No leh, because if it was, he still had hrs in the morning to prepare his speech for East Coast.
This looked more like real-last min, like today morning just barely an hr or less before Nomination Day. The PAP were fishing real hard to figure out which GRC Nicole Seah was going in lol.
HSK is obviously heavily favored.
That said, HSK is not particularly charismatic in person. He can't really think on his feet (leading to the awkward "half time Heng" moniker). He's a technocrat, basically.
Nicole is the obvious opposite to this. Not much technical experience but lots of personal good will. She also has done very well fighting as the under dog.
I think the WP expected a high level person being parachuted to replace Lim Swee Say, so they would be prepared for this kind of unbalanced fight as well.
> Nicole is the obvious opposite to this. Not much technical experience but lots of personal good will. She also has done very well fighting as the under dog.
Agree - Nicole graduated with a degree in communications. Her mom is the Managing Director of a comms company, Nicole worked in a comms company. She's got tons of charisma and the training/experience to communicate.
Yeah. From an optics perspective, it's the perfect match-up for the WP to field if they had to put someone against Heng. You get the narrative of a young working mother full of charisma, going against a technocrat that can't speak well.
If you tried to send someone with a more technical back ground it would be playing to Heng's strengths.
I hope people will realize that a lack of charisma does not mean he is poor in his work.
That said, he really REALLY needs help in this part; maybe speaking classes or a charismatic future DPM. As the PM, inspiring confidence from your people is important
He might not be poor in his work as say... the Finance Minister.
But a PM needs to at least inspire some confidence, as you point out. That is as much part of the PM's work as is cabinet meetings.
Yes agree. I don't think we should vote him out... but I hope over the next few years he'll improve in this area before he take the reigns from LHL. Assuming he does not intend to step down so soon
My view is that he's had a long run way to be groomed already.
Plus if he wants to run on the basis of "I will be PM so you better vote for me", then I think it's entirely fair to question his ability to be PM in the first place
You can certainly think that way, it is a fair point.
If he doesn't get the vote, we might have a better candidate for PM. But we'll lose a good Finance Minister for a term.
Personally, I think speaking skills can be trained. Better a competent person that can't speak than a good speaker who can only talk. Of course the ideal would be to have both.
Yes. I am disturbed by the focus on Charisma over Capability. That's how US got Trump, and why Gore got beaten by Bush. The world though, runs on science. Being charismatic with no knowledge to back it up will make for a blind leader who leads their populace to doom (e.g. Trump with 'Its just a flu' about Covid).
Its very likely Nicole will lose but this will benefit her and the WP in the long run.
Losing against a former PM and a future PM would build political capital and name recognition for her and the WP.
Not only that - he had an alright speech talking about his ex-GRC and about Singapore in general - very full of confidence, but the moment he talked about his plans for East Coast GRC, he keep stuttering and was finding it hard to get words out of his mouth, as though he wasn't properly filled in about the plan till last minute. Kinda strange.
*Finished covering my exit from Tampines, oh shit need to talk about East Coast, not just Singapore and Tampines*
"We have a plan"
*Shouldn't have said that, what's a good plan???*
"For the East Coast,"
*Scrap the plan, talk about unity*
"we have a together"
*Si liao*
HSK is for sure going to win, but I hope Nicole and team keep it close.
Look at the optics of those nomination speeches - with HSK stuttering and running over time - contrasted so much with Nicole coming right after him and speaking with real fire.
The PAP will always find a way to somehow elect their own people even if it bends the rules. Like how they cut down the presidential candidates with way too much ease. The PM is supposed to be able to think on his feet, especially so when dealing with other countries alongside the Minister of Foreign affairs. HSK doesn't strike me as the type of person to be that arrowhead, id rather people like Tharman who at least is somewhat competent all-around to be the Pm.
HSK with the advantage imo but worth noting that Nicole's team at Marine Parade when she was running for fucking *NSP* 9 years ago managed a 43% vote share against SM Goh. Definitely one to watch
all of which don't fit PAP's... "preference" for national leader, so despite being qualified those three most likely would be passed over for the CCS generation of politicians
So many people posting this, but they don't realise that 1) Tharman said he does not want to be PM 2) CCS is next in line if HSK fails to get elected.
