Not long after Mao’s death the Chinese Communist Party announced that he had been 70% right, 30% wrong. This official view has not changed despite the changes in China: from underachiever to wannabe great power, challenging US hegemony.
What does the PAP think about how right and wrong LKY had been? Going by the spin by the constructive, nation-building media, one assumes 100% right. LKY did no wrong. He even was a nice, compassionate human being. Btw, readers might like to be reminded that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a prisooner in Stalin’s gulag camps, reported that prisoners cried when Stalin died: there was even genuine grief among those who suffered because of his actions^.
And the vigilantism against those with the “unright” views, shows the PAP IB stroking the genuine respect that many S’poreans feel for LKY. To be fair, some of the anti-PAP views on LKY are going too far. Even at the more reasonable end of the “unright” views, TOC and P(olitican) Ravi seem to want to make him one of the crowd that did great and good things for S’pore. Hello guys, he was the head of the PAP and PM of S’pore. Surely the leader deserves a bit more credit than his team, even if it was a team effort?
Given that a general election could be held soon and he will feature prominently (“Want to respect LKY? No need monuments. Vote PAP. All the elected seats is a fitting tribute.”), what do voters think how right and how wrong he had been is what matters.
Will the 10%* of voters that voted for Tan Cheng Bock in PE2011 but who voted for the Oppo in GE 2011 vote PAP?
Surely a June 2015 GE is on the cards? After all, a 49-day mourning period period is acceptable in the Confucian tradition. A traditional 100-day mourning period would mean that the Sept school holidays is the earliest possible time for GE.
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*Tony Tan and Dr Tan each had 35% of the vote: 70% supported these two PAP-aligned candidates. In GE, PAP only got 60% of the vote. Hence the 10% figure.
This commentary was written by Atans1 and firs published on Thoughts of a Cynical Investor.
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Grova15
April 13, 2015 at 7:20 pm
The 10% that voted for Tan Cheng Bock should be the centrists, those who respect the old PAP but distrust the new PAP, and would more likely be WP voters than SDP voters. They’re not extreme and oppose simply the bad policies of the PAP. They know Tan Cheng Bock was an independent man who spoke his mind and was respected by both PAP and Opposition men. Even JBJ agreed with Tan Cheng Bock during Parliamentary speeches, and Chiam See Tong, Low Thia Khiang clapped for Tan Cheng Bock when he delivered a speech against the NMP scheme. These good moderate men like Chiam and Low, who have been re-elected into Parliament for more than 2 decades, are true patriots and centrists. That’s why SPP members Ben Pwee and Jimmy Lee, who were extremely close to Chiam, supported Tan Cheng Bock. Even many WP supporters and members supported Tan Cheng Bock too, because they knew he was a fair person who did not side with the PAP when it came to bashing the opposition in a wrong way. So no, the 10% will definitely not swing to the PAP, but will continue voting for moderate and good parties like the WP.