Article for the day: 'Why some things never change' in TODAY. Can't find the link.
Summary of article (quoted verbatim):
1. Opposition parties will have no ground to complain that they aren't given enough time to ready themselves... This is because the signals for the next polls have been coming thick and fast for many months.
2. What the Opposition can take comfort in is that there is always support for them...
Given this, if I were part of the opposition... I would seize whatever diaphanous support there is out there, and try and weave it into something more solid.
3. But to do so, I must climb what are effectively the Mt Ophir and Mt Everest of S'pore politics - the election deposit of $13,500 and finding 84 Singaporeans of good moral character, bright and committed enough to stand as opposition candidiates.
4. The real Everest is who will volunteer to be Opposition candidates... If cyberspace were any indication, there are many Opposition wannabes in Singapore...
As I've said before, I'm really irritated reading articles about the coming elections that tell us nothing new. Basically, this article just states a few (definitely not most) of the reasons why the opposition is in the state it's in. And they are reasons we already know.
Next, I do not like the condescending tone of the article and I think it makes light of the problems faced by the opposition. I mean, for example, who volunteers to run for elections?
Also, the article takes a very strange turn for its conclusion, which is that there will be little change in the opposition scene because although the blogosphere is full of critics of the the ruling party (according to the writer), none of these bloggers is going to do more than blog their comments, i.e., they have so much to say but none of them is going to 'volunteer' to be an opposition member.
Strange because the blogosphere isn't the only place where people discuss politics. In fact, I would think that most S'porean bloggers do not write about politics. (I may be wrong) What about people talking politics in the GP classroom, the PS tutorial, the coffee shop, during their taxi ride, over the family dinner table, etc? Why target bloggers?
Also, don't we all know that it doesn't mean that if you take an interest in politics, you have to run for political office?? I mean, many of us like to shop, but do we necessarily rush out to become professional buyers? Or if you like to cook, and you cook a lot, do you necessarily want to be a chef? If we use the logic of the article, then all those journalists on the political desk, who constantly report and discuss government policies (usually in a positive light), should just queue up to be new candidates for the ruling party.
And that cheap parting shot at the popular Mr Wang is not what one would expect from this writer, a 'former journalist', who I know has years of journalistic experience.
It reminds me of a fairly famous GP question, the exact words of which I can't quite remember, but it goes something like: 'You get the press you deserve.' Do you agree?
Summary of article (quoted verbatim):
1. Opposition parties will have no ground to complain that they aren't given enough time to ready themselves... This is because the signals for the next polls have been coming thick and fast for many months.
2. What the Opposition can take comfort in is that there is always support for them...
Given this, if I were part of the opposition... I would seize whatever diaphanous support there is out there, and try and weave it into something more solid.
3. But to do so, I must climb what are effectively the Mt Ophir and Mt Everest of S'pore politics - the election deposit of $13,500 and finding 84 Singaporeans of good moral character, bright and committed enough to stand as opposition candidiates.
4. The real Everest is who will volunteer to be Opposition candidates... If cyberspace were any indication, there are many Opposition wannabes in Singapore...
As I've said before, I'm really irritated reading articles about the coming elections that tell us nothing new. Basically, this article just states a few (definitely not most) of the reasons why the opposition is in the state it's in. And they are reasons we already know.
Next, I do not like the condescending tone of the article and I think it makes light of the problems faced by the opposition. I mean, for example, who volunteers to run for elections?
Also, the article takes a very strange turn for its conclusion, which is that there will be little change in the opposition scene because although the blogosphere is full of critics of the the ruling party (according to the writer), none of these bloggers is going to do more than blog their comments, i.e., they have so much to say but none of them is going to 'volunteer' to be an opposition member.
Strange because the blogosphere isn't the only place where people discuss politics. In fact, I would think that most S'porean bloggers do not write about politics. (I may be wrong) What about people talking politics in the GP classroom, the PS tutorial, the coffee shop, during their taxi ride, over the family dinner table, etc? Why target bloggers?
Also, don't we all know that it doesn't mean that if you take an interest in politics, you have to run for political office?? I mean, many of us like to shop, but do we necessarily rush out to become professional buyers? Or if you like to cook, and you cook a lot, do you necessarily want to be a chef? If we use the logic of the article, then all those journalists on the political desk, who constantly report and discuss government policies (usually in a positive light), should just queue up to be new candidates for the ruling party.
And that cheap parting shot at the popular Mr Wang is not what one would expect from this writer, a 'former journalist', who I know has years of journalistic experience.
It reminds me of a fairly famous GP question, the exact words of which I can't quite remember, but it goes something like: 'You get the press you deserve.' Do you agree?
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