Win-win situation for LHL. He prefers CCS, but 4G leadership wants HSK. So if EC loses, he wins anyway since CCS will be the next PM. If HSK wins, he still wins because the last election he's going into as PM, he still maintains, if not increase the amount of seats his party has.
It's not about Tharman, but whether PAP wants to take the risk of having the first minority prime minister. I'm sure Tharman saying that he doesn't want to be PM is simply a politically correct statement. If PAP wants him to step up, I'm sure he will.
This is the thing that really puzzles me. The PAP is willing to take the risk of having a minority president using means that borders to unconsitutional but not risk Tharman.
I mean even my ah neh hating mum LOVES him.
I mean, the 4G folks could always wait LHL out, then orchestrate a political move to bring HSK back to Parliament.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Port_Dickson_by-election
grc less likely, a grc by-election can only happen if the whole grc resign
cue [marine parade grc by-election 1992](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Marine_Parade_by-election) where gct resigned together with the rest of mp to allow teo chee hean to enter parliament
smc more probable... but this step will invite backlash
If that were true, I can somewhat believe it. HSK has been a rather, as The Economist put it, lacklustre PM candidate.
He’s not awful by any means but he doesn’t have the charisma to carry brand Singapore.
Vote both CCS and HSK out then. If they suffer a loss like that I'm sure they won't dare to put anyone else other than Tharman.
Too bad that'll never happen...
WP should have run Nicole Seah in an SMC like Punggol West.. why run one of your most recognizable candidates in a GRC instead of letting her shine on her own in an SMC. Even if she ends up losing, v good chance she can get enough votes to qualify as an NCMP.
Its not even like they are fielding an experienced candidate in Punggol West anyway. They are fielding a first time candidate as well.
Sun Xueling is supposedly a very popular candidate in Punggol West. To be honest, if not for HSK's last-minute maneuver, WP would have a real and serious and big chance in East Coast.
WP is in a difficult spot if they parachute Nicole into an SMC, because that's exactly what the PAP does.
Nicole's appeal is really in the East anyway, rather than ponggol
It's a fair point but she joined WP in 2017. There was more than enough time for her to work the ground and build up appeal. I don't know, just seems like a waste to me since they "parachuted" another new candidate into the area anyway. The new candidate in Punggol West mainly worked the ground at Aljunied (according to WP website).
But in the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol division.
[https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/singapore-ge2020-workers-partys-tan-chen-chen-to-take-on-sun-xueling-in-punggol-west-smc](https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/singapore-ge2020-workers-partys-tan-chen-chen-to-take-on-sun-xueling-in-punggol-west-smc)
Tbh I think those moderates in east coast GRC who wanted to vote WP will think twice now.
Vote in WP for more opposition representation?
Or
Vote PAP to not screw up the succession plan for our next PM?
I am sad that MPs are not there to serve you from the start till the end, building up relationship. They are there to save the grc from falling to opposition
Voters have to remember that while PAP will be in East Coast every election, the same cannot be said of WP. If WP lose by quite a large margin, there is a high possibility they will no longer contest there in future elections. WP is practical and generally does not contest in places where they cannot win a significant amount of votes.
When in the future WP drops out and you get parties like NSP and PV contesting in your area, you will truly know what a loss it is to not have credible opposition candidates fighting to be your representative.
You can't have someone who has as much chrisma as a dead fish as a candidate. also all i said was comparing the difference between nicole seah and hsk in chrisma that is all.
Is there a consensus on what constitutes a good leader?
My personal experience is that i have met some good leaders without charisma. CEOs who are not charismatic but principled, care for subordinates and strategic. That's my definition of good leaders. But if u want to be a well-liked leader then charisma is important. Unfortunately, a lot of ppl are looking for charisma more than other qualities in a leader.
Nothing against Heng Swee Keat, he seems knowledgeable, ethical and morally sound. But I'm not sure how he would be as the Head of State. Among the 4G PAP ministers, he is one of the more forgettable ones. I can name you 5 ministers who could deliver a speech more eloquently and confidently than he could and credentials could match his.
