The PAP's Election Game

There is a common misconception that if a few oppositions manage to win a few seats or a GRC or two in the next election, things will change.

Consider this:

1) Assume that the oppositions win a few more seats, say total of 25 seats belongs to the oppositions now. They now represent 29.76% of the parliament.

What will change? Nothing. Because PAP still holds more than 2/3 of the parliament seats and can just ignore all of their objections.

2) Assume that the oppositions win more seats than 25, say 40. They now represent 47.62% of the parliament.

What will change? Nothing. While they can block some bills since PAP now has less than 2/3 majority, it will not last long. PAP, as usual, will start the law suits, make the more vocal opposition MPs bankrupt, and before long, the oppositions will find themselves in the same position as Assumption 1, powerless to block anything.

3) Assume that the oppositions win even more seats than 40, say 50. They now represent 59.52% of the parliament. They are now the majority. PAP had became the opposition. Time for congratulation? Singaporeans succeeded? Think again.

What will change? Nothing. Even though they are now the majority, the elected president planted by PAP can over-ride any and all their decisions and amendments to existing and/or new policies since they do not hold 2/3 of the parliament to veto the EP's veto. The EP will essentially render the newly formed government impotent, making them look useless and getting nothing done.

A few more lawsuits, and the new government will return to the opposition status even before the next election.

4) Assume that the oppositions win way even more seats than 50, say 60. They now represent 71.43% of the parliament. Good? Problem solved? Think again.

What will change? Nothing. Even though now they are not only the majority, but also controls more that 2/3 of the parliament, as well as safely ignore the PAP's Elected President, you must keep in mind who controls the whole of civil service, arm forces as well as the treasury among other things. Yeap, right. PAP. Things may go 2 routes from here.

i) There is a coup. In that case, game over, back to square one.

ii) There is no coup. Then they (the new government) may make some amendments, they may introduce some drastic changes to improve your lives, but the entire state machinery refuses to cooperate with them. Nothing gets done, making all the changes made by the new government seen as empty talks. Come next election, back to square one.

There is also a high possibility that PAP could still be the dominant party even if they have less than 50% vote. Afterall, what I had mentioned so far is lumping all the opposition parties as if they are a single entity. All PAP has to do at that time is to identify and target the weakest party, spread more propagandas, discredit them and disqualify them, call for by-elections, take over the seats, and keep repeating the process till they have their 2/3 majority again.

Do you see how the Singapore system had been manipulated to entrench the PAP forever? And I had yet even mentioned the possible use of ISA and the Gurkha which may take place any time PAP feels that their positions are threatened. Lee Kuan Yew is a very shrewd man, I'd give him that.

But all is not lost. The best chance for any changes to happen will still be to get to the position as mentioned in assumption 4. But how are Singaporeans ever going to get to that, given all the obstacles PAP had put in the way like GRC, control of the MSM, etc.? Well, there are always solutions to any problems, and those obstacles that PAP had put in place are actually not a big deal when you break them apart and handle each one individually. I will cover that in future topics.