Low Thia Kiang: “Cooling-off” period will give PAP an extra day of campaigning

December 2, 2009 by admin
Filed under Headlines

Written by Our Correspondent

Opposition MP Mr Low Thia Kiang has slammed the “cooling-off” day proposed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as a ploy to give the PAP an extra day of campaigning.

All mass rallies, door-to-door visits and the wearing of party logos and symbols will not be allowed on the day which is extended even to the internet though it is unclear on how the law will be enforced.

There is one exception: Political parties can still give their traditional TV broadcast on the eve and news reporting on the election will continue as before.

The ruling party controls the only news agency in Singapore – SPH as well as broadcasting station Mediacorp which is owned by Temasek Holdings.

The Singapore media is ranked a pathetic 133rd position in terms of press freedom on the World Press Freedom index conducted yearly by respected international NGO Reporters without Borders.

The late Singapore Chief Minister Mr David Marshall once described the Straits Times as the “running dogs and prostitutes of the PAP”.

The Chairman of SPH is Dr Tony Tan, a former PAP minister. A number of PAP MPs are previously SPH journalists including Irene Ng and Seng Han Tong. It was rumored that some of the Straits Times’ senior correspondents are former ISD officiers such as the Chua sisters.

Mr Low feared that the “cooling-off” day will be used by the PAP to sway public sentiments towards its side.

“For instance, if opposition parties campaign on issues of health care and public housing policy and managed to get the message across to the voters, the government department or relevant civil servants can always come out on the day of the cooling period with some announcement of policy changes or explanation to counter what opposition parties said during the campaign period, in an attempt to sway public opinion. The mass media can also run a ’story’ for the same effect without the need for any PAP candidate to appear,” he said.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, PAP MP for Aljunied GRC, which was fiercely contested in the 2006 polls, said the mass media had been fair and balanced in its election coverage.

During the 2006 elections, the mass media was used by the PAP to character assassinate the Workers’ Party candidate James Gomez over a trivial incident. Previous victims of the media’s smear campaign includes J.B. Jeyaretnam, Dr Chee Soon Juan, Tang Liang Hong, Jufrie Mahmood and Francis Seow.

The state media is known to portray PAP candidates in a positive light while casting aspersions on the characters of opposition candidates.

Mr Low also said PM Lee’s concerns over public disorder is an ‘over-imagination’, noting that assigning each party a stadium for their supporters to gather prevents such potential problems.

But Mr Ong Kian Min, PAP MP for Tampines GRC, argues that the long-running political strife in Thailand shows Singapore cannot take for granted the calm it has seen in recent elections.

Unlike their neighbors, politics is a low-key affair in Singapore and few Singaporeans are so passionate about politics to create “trouble” during the campaign. Besides, the police which is omnipresent at all the rallies should have taken active measures to maintain public order and security without a need for the “cooling-off” day.

Not known to leaving things to chance, the “cooling-off” day is probably one of the many new rules introduced to counter the rising influence of the new media in order to ensure the PAP’s continued political hegemony in Singapore.

Singaporeans should expect more “interesting” changes to pop up soon as the election approaches under the guise of “benefitting” the voters.

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Comments

31 Comments on "Low Thia Kiang: “Cooling-off” period will give PAP an extra day of campaigning"

Douglas on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 10:33 am

Be it cooling period or not, what is the opposition fear all about if not unfounded. An election is decided by the voters and they would have made up their minds long before the cooling period. If one follows the US election, many reputable media took sides and in spite of some tilting openly in favour for Hillary Clinton, she lost her party nomination to eventual winner Barrack Obama.
In the Internet age, whatever media advantage or bias is nullified by voters’ choice. That is what an election is all about – the best party prevails.
Condemning or expressing consternation by the Oppostion parties over a so called cooling period only goes to show how much confidence they have in the voters who make the final decision.

bornloser on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 10:50 am

They only know how to win with the opposition’s hands tied. Can’t they learn to fight fair and square and find out what their real support is?
You end up with ministers who give all the bullshit figures to the public; whose forte is to find excuses for their shortcomings instead of doing the real business of serving the people.
They are giving their butts to be kicked.

Lee Buck Long on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 10:57 am

If there is breaking shocking news on cooling off day, would anyone be able to RESPOND?

XIIIblackcat on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:06 am

I’m not worried about the more well informed population, they are smart enough to know who to vote. It is generally the older/ not well informed part of our population who will be swayed easily and fall for their trap. And sadly this later group make up a significant part of our population.

Bai Hu on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:15 am

Since Singaporeans are generally very ‘obedient’ species of human kind, what is there to worry about by the PAP government about possibility of public-disorder & things like that.

ErniesUrn on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:29 am

Our PM only seems to have only acheive to plant seeds on doubt on the electorate with this ‘cooling off’ gimmick.

