POLITICAL OPTICS from Workers' Party

POLITICAL OPTICS

𝐏𝐀𝐏 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐌𝐏𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐂𝐅 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬.

For years, WP chooses to hold their MPS in void decks for political optics even though they could have rented the spaces from HDB at 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒 to build a simple room for MPS.

𝐀𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐀𝐏 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐖𝐏. For example, some PAP MPs are known to donate all of their MP allowance to their constituencies (Edwin Tong and Tin Pei Ling are 2 examples). But they do it on the quiet.

This makes us wonder if that is good. Good works should not be hidden under the bushel and the PAP MPs should publicly announce all their deeds.

#overheard
When it comes to playing politics, if WP claims they are no. 2, no one dare they claim they no. 1. Everything WP do is just optics to score points.

I won my bet. The moment I hear LO will get more pay, I bet he will donate and score point. I am proven right.

PAP is a lousy at playing politics.

“A POLITICIAN VERSUS A POLITICAL LEADER"

To explain (the changes to the elected presidency) Mr Chan related a story about a conversation with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, which he said taught him the difference between a politician and a political leader.

“We asked ourselves - PM, do we need to do this now? Because we had anticipated it would be a hard journey to convince people and we would pay the political price, at least in the short term,” said Mr Chan.

“PM Lee’s answer will forever be etched in my mind, and that distinguished a politician from a political leader.

“He said 'Yes, we are likely to pay a political price. Yes, we may not have a problem here and now, but what if we have a problem 20 or 30 years from now? Will the fourth, fifth or sixth generation of leaders have the liberty, and the luxury of time and space for them to put in place a system?'” said Mr Chan.

Mr Lee, he added, had taken it upon himself to put in place a system to pre-empt potential issues from arising in the future. “Not for himself, not for his political capital, but always thinking about what this country needs,” he said. “We are prepared to pay the political price, because we think the future of our country is much more important than any political capital that we may have.”