By Tan Bah Bah
My wishes for 2014
The People’s Action Party
Will declare unequivocally that it is on the side of all born-and-bred-in-Singapore Singaporeans, in particular, those who have put them in power and helped build up this country. No ifs, no buts.
Will commit itself unconditionally – writ in the party manifesto, a white paper and/or in the Hansard – that it will do its utmost to take care of the health of all locally-born Singaporeans, especially those who cannot afford it
Will assume greater responsibility for the plight of the elderly
Will spend more energy and effort fixing the problems of the country rather than the opposition
Will stop wasting its time trying to control the Internet and the activities of bloggers (beyond the existing laws already in place to deal with libel, racial incitement, treason, defamation and criminal intimidation, among others)
Will be more gracious towards opposition politicians, more so when these are duly elected by Singaporeans into Parliament or have been co-opted to provide municipal and other services to the community
Will accept that the days of top-down or authoritarian government are truly over, not to be replaced by controlled discussions involving the converted disguised as a conversation but by genuine feedback of held-back frustrations and constructive criticisms and suggestions – not what the party may like to hear but has to heed
The Workers Party
Will continue with its excellent work at the constituency level and send the message to Singaporeans that it is not just the PAP which is able to run estates
Will make better use of the vast reservoir of goodwill, faith and support that it has earned to push its profile much higher than it is at the moment; it is no longer a wannabe but a bona fide group of Parliamentarians
Will realise that active engagement with all Singaporeans on all national matters at all levels will only do the party good; don’t merely make pronouncements through the party website
Will stop nagging in the back seat now and then and move to the front to slap the sleepy driver
Will start showing its new next-generation talents to blood them (without unveiling its strategic hands as to where they may be fielded)
Other parties
The Singapore People’s Front, the Singapore Democratic Party, the National Solidarity Party and Reform Party will form a coalition or two to increase their chances of being elected into Parliament; each has its own political strength and talents
Civil groups
Will stop acting like mice when it comes to the human rights of Singaporeans and roar like lions in highlighting the fate of foreign workers; Singaporeans are generally sympathetic to the causes of these organisations but first things first, there must be no double standards (thank goodness, there is Gilbert Goh to put the interests of Singaporeans first!)
J. Puthucheary, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP
Will volunteer for National Service; he cannot go on evading it
Baey Yam Keng, Tampines GRC MP, Will do more due diligence with his hawker food prices Will, specifically, find out the price differences between nasai lemak (can still get it for $2.50), nasi beryani (still selling at $3) and nasi padang ($2.50 no way – one piece of meat itself will cost $2-$3 Will stop exposing himself unnecessarily on Facebook.
Sylvia Lim, Aljunied GRC MP,
Will marry football hero Quah Kim Song and gain a whole family of Quah votes for the next election. And the Workers Party’s next battle cry will be Ole! Ole! Ole!
On that last note, I wish all Singaporeans a Fabulous 2014.