Seriously, why do I have such a cowardly PM. Can’t he just be a man and hold elections free and fair without twitching the rules each and everytime GE comes.

Worse, not everyone gets to vote everytime. What kind of democratic country is this?!

Dissapointing display of leadership. He is loosing the populist vote.

Get real on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:42 am

@ Douglas on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 10:33 am

How do you and the Government mysteriously discover that for some ghostly unknown reasons all voters need a cooling off period to decide on their votes? Clairvoyant or mind readers of citizenry or are we all irrational like you?.

Changing the rules of the game evidenced desperation and lack of confidence of the incumbent – NOT the other way around you claimed.

The opposition can take on them any day – barring electoral witchcrafts or chicanery. We seen that in GRC already, haven’t you?

Jim on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:45 am

The government is very creative in introducing such changes. However I wish they should be using their creativity and energy in formulating better public policies and other measures to help ordinary citizens instead!

Rainnix on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:52 am

Having a “cooling-off” day is telling opposition that it is the day where PAP can campaign, oppositions cannot. Why is that this rule change is before the election when it should be AFTER the next election?

Is Lee Hsien Loong so afraid to lose?

jolly on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:57 am

what douglas said has some elements of truths in it. i believe the voters have already made up their minds even today as we are talking. but it is also true for the opposition to fight back vigourously at any attempts to change the election scenario at the 13th hour

Sad on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 12:05 pm

Douglas: Unless the election is fair and is judge by independent party. But in sg if the media is one sided, we cannot denial that there will be influence or fear when they cast the vote. If PAP have confident they can win without out GRC or with number on poll slip, then bring it on. Why not give the opposition all the media coverage, obviously not.

Online Shmonline on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 12:36 pm

@ Douglas.

I personally know some of the grassroots leaders who helped Obama build up the momentum which swung him infront of Clinton as they moved towards the Democratic Convention.

What Obama had was the support of many people who were able to work the ground before he had to come personally to specific swing states. This is NOT the case in Singapore, where the incumbent may practice the art of gerrymandering via the Elections Department as they see fit, cutting and slicing the various electoral boundaries as they choose.

When the electoral boundaries are not clear, it is harder to have an effective grassroots movement that can campaign on one’s behalf (unless you just happen to have the support of RCs manned by many new citizens and the People’s Association, a quasi PAP grassroots entity).

In such a scenario, last minute campaigning has ALOT of impact, as we will remember from the close voting in EUNOS and Hougang. Yes, most voters tend to have decided beforehand but where the voting is close, last minute softcore campaigning via “News Flashes” by SPH and Mediacorp will tend to sway those who are still figuring out if they want more of the same useless stability or hopeful change.

My fingers are crossed that the Singapore Power substations servicing Mediacrap and SPH have a sudden breakdown, preventing the MIW’s biggest cheerleaders from doing their unpatriotic duty.

Neil Bishop on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 2:05 pm

Of course LHL (aka Dear Leader, aka Larry son of Harry) is afraid to lose. If the PAP were thrown out of office the new government would be able to publicise (1) the true extent of the Temasek and GIC losses, (2) the exact undeclared shareholding of the Lee Family in Temasek and (3) the true amount pumped into Temasek and GIC by the PAP to bolster returns over the past 30 years. The Lee Family cannot afford the truth about their mismanagement and maladministration to become public knowledge.

cy on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 2:23 pm

孟子·告子下》.

“故天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身行，行拂乱其所为，所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能。人恒过，然后能改。困于心，衡于虑，而后作。” 生于忧患死于安乐

this is just another obstacle in the push to true democracy.

No one expects the fight to be easy.

Dear One & All... on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 2:27 pm

Please go to this website video and see if you see any parallel and connective spins with The Truth About Dubai’s Shiek’s EXCESS in his Kingdom!!!… Especially by his HIGHLY Paid minister od development in answer to Western INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST!!!…

And know WHY Liesky is so so afraid of investigative journalism!!!… Because he always have something to hide from us. Do True to Goodness and Honesty people… EVEN National leaders… need to hide… with GARBAGE VERBAGE???…

Please SEE and Hear for yourselves people of Singapore…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUW9MWLIQYw

Sad on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 2:45 pm

jolly: what douglas said has some elements of truths in it.
There is no elements of truths that i can see in sg elections.
Media is biased. If you are democratic as claim, then eveybody should get to vote. Sg media should be independent. Why change the level playing field? Most people make up their mind, of course, but the fear factor changes that. Elections is about selection a good MP to speak up for them and not a freak event. Speak up for jobs, for housing, for unemployment support, min pay, for freedom of speech, freedom of expression.

