDA or WP's youth wing?
18 ar??? first you join SAF, then come to my pub and we can discuss further on where you want to go...
Indeed, the number of poly graduates, university graduates, master degree grdauates and to some extent doctorate degree graduates have increased significantly over the years. So, it is natural that more tertiary educated will join the opposition too.
The competition between the PAP and the opposition will be more intense.
The opposition parties have learnt their lessons and they will now put forward candidates with excellent academic results, professional working experience with no brush with the laws in the past.
This bunch of people are the pioneer for the true democracy of singapore.
Hope they can stay united and focus of resolving real issues of the people.
By do that, they will take the battle against the false democracy.
They need more support and hope they can do more good to reviewing the policy and improving on it.