Hongkie can learn from Sinkie - says this Ah Neh from Hong Kong

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http://www.chinadailyasia.com/opinio..._15174597.html

Home> Opinion
Tuesday, October 7, 2014, 09:33
Hong Kong people can learn from Singapore
CHINA DAILY HK EDITION
By N.Balakrishnan

Singapore’s political landscape today appears tranquil but this was not always so. In the 1960s the Barisan Sosialis (Socialist Front) party of Singapore was able to bring the city to a standstill at short notice in ways “Occupy Central” couldn’t even begin to imagine. The Socialist Front of Singapore controlled all the unions and had the support of large sections of the population. But within a decade the party had completely disappeared — not due to repression, but mostly due to a wrong political strategy — “taking to the streets.”
Singapore’s Socialist Front was formed in 1961 by 13 former People’s Action Party (PAP) and six prominent trade union leaders. To this day, the PAP is still ruling Singapore, whereas the Socialist Front has completely disappeared. At the time of the breakup in 1961, the Socialist Front was so popular that 35 of the 51 branches of PAP and 19 of its 23 organizing secretaries changed allegiance to the Socialist Front.
In 1963, many Socialist Front members were arrested. But despite the arrests, the 1963 Singapore elections saw Socialist Front candidates win 13 out of 51 seats, accounting for a plurality — or 53 percent of the popular vote.


Fourteen years later in 1980, Socialist Front chairman Dr Lee Siew Choh apologized to Singaporean voters for having abandoned parliamentary politics for street action in 1966. In 1988 Socialist Front was dissolved.


he compromise.
The author is a former foreign correspondent and has lived in Hong Kong for the past 25 years.


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