令狐冲 on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 2:54 pm

Yes they can do whatever they want, re-sizing, re-zoning, cooling period, maybe in future, one man two votes, graduate more votes, mother with more kids more votes…..etc. many of us have long decided what we should do in the next election in order to change this fake democratic system. They were good in the past, (with all respect to the first generation pioneers); coping well enough at present, but past glory does not guarantee continue success. Post LKY era need to be different. Do not worry that only they will have talent, because once you have established opposition in future, there will be talent on both sides. Just citing one of the examples, even though WP is still relatively small, Silvia is its rare found excellent individual. More will emerge if we citizen make it happen. Borrow a phrase, Time for Change.

dog jumps over the wall on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 2:55 pm

singaporeans are the least likely to protest compared to ANY other country in the world and yet they come up with reasons to justify for their cooling off day?

in the news , the PAP MPs supported the move. But to be fair they should also mention the possibilty to disadvantage the opposition considering what the MSM is in the eyes of the people.

In anything, there is always the good side of it and the bad side of it. The PAP mps should have stated both sides of it clearly to be more impressive.

disappointing.

Discretion on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 3:59 pm

Neil Bishop

A VIP buys land in Canada. Then GIC comes in to buy several and in the process creates a pattern of price appreciation. The VIP then sells his landholding and laugh his way to the bank. Technical scenerio. But it happened in the 80’s.

Are there more such technicalities? Of course!

It would be interesting to see who the purchaser or purchasers were who bought the Bank Of America stake from Temasek on the cheap recently. Unfortunately, the names of these beneficiaries were never disclosed.

fpc on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 4:12 pm

//Douglas

The Clinton was trailing behind Obama right from the start. I don’t know how you arrive your conclusion.

Creating the extra day only shows how inconfident LHL is ok winning?

The WP MP is only making a comment. He didn’t do any of this kind of underhanded tricks LHL have been doing.

In any case, the WP MPs have been great. Value for money.

PAP MPs are pigs, who just know how to feed on the general people that they scorned at.

Sad case to have such pigs in the parliament.

fpc on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 4:13 pm

//jolly

PAP didn’t fight back to win votes vigorously because they didn’t want to.

They prefer to change rules to benefit themselves.

And they are too fat to run anyway.

athome on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 5:02 pm

Use Twitter to spread the word, they cant shut it down

Cpt on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 6:42 pm

Mm lky already said opposition cant win in next 2 Ge. I support his team has to find ways to make it true.

Cpt on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 6:44 pm

@athome.
Not everyone in Sin use Twitter as frequent as people in Usa.

If the most known "pappy loved" is SO AFFABLE, TRUTHFUL and SINCERE like he was with his 1st Gerneration of "OLD-GUARDS".... on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 7:26 pm

Why then MUST he play PUCKS with the GE System? Talks enuendos, cliches and spin like a FALLING “garseng” top that has runned out of “spinning momentum”???…

When one has been truthfully like he used to behave more humbly with the likes of TOUGH SUBSTANCE OLD-GUARDS Dr. GKS, TCC, the late S. Rajaratnam, etc who WERE “NO-PUSHOVERS… THEY in fact TEMPERED him to a level of reality humility. But for some 25 years without them… he’s been faltering and scrambling to create CRAFTY-TRICKS as “wools to pull over oureyes”… “Haoxes to mislead us”… “Boomerang” swirls to spin our brains into “giddy” submissions that pappy ‘IS’ still the best like in “Freak Election Results” without even being able to define it…

HOW GOOD IS HE and for WHAT HAH???… iT SHOWS DOESN’T IT!!!

ByebyePAP on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 9:30 pm

simple take home message:

NEVER VOTE FOR PAP COS EVEN THEY HAVE NOT CONFIDENCE OF WINNING

Sinkapore on Thu, 3rd Dec 2009 12:33 am

It is rally IMPOSSIBLE to be expecting to vote the PaPies out of power BUT remember that the core of the problematic equation is the famiLEE, with them gone, PaPies or no PaPies, even if they remain in power, they will be at war internally, their demise is inevitable.

So basically what LHL is aiming to do with all his tricks is to ensure that he and his father(ie: LHL & LKY) will remain in power so that GIC, TH and others’s dirt will remain UNDER THE CARPET.

As long as one of them is in power, the famiLEE is safe. LKY is now MM, so removing LHL should do the trick but surely he will remain in a strong GRC to ensure that he gets returned to power.

If accidentally a freak election caused his GRC to fall, then calling in the army or framing the opposition will be the next SURE BET, not the slightest doubt about that!

Anonymous on Thu, 3rd Dec 2009 2:10 am

Where is BryanT? Or his assignment is only limited to the SDP?

Bunny Boy on Sat, 5th Dec 2009 3:55 pm

They are treading on really dangerous grounds… This is because when their ideas run out, they may just start to rig the votes directly!!! See bay jia lat liao!

Outcome on Mon, 7th Dec 2009 9:32 am