Workers’ Party:
Is it a failure?
To some, it’s being realistic under severe restrictions; but others feel it is a disappointment. Here’s one such view.
Nov 7, 2007

Urbanrant
Is Workers' Party a failure? WP Chief says he is merely a watchdog
I am often critical of the government's policies and also its attitudes towards stifling opposing views and alternative perspectives.

Of course the government is not the only thing that needs to be critically examined. The opposition needs it too.

Today, Low Thia Khiang, a veteran opposition MP, shares his lack of ambition and vision with the rest of Singapore.

For so long, Low and Chiam See Tong was held up as bastions of the alternate Singaporean voice. People in Hougang and Pasir Ris voted repeatedly for both men.

And people in Aljunied almost voted Low's team into Parliament. The folks in Hougang place their trust in the man to run their town.

He has done some good things with Hougang. Contrary to what the mainstream media would have you believe, there are no slums in Hougang.

To hear Low's lack of ambition loud and clear is a blow to his supporters.

To even suggest that it will take another 20 years for his party to be credible enough to stand on its own is either a case of being pragmatic or hopelessly despondent.

The next time you hear Low mention his rhetoric against the ruling party in an election rally, you may be well advised to note this article and remember that this guy may lack the gumption or the vision necessary to steer the Workers' Party to anything more than a watchdog.

In his mind, Workers' Party will need another 20 years to challenge. This means another 4 elections.

By which time, he (by his own admission) would have passed on the baton to another crop of Workers' Party leaders.

That would mean that in his entire period as a leader of the main opposition party in Singapore, he would have not even created a dent in history. He has ruffled even fewer feathers.

If that is the case, why then did the Hougang voters vote Low in into Parliament?

Did they vote in merely a town administrator (and thereby subjecting themselves to the end of a PAP queue to upgrade their homes)?

Did they vote Low into the Parliament to sit as a watchdog, and occassionally raising a whimper against the hounds that surround you.

In doing so, he is a mere badge on the PAP's lapel, whom the likes of Lee Hsien Loong can point critics of Singaporean authoritarian meritocracy to as evidence of mutli-party democracy in Singapore.

Low has a choice to be a lap dog or a hound dog. Sadly his choice is so different from his predecessor.

http://urbanrant.blogspot.com/2007/11/is-workers-party-failure-wp-chief-says.html