WP’s Sylvia Lim video goes viral but Shanmugam calls opposition videos “slick PR”

Singapore — No doubt about it, the Workers’ Party (WP) has been winning with its well-produced, high-quality videos for this General Election.

From the seconds-long teaser which only showed the faces of potential WP candidates released last week, to the longer, substantive “Make Your Vote Count” video where the party discussed its role of providing contrast in Parliament, praise has been heaped on the WP for the content and quality of the videos.

Many agree that the party has been using the platform well, especially in featuring its young and rising members such as Ms Nicole Seah, Mr Jamus Lim and Ms Raeesah Khan.

On July 1, the first full day of the campaign, another video was put up — this time of party Chairman Sylvia Lim “at home”. This has been viewed more than 170,000 times and shared over 2,000 times.

And while it doesn’t have the same sleek, professional look of the other videos, Ms Lim’s video is perhaps just as effective.

The video begins, and ends, with Ms Lim, 55, singing parts of the Hokkien song Ai Piah Jia Eh Yia (translated as To Win, You Have To Give Your All). She discusses her roots with the party and how things have changed over the years. Younger people today, she said, don’t enjoy confrontation very much, and so the combative tone the party took in earlier years has been adjusted.

In the video, Ms Lim says that while the WP supports the Government in its national agenda, the party speaks up when decisions are made for “reasons other than national interest”, or when the Government is given too much power “vis-a-vis the citizens”.

This underlines one of the messages of the WP that it is a “sensible” opposition, as well as a “selective” one, “rather than opposition for its own sake”.

The video also features a softer side of Ms Lim, that she is a lover of music and art.

Many people online left supportive comments on the video.

Another person, who does not live in an area where the WP is contesting, called Singaporeans who can vote for the party “lucky”.

However, it can be said that the WP’s videos have not made a fan of at least one person, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who recently told Berita Harian that a “slick PR video” will not address the serious issues in the real world.

While he was referring to opposition parties, he did not mention any one by name.

Mr Shanmugam mentioned the difficulties that lie ahead for Singapore, saying: “We cannot pretend that the next one year is gonna be easy — it’s gonna be tough. And it’s not gonna be solved by us putting a slick PR video. I mean we can but it’s not honest to the soul of the (PAP). 

“Slick PR videos can work… when you’re not expected to provide solutions.” /TISG

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WP’s Pritam Singh: Singaporeans want to see “some semblance of balance” in Parliament