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| Poster in honour of CHIA THYE POH at SDP headquarters, 21 February 2011. One of the SDP's greatest strengths in my opinion is how the party has consistently honoured the oppositional heroes of Singapore's past and how the SDP's present discourse consciously and strategically presents the current party as following on an oppositional tradition which dates back to the 1950s. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek has written about the idea of "alternative histories" - what if the conservative-technocratic faction of the PAP had not come to dominate the party but instead the party's left-wing had won out? There is no law against imagining... |
By Dr Kieran James (University of Southern Queensland)
Mr Edward Tan is a left-wing, Chinese-nationalist internet activist who in the Year 2010 was writing under the Facebook name of “SMS Tan”. He has been highly critical of the PAP Government from the Chinese-nationalist rather than from the western-liberal perspective. Some might perceive him as a throwback to a more innocent and charming era but his views are important because they reflect a line of social and political thought which was very strong in Singapore from the 1950s through to the early-1970s prior to Operation Cold Store and the persecution of the Chinese-educated left-wing by the PAP. Mr Tan's responses were received by email on 1 October 2010.
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| Passive Resistance? Chairman Mao statue for sale, Tanglin SC |
Edward Tan: I was naturalized to be opposition supporter. Grown up in family of Socialism, my father was ex-student activist with Socialists, so I was influenced by him on political topics. Then my mother provided me Chinese books, literature and history, both taught about tyranny and oppression by cruel leaders and how good leaders led people to uprise.
KJ: Question Two: What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of SDP (or the opposition party you are most closely involved with)?
ET: Strengths and weaknesses of SDP [Singapore Democratic Party] similar to most oppositions. Strengths: The top leaders came from poor families and later they graduated with degrees and promoted themselves to middle-class, so they understand the people in the lower and middle-classes. Also many of them were from Civil Service and they know how the PAP system works and what fails. Weaknesses: They only look at politics and the whole environment (including global issues) from very narrow perspective as usually the Civil Servant Mentality only looks at things in details but not all-round. Just as they have limited time to look from all-round perspective, they are stubborn and not so willing to listen other opinions. A leader should listen to all advice, [whether it] be good and bad. So their growth is very limited. Younger members may not agree with them. Likely such parties will split up into many pieces and new parties will be formed, but such development will be good for Singapore politics.
KJ: Question Three: What do you think will happen to Singapore politics in next 10-15 years and how many seats will the opposition win at next election?
ET: The future can be in either both ways. If the oppositions continue to be stubborn and change little, then very likely they only win a few SMC seats or the most extra one more GRC in next election, but very quickly after one term PAP wins back that GRC as oppositions with limited resources to manage a GRC. SDA and WP can manage a few more SMC seats but a GRC will be harder. While other parties not likely to manage a GRC, a SMC can be beyond their own means. Then there is also another direction, new opposition parties such as Reform Party, United Singapore Democrat and Socialist Front come out with innovative idea to attract voters and people have alternative choices to vote, then the number of seats won by Oppositions will be more, but equally split among them. So in another one more election, while PAP is also under pressure to perform, there will be a struggle among the new and old opposition parties in parliament, then voters will finally see who will be most understanding in future to form the next alternative government replacing PAP. In other words, this coming [May 2011] and the next one after elections are crucial to decide the fates of many parties in Singapore.
KJ: Question Four: What do you think of SDP Youth and internet political activism?
ET: I am not so sure what SDP Youth doing, but it seems they are recruiting young people in Singapore for their political cause. They will have training and education, but what those training will nurture the next leaders in Singapore yet to be seen. But as long as they are basing on older ideas in the past, very little result will come from the SDP Youth. Internet activism is good for Singaporeans but only for a small group those highly educated and explore the Internet world to seek for more information will benefit. Still politics need to go below to the grassroots and public, in touch with voters and all people to spread the messages. It will be useless just debate online then not able to spread the messages effectively down to the general public. There will be some improvement in election results for oppositions but overall still little. Also once oppositions can achieve a better result with help of the Internet, PAP will shut down or limit the use after this coming election. All still come back to square one, that opposition need to get in touch with people personally.
KJ: Question Five: What do the opposition parties need to do to go from 25% to 50.1% and what type of people makes up that next 25% that opposition must win over?
ET: From our current situation unlikely for oppositions grow from 25 to 50% unless they change themselves. Their formats, tactics, methods, campaigns and structure need to change. It is more likely coming election [May 2011] opposition can achieve around the 40% mark or a little lesser. PAP has made their own calculations and will not promote a losing campaign. If you say what type of people to make up that 25% it will be the neutral voters? In my opinion they are consisted of 2 main types: neutral for a lot of goodies and neutral for a healthy political Singapore. Those opt for goodies will not be satisfied just from one side, either PAP or oppositions, they hope to get from both sides and weigh to see which side to cast their votes. It is rather emotional, irrational and selfish of these people. They are not so concerned who will win but how much they get from each side. PAP is easier to win support from such people as they have more resources. There is another type of neutral voters. They are listening to what PAP and Oppositions have to give in terms of development of the nation and also of the places where they live, to resolve their bread and butter issues, whether each side can take care of their welfare. If the Opposition party is more eager to debate and argue, rather than to give, then is very hard to win from these people, they are not so concerned how good and strong Opposition leaders can debate. So again the main issue of every election is about bread and butter issue[s]. For coming election the main issues are foreign talent and higher costs of living. Foreign Talent is restricting the survival chances of many local people same as higher costs of living. I sense if PAP not able to give to local people, many will vote for oppositions but surely by Voting Day PAP will come out [with] some “goodies” to attract back these complainers. If Oppositions can’t perform well, so will some people consider to migrate out as [they] see [it] useless to continue living in such hopeless and tough country. So it will also be a do-or-die election for these opposition parties as they will lose away some devoted supporters who need to survive here in order to continue their support.
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