Real Winners and Losers of Presidential Election 2011

Dear friends,


Now that the Presidential Election 2011 is over, it only leaves for me to do the following:

1. Congratulate President-elect Dr Tony Tan for winning a hard-fought campaign, albeit by a razor thin margin from Dr Tan Cheng Bock.

2. Commiserate with the losing candidates Dr.Tan Cheng Bock, Mr. Tan Jee Say and Mr. Tan Kin Lian and thanking them for putting their hats in the ring. They had tried their best and in so doing had allowed us to participate in an exercise of democracy that is an integral part of being Singaporean.

After the dust has settled and the campaign posters (real or virtual) taken down and Singapore returns to being a squeaky-clean city in a garden again, these are my reflections about who the Real Winners and Losers of PE2011 are:

Real Winners:

1. Integrity of electoral process-

Pre-polling day-

The Presidential Elections Committee chose to be liberal with the interpretation of the qualification criteria and hence allowed 4 of the 6 nominees to participate. Certificates of eligibility were awarded early.

Campaigning which included rallies and mass-publicity efforts (online and offline) were orderly and mainly uncontroversial

Polling day-

voting locations were manned by civil servants who were non-partisan, efficient and extremely professional

vote counting/after voting events : there were no accusations of vote rigging nor coercion to vote for particular candidates and although the stake was high and the winning margin thin, the verdicts were accepted as final by all concerned in a dignified manner.

In summary: We trust the system and even take for granted something which many places in the world do not.


2. Worker’s Party

Conspicuous by its absence, this major political party stands to gain the most of all political parties.

From a back of envelope calculation, only slightly more than half of pro-PAP votes went to Dr Tony Tan ( ie 35% compared to 60% of GE 2011) and whilst the opposition got 40% of GE 2011, Mr. Tan Jee Say, who was openly endorsed by Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and some National Solidarity Party stalwarts (namely Nicole Seah), garnered about 25%.

This means that a substantial proportion of those who voted for PAP(25%)  and non-PAP parties (15%) in May’s GE, voted for Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr. Tan Kin Lian.

Already we are getting online banter from Dr. Tan Cheng Bock’s supporters who are blaming SDP and NSP for splitting the votes and spoiling a sure-win elections. We know these supporters will be averse to supporting these 2 opposition parties, but the WP remains, as it were, untainted. In fact, unsubstantiated rumours were that WP was silently rooting for Dr Tan Cheng Bock.

NB: There is an unknown- ie how many neutrals/”pro-opposition”s voted for Dr Tony Tan believing him to be able to free himself from his PAP past ( much like the late President Ong Teng Cheong) and consider the PE2011 as totally divorced from the GE 2011? My guesstimate is that this is not significant.

In summary:

Come GE 2016, WP would benefit immensely from a highly-politicised electorate who wants a non-PAP party which it considers to be credible yet conservative.

Except for the 35% who voted Dr Tony Tan, the rest of the 65% is WP’s for the taking.

Real and biggest Loser

People’s Action Party(PAP)

Only the most dense of us would believe that PAP did not endorse Dr Tony Tan. Many NTUC-affiliated unions, pro-establishments business bodies did. PM Lee also did except he did not use the “E” ( endorse) word.

If the PAP and the pro-government machinery ( it is debatable if the traditional media was one of these) , threw everything (including the kitchen sink) into getting Dr Tony Tan elected and comes out only with the same percentage as a popular medical doctor who was supported by a motley bunch of Singaporean well-wishers, alert bells must be ringing non-stop at PAP HQ.

How does PAP stop the rot? How do they get Singaporeans to like them again?

In summary:

Unless one is blind, deaf and lost all senses, PAP is in an unenviable position.

Conclusion:

Anyway, I am not losing any sleep over the choice of the President-elect as I had been told, ad-nauseum, that Singapore’s Presidency is largely a ceremonial post without much teeth.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan