Whenever it comes to General Elections rallies, Ms Sylvia Lim always like to cite 1991 General Election as a good reminder as to why PAP should not be given a high mandate. She would cite that 1991, when PAP lost 4 seats to Cheo Chai Chen, Ling How Doong, Low Thia Kiang and Chiam See Tong, PAP set up a committee to address the concerns and kept costs of living low to win back votes from Singaporeans.
Conversely, we should look at what happened in 2001.
In 2001, Singapore PAP called for elections in Nov, which is 2 months after Sep 11 happened in United States. There was fear, uncertainty as recession loomed as many businesses in US may affect Singapore's operations. PAP played on this fear and called for election in 2001.
Many expected the election to be 2002 (5 years after 1997) but PAP decided to take this golden opportunity and Singaporeans bought the bait and voted for familiarity. PAP thus received a high mandate of 75%, the highest since 1980. Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Kiang's votes were also dangerously low and won by a slim margin.
Some punters said that it was also because during GE2001, Dr Chee Soon Juan behaved like a lunatic on one occasion when he openly yelled at Goh Chok Tong that made many Singaporeans turn against opposition politicians. Dr Chee also lost heavily and won only 20 per cent of the votes in Jurong.
After winning a high mandate, PAP took Singaporeans for granted.
The former Manpower Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen let in a flood of Indian national IT people to flood the banks etc.
Then in 2003, Singapore was hit by SARS and there was a recession.
We still remember even though there was a recession, hawker food, utilities and transport fares continue to increase despite our concerns.
I still remember that SMRT had a record profit of more than $20 million but yet when we gave PAP a high mandate, PAP did not even bother to talk to SMRT to tell them to put their fare increases on hold.
Therefore, for those Singaporeans who still think PAP will listen to your concerns if you vote for them, it is not to your advantage to give PAP a high mandate come GE2016.
Let Parliament be a microcosm of a society. Voting for more opposition with humble backgrounds will put a voice for you in Parliament so that the society will be more equal.
CJ
TRS Contributor