Random thoughts for Cooling Off Day 2020

So it occurred to me that 29 years ago, Low Thia Khiang told the Hougang voters: "WA SI TEOCHEW NANG!" (I am a Teochew!) at one (or more) of his rallies.

And he snatched Hougang from the PAP.

Twenty-nine years later, the Workers Party couldn't even send a rep to the Chinese debate.

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And the PAP sent Vivian Balakrishnan to the English debate.

And the opposition cried "foul!"

They said the PAP should have sent one of the 4G leaders to the debate.

Which reminds me of the riddle: How do you beat Manchester United?

Answer: Challenge them to ping pong.

Here was the longer comment:

Imagine you have a sports club of 90+ athletes. Some are great at basketball, some soccer, some table tennis, and some at rugby, and your sports club is challenged to a basketball game, do you send your table tennis squad?And if you are a small club with just 5 members, then whether you are challenged to a basketball game or a table tennis tournament, you have just FIVE members. If you want to play, ALL of them have to play...

The point is, the PAP has a deeper and broader pool of talent. The opposition does not. Often an opposition party is a talent pool of One. Sometimes that One is a legend in his own mind. Or if he is good, he may be a legend in quite a few minds.

But how can the opposition beat the PAP in a debate?

Simple. Get Low Thia Khiang to debate Vivian Balakrishnan.

In Teochew.

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Talk about old school.

I have.

In the Information Age, in the Digital Era, in the time of Social Media, the PAP still uses loudhailers in trucks.

You think (sarcastically), "sure. If I just listen to that recording as it passes by ONE MORE TIME, I'm voting PAP."

And you'd be missing the point.

It's about job creation.

The PAP just created jobs for those drivers.

What has the opposition done?

(Actually, some might copy the PAP and create jobs for other drivers.

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But of course the question on EVERYONE'S mind is, how big will the Opposition win?

After that HUGE swing to the PAP in 2015, the expectation is that the pendulum will swing back.

BUT with the crisis Singapore and the World is facing, do we REALLY want to experiment with inexperienced political parties?

But what do I know? Maybe Singaporeans believe that opportunity is at the heart of crises. And there is no better time to try new things then when the old world is dying.

I don't know. I guess Aljunied would be a good gauge of the political zeitgeist.

If WP winning margin in Aljunied increases, it means voters want change.

If WP loses Aljunied, it means voters want security and certainty.

If WP barely hangs on to Aljunied (like it did in 2015), it means we want to hold onto what we've got.

If WP's hold over Aljunied grows stronger, the question is, would it be strong enough that WP wins in other GRCs too?

And if WP loses Aljunied, can it still hold Hougang?

Questions we will know come Saturday.