After Low Thia Kiang’s infamous analogy of slapping a driver that had gone to sleep or taking the wrong turn, there were high expectations that the slapping would continue and be more frequently done. This is especially so when the driver is seen to have been driving wildly, speeding and breaking all the traffic rules. With this background, one can appreciate why there is a sense of anger and frustration when the slapping somehow has stopped. Some were even accusing the co driver for falling asleep or been bought over by the driver. Many are now using this self assigned role of the WP to judge their performance, and found them wanting.
Why has the slapping stopped suddenly? The curiosities surrounding this turn of event are growing. Has the WP back tracked on what it professed to do? It is definitely not a case of a driver driving well and proper and no reason to slap. That makes thing more uncomfortable and the critics more impatient. You could actually hear them screaming for more slapping. The unlikely thing now is that the critics are turning around to slap the co driver for sleeping on the job instead, for inaction.
What would you do if you were Low Thia Kiang or the WP? One school of thought is that it is better to let the driver continues driving all over the place and to the wrong place or over a cliff. Why bother to correct him? Would it not be better to let the driver in his drunken stupor or state of delirium to drive over the cliff?
There is some wisdom and practical values to this. When the enemy is making all the mistakes, do not stop him. Instead, the enemy should be encouraged to make more mistakes and believing that everything is fine. Now, is this the new strategy of the WP? To make sense of what is happening, this is the only logical reason. The WP cannot be seen as inept or losing their little balls if they want to be the main opposition party to take on the PAP. Losing credibility in the eyes of their supporters is a very serious slip and would undermine their efforts to win more supporters and voters to their side.
The good thing about a good teacher or a good driver constantly slapping a driver to take the right course of action is that it would benefit the driver more than the co driver/teacher. For all the hard work of slapping, everything turns out well and the co driver cannot reap any rewards for his effort. Let it fall, let the wayward driver drives in whatever way he wants, let him get into accidents and crash the car would be a better result but with a bigger price to pay for the passengers.
To slap or not to slap the driver is a tough choice really.
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/