Guide to the Singapore GE 2011 Part 1
As per 2006 GE, there are currently 9 Single Member Constituencies (SMC) and 14 Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) - 5 GRCs of 6- seats and 9 GRC of 5-seats, which gives a total of 84 seats.
To rule effectively, the ruling party will have to control two- third of the available seats- 56.
One of the GRCs- Jurong GRC- has 4 MPs due to the death of one of the MP. Calls have been made for a by- election to be held for the vacant ward- Bukit Batok, but unfortunately, it was sidelined by the EXTRAORDINARY government.
No of choices for Singapore voters
For walkovers, there are no choices available for the voters.
For 1 vs 1 contest, there are 3 choices available for the voters. They are: 1) PAP, 2) Opposition party and last but not least, 3) spoilt vote.
For 3- cornered fight, there are 4 choices available for the voters. They are: 1) PAP, 2) Opposition party, 3) another Opposition party or Independent, and last but not least, 4) spoilt vote.
Factors that Singapore voters should consider:
1) The Singapore carpet
2) NCMPs and NMPs
3) Third Key
4) Hongbao
5) Upgrading
6) Extraordinary government
7) Thrifty government
8) Cabinet re- shuffle
9) MPs
10) Civil Servants
11) MAS
12) MOM
13) LTA
14) CPF
15) Mas Selamat Kastari
16) 2006 IMF/ World Bank Meeting
17) 2008 Singapore F1
18) Ministerial pay hikes
19) Town councils
20) Statutory boards
21) Job Credit Scheme
22) GST credits
23) GIC
24) Citigroup
25) UBS
26) Temasek Holdings
27) Shin Corp
28) Bank of America
29) Barclays
30) ABC Learning
31) DBS
32) POSB
33) NOL
34) SATS
35) SFI
36) SingTel
37) Olam
38) Renci
39) NKF Saga
40) SAF Saga
41) F & N Saga
42) Structured products
43) Electricity tariffs
44) Singapore financial system
45) Bukit Batok
46) Foreign talents
47) Singapore Flyer
48) Education
49) Public Transport
50) Motor insurance
51) Internet
52) President Ong Teng Cheong
53) OCBC
54) UOB
55) Obama
56) Saddam Hussein
57) 8th March
58) LKY’s visit to Malaysia
59) 5th Prime Minister of Singapore
60) 2 IRs
61) Exxonmobile’s US$4.5b Singapore investment
62) Leadership renewal
63) 2009 Singapore F1
64) wet markets
65) Starhub
66) Singapore River
67) Bukit Timah canal
68) Ezlink CEPAS card
69) Secret Marina for KTM land proposal
70) 2010 World Cup
71) Dr Silvio Ionescu
By- election Strategy
Although many voters are pissed off by- the great escape of Mas Selamat Kastari and huge losses by GIC and Temasek Holdings to foreigners- they are not ready for a change of government.
Thus what the Opposition parties should do now is to try to make PAP lose its 2/3 majority, not its simple majority!
SDP
It is going to be elections time soon. So what should SDP do?
It is well known to all that the EXTRAORDINARY government is trying to promote a gracious society, so should SDP support this initiative?
The answer is YES!
It should only contest Sembawang GRC and leave the rest for other Opposition parties!
It should be doing this because it doesn’t have a chance to win!
All the voters know that how petty- minded PAP are and they are sore losers! So what will happen if SDP were to win in GE?
It means that in a few months time, there will be a by- election for that particular group of voters!
Instead of wasting its efforts on something meaningless, it should try to portray itself as a victim of witch hunt by contesting only Sembawang GRC and hope that in their display of burning anger, the voters will send SDP candidates to Parliament as NCMPs!
Potong Pasir & Hougang
In the coming GE, the voters of Potong Pasir & Hougang have an important role to play- to deliver two tight slaps to PAP!
How do you do that?
They can do it by giving strong support to the 2 opposition MPs and making the 2 PAP candidates lose their electoral deposits!
Aren’t you happy and proud of the fact that the Opposition- run Town Council managed to earn a positive return on its funds when most of the PAP- run Town Council failed to do so?
Aren’t you angry that GIC and Temasek Holdings lose huge amount of money to foreigners?
Aren’t you ashamed to find out that Mas Selamat Kastari has managed to escape from Whitley Road Detention Centre and Singapore with relative ease?
Aren’t you disgusted that the ORDINARY Malaysian government has done what the EXTRAORDINARY has failed to do- the recapturing of Mas Selamat Kastari?
Aren’t you pissed off by the fact that despite paying taxes like all the other Singaporeans did, you were discriminated against when it comes to upgrading?
Voters of Potong Pasir & Hougang,
IT IS TIME TO DEMOSTRATE YOUR ANGER AND GIVE IT TO PAP!
PAP backbenchers and Temasek Holdings
If PAP were to suffer a severe loss (eg 2/3 majority), the PAP backbenchers are most likely to go hard on the management of Temasek Holdings in future!
Why?
It is because they are going to be the ones to pay for the mistakes though no fault of their own!
Their interests are being sacrificed in order for a bunch of incompetent fools to prolong their neither welcomed nor desirable stay at Temasek Holdings!
Loss of 2/3 majority
What will happen if PAP were to lose its 2/3 majority?
If that happens, the President might be encouraged to be more assertive!
The local financial markets will most likely take a dip initially before starting to rise!
It is because the Opposition leaders- Mr Chiam See Tong and Mr Low Thia Kiang- have over the years shown that they are sensible and reasonable people, thus they will not derail the Parliament!
It will be business as usual!
So in the end, it will be positive for all investors!
NCMP
SDP should be given the 1st priority when it comes to NCMP. That is, if the Opposition wishes to see a big Wayang!
PAP leaders have called Dr Chee Soon Juan a liar and have urged the voters not to support SDP. Just imagine what will be the ministers’ reactions if SDP managed to get an NCMP in the Parliament!
If PAP don’t do anything, Singaporeans will start to wonder whether what the PAP leaders have said about SDP was true.
If it do something to SDP, Singaporeans will view PAP as sore losers and thus SDP is subjected to political oppression!
Strategies for opposition parties
They can either choose to contest more than ½ of the available seats or use the by election strategy.
Under the by election strategy, there are 2 options for them to choose:
1) By election strategy
2) By election Plus strategy
The by election strategy is to contest less than ½ of the available seats. The formula for By election Plus strategy:
By election strategy + Ang Mo Kio GRC + Tanjong Pagar GRC + Marine Parade GRC
The opposition parties have absolutely no chance of winning these 3 GRCs and might even lose the electoral deposits for the first two GRCs! Thus it is named the By election Plus strategy!
PAP talents
Basically, the PAP talents can be divided into 3 classes:
1st class talents will be fielded in ultra safe GRCs like Tanjong Pagar & Marine Parade.
2nd class talents will be fielded in other GRCs.
3rd class talents will be fielded in SMCs.
One example of 1st class talent would be the current DPM Teo Chee Hean who came into the political scene via Marine Parade.
Thus the voters should not be worrying about leadership renewal since the extraordinary government will play safe and field the 1st class talents in ultra safe GRCs!
Those being fielded in Potong Pasir & Hougang are not included as they are just there to fill the quota!