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10-05-2016, 06:20 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
The word is that the PAP will retain the GRCs as its main defence in thwarting opposition entry into Parliament. This is despite Workers Party unexpected capture of Aljunied GRC and its subsequent retention. The introduction of minority PAP candidates to contest SMCs is not related to the issue of GRC which many of us thought might be related. Michael Palmer was the first "semi-minority"( half Chinese) in 2011, 23 years after GRC was introduced.
GRC was introduced in 1988 as direct result of JBJ retaining his Anson seat in GE1984. He lost his seat in 1986 after the court conviction. It was no surprise that Anson as a constituency disappeared for the 1988 GE. The irony of course is that JBJ is an Indian as the day is long and a minority.
So why the need to test the waters with half a Chinese and now a full fledged minority in the guise of Murali. The primary driver is that the minorities within the PAP felt that it showed them in bad light, and more importantly marginalised them even though they were Singaporeans. They also felt that the Government had not done enough to address this issue. They also cited countries where minority candidates were successful as Singapore was in the past. Then there is the question of a cabinet minister not having received the mandate. The biggest challenge is for the PAP to test the waters with a PAP Malay candidate which is coincidentally identical to the predicament that CJ Menon and his constitutional panel are now facing.
For some reason, I suspect that NSP might have received the same information as their press release was rather pointed and released 2 days ago;
Quote:
There is absolutely no basis to contend that the Environment Minister is unable to be elected without the GRC system. If indeed he is unable to get elected on his own accord in a Single Member Constituency (SMC) , then he should not be in Parliament .
It looks like PAP will use the GRC to continue to carry less qualified and less appealing candidate and to absorb marginal SMCs such as Joo Chiat and continue to chip away at Opposition GRC with similar attacks that WP faced in Parliament and in the papers.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?229420-GRCs-to-stay&goto=newpost).
The word is that the PAP will retain the GRCs as its main defence in thwarting opposition entry into Parliament. This is despite Workers Party unexpected capture of Aljunied GRC and its subsequent retention. The introduction of minority PAP candidates to contest SMCs is not related to the issue of GRC which many of us thought might be related. Michael Palmer was the first "semi-minority"( half Chinese) in 2011, 23 years after GRC was introduced.
GRC was introduced in 1988 as direct result of JBJ retaining his Anson seat in GE1984. He lost his seat in 1986 after the court conviction. It was no surprise that Anson as a constituency disappeared for the 1988 GE. The irony of course is that JBJ is an Indian as the day is long and a minority.
So why the need to test the waters with half a Chinese and now a full fledged minority in the guise of Murali. The primary driver is that the minorities within the PAP felt that it showed them in bad light, and more importantly marginalised them even though they were Singaporeans. They also felt that the Government had not done enough to address this issue. They also cited countries where minority candidates were successful as Singapore was in the past. Then there is the question of a cabinet minister not having received the mandate. The biggest challenge is for the PAP to test the waters with a PAP Malay candidate which is coincidentally identical to the predicament that CJ Menon and his constitutional panel are now facing.
For some reason, I suspect that NSP might have received the same information as their press release was rather pointed and released 2 days ago;
Quote:
There is absolutely no basis to contend that the Environment Minister is unable to be elected without the GRC system. If indeed he is unable to get elected on his own accord in a Single Member Constituency (SMC) , then he should not be in Parliament .
It looks like PAP will use the GRC to continue to carry less qualified and less appealing candidate and to absorb marginal SMCs such as Joo Chiat and continue to chip away at Opposition GRC with similar attacks that WP faced in Parliament and in the papers.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?229420-GRCs-to-stay&goto=newpost).