“Fortune favors the brave”.
Virgil, Aeneid- Roman epic poet (70 - 19 BC) http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/24341.html
For the sake of PAP and itÂ’s whipÂ… we have allowed PAP cowards/ puppets into parliament?
The Govt whip: http://www.singapore-window.org/sw02/020321af.htm
Dr LEE Boon Yang - Government Whip, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.
http://app.sgdi.gov.sg/listing.asp?agency_subtype=dept&agency_id=0000004564
Democracy? - 10/14 GRCs uncontested-
The true meaning of GRC exploited. (Inflated from 4 to 6 candidate GRCs) (Needs only 4 or less in which 1 is minority member to maintain racial harmony)
Only 33.2% of Singaporeans had had politicians competing to represent themÂ…
PAP govt tyranny or political apathy? - Neither case is good for the future of SG.
http://www.elections.gov.sg/past_parliamentary2001.htm
http://www.singapore-elections.com/ge2001/
ST- Don't make it difficult to contest elections
Jan 19, 2006- http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,5562,365891,00.html?
I REFER to the letters, 'Govt all for contests among serious candidates' by Mr Chen Hwai Liang, Press Secretary to Prime Minister, and 'No such thing as a level playing field in politics' by Mr Anthony Oei (ST, Jan 14).
I agree that contests should be reserved for serious candidates, but believe that the seriousness of candidates should be determined at the ballot box and not by legislation that demolishes a level playing field.
The Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system allows for larger electoral divisions of from three to six individuals. However, GRCs in the past parliamentary election consisted of divisions of five or six individuals, as opposed to 1988, when there were a large number of three-member divisions and zero five- to six-member divisions.
Legislation also allows for a minimum of eight single-member constituencies, but the last election had only nine such zones, as opposed to around 40 in 1988.
Overall the GRC scheme suggests gerrymandering, as prominent ministers may help weaker party candidates contest a constituency. Every single MP must be admitted to Parliament based on personal merit, and not on the merit of more established party peers.
One argument in support of GRCs was that of minority representation, but the first opposition member to enter Parliament in the 1980s was from a racial minority prior to the creation of GRCs.
Some also suggest that the Government has no responsibility to create a level playing field, but fail to see that legislation is crafted to undermine opposition members and deter them from participating in elections. Increasing election deposits and laws banning party-political films do not do justice to society.
If the Government is serious about allowing only the best people to enter Parliament, it should learn to listen to the voice of the people.
It does not need to implement laws that prevent people from contesting elections, especially as Singaporeans are becoming increasingly mobile and better educated.
Christopher Ledesma Choo Weisen
Pennsylvania, USA
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Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear
--Harry S. Truman - August 8, 1950/ 33rd president of US.