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By Biddy Low

Like a flash flood after a long drought, elections and the excitement that it brings have descended upon this nation over and over by the heavy hand of fate. By this second by-election for Punggol East, there is almost an embarrassment in getting swept up by the hype, for fear of being viewed as naive or worse, a vapid follower of a madding crowd. So I disengaged at the beginning. I am not a political pundit, neither do I have lofty ambitions to make a name for myself by jumping in the fray at any chance. My reasons for being involved and informed have remained the same as 3 years ago, to be a "kah kia" ( helper) anyway I can in what I consider a fledgling awakening for democracy in this little island I call home. A democratization process that I believe goes beyond what the politicians are doing, and right into the consciousness of every single person here.

By Andrew Loh

"Uniting all the opposition parties is an unrealistic vision and an impossible dream,” said Mr Low Thia Khiang, secretary-general of the Workers’ Party (WP). “Unity must not be contrived, because such a union would not work out well. We will not only not be able to progress, but will conversely end up disintegrating, and Singaporeans will lose faith in the possibility of a credible opposition.”

Coming from Mr Low, who has until now been silent on the issue of opposition unity, such remarks are significant – and they could turn out to be the most important thing from the Punggol East by-election, after the dust has settled.

Following Mr Low’s remarks, other opposition parties’ leaders have differing views on whether opposition unity is a desirable or realistic hope. What is undeniable is that Mr Low is not completely wrong in his opinion. In fact, this writer agrees with him and the WP should walk its own path – at least for the moment.

By Andrew Loh

After ignoring the Singapore Democratic Party’s (SDP) invitation to discuss its proposal for avoiding a three-cornered fight in the Punggol East by-election, the Workers’ Party’s (WP) secretary-general Low Thia Khiang “took a dig” at the SDP’s “unity candidate” idea. Low, speaking at the WP’s unveiling of Lee Li Lian as its choice for the upcoming contest, said, “We want to make sure that our candidates, when elected, are prepared to work and can connect to [sic] the people – not just go to Parliament and talk.”

The “dig”, as Straits Times reporter Kor Kian Beng put it, was in reference to the SDP’s suggestion that the two parties together sent a SDP candidate to contest the by-election;  and in the event that he or she won, the SDP MP would speak in Parliament while the WP would do the day-to-day running of the town council.

Low’s apparent derision of the SDP, however, comes after the WP’s chairman, Sylvia Lim, said at the same press conference that her party does “not intend to talk about SDP in public”.

Questions have also been raised about other PAP-owned companies which the party “decline[d] to comment on.”

It is unclear if the MND review will look into questions and matters such as this.

It is thus perhaps necessary that the PAP subject itself to public inquiry or be more forthcoming about the number of companies – for-profit or otherwise – it owns, the nature of their businesses, and who helm them.

In the same spirit as the prime minister’s hope of “ensuring high overall standards of corporate governance in TCs”, the same high standards of professionalism and independence should be expected of the MND review team, and indeed of the PAP itself, as far as being open and transparent about its business dealings are concerned.

One feels that the PAP must not hide behind this review by the MND and instead take its own initiative to answer the many questions which the public has about its business dealings.

Read the full article on Yahoo Singapore here.