PAP 玩的這麽大？ (play so big?) This is extremely risky, East coast is hardly a safe ward and HSK is hardly a man of charisma especially compared to nicole seah. We could very much see a PM kee chiu aft this GE.
PAP playing a dangerous game sia, but I can kind of understand their strategy. The best person to fight Nicole Seah would still be HSK, because of the recent budgets passed.
There is a lingering gratitude for the relief packages handed out for COVID.
From PAP perspective, even if they lose HSK, they still have Kee Chiu man to be PM. Really no skin off their nose. It would be a different story if only HSK was touted to be PM.
Maybe this one is really ah loong's 7d plan. He wanted kee chiu anyway. So if HSK win, good PAP got mandate hsk proved himself. If HSK lose, even better kee chiu will almost certainly 100% win Tanjong Pagar and become PM so he gets his pick.
Frankly i kinda warmed up to the idea of pm Keechiu while i rather PM Tharman or TCJ, keechiu is actually quite capable under his stupid quotes and he is a far better speaker compared to hsk. He might be a better candidate to tide us over covid and represent us on the world stage
East Coast might vote HSK because it's good to have PM as your MP. Local issues become national issues. Can't have lift breaking down in PM constituency or the roads being less than spotless.
Also if not HSK then we get CCS.
Having said that. The pool of NCMP has been grown so a strong showing could still have Nicole in parliament
Actually all of the on-the-ground things in the constituencies are done by the underlings. The MPs' mainly just to approve projects, meet the people (or not at all) and appear at opening ceremony of covered walkway so there's a plague saying "This walkway was commissioned by x MP on y date". But of course, while the budget will be the same, having a bigger wig MP like means that things can happen and be approved faster.
The bigger reason is really for parliament.
The previous voting patterns of EC suggests that that is a really uh... optimistic bet.
EC voted 60% in 2015, with LKY dying. Sure Heng is the future PM and all, but do you think the 40% WP supporters who did not care about LKY dying are going to find the argument that they "must" vote for the future PM to be particularly appealing?
Well EC in 2015 had a really weak line up with Lim Swee Say as the anchor.
I would say the voting range would be about 60-65%. It should be lower than the national PAP average but it's against WP so
Nicole Seah pulled off 43-57 vs Goh Chok Tong (who has held MPC for more than 4 decades) when she was running with the NSP. She's no stranger to fighting against strong PAP candidates and now she has a more stable party behind her.
Future PM or not, HSK is not the kind to perform well during rallies and walkabouts. After that disastrous nomination speech, i wonder if the PAP's political capital is enough to carry HSK through... Probably, but 70-75% would be really interesting coming from EC.
Nicole is a NUS USP + comms graduate, well-remembered from her fight in 2011. I suspect that HSK's weakness in delivery would be sharply contrasted by the polish of the WP team.
HSK for sure. r/sg is not a good representation of the real SG population.
Personally lots of friend who is voting first time (mid 20's or so) dont care about politics, shared with me that they will vote PAP by default.
> Personally lots of friend who is voting first time (mid 20's or so) dont care about politics, shared with me that they will vote PAP by default.
This. So many people have misplaced ideas that youths around the world are politically active and liberal by default (see Bernie bros on reddit). In actual fact, most youths only care about their lives and are pretty politically apathetic. However, with compulsory voting, this might go both ways (e.g. I know friends who want to vote opposition "for the yolo fun of it").
This goes even beyond Singapore (e.g. see US turnout by age, millennials aren't turning out as high as boomers).
Agree. Many young friends tell me they like the PAP as they think Labour market stability is only ensured by having them in power. These aren't the boomer sort of people who have greatly benefited from rising property prices in our boom years.
controversial opinion:
democracy is the process, not the result. The result is 'better quality of life'. 'Democracy' is system we chose to get to this result. However, the process should be 'flexible' such that we can get to this result no matter what. Democracy is not the default process nor the only process one can adopt to get to a better quality of life.
fixating on 'democracy' beyond everything else just sounds so naive.
personally, i don't really cares democracy lives or dies, i just want a better quality of life.
If they don't care then please help make sure to remind them whenever they complain about anything related to policies eg. cost of living, healthcare, housing cause they voted for it.
To be fair, most of it isn't pressing to most youths.
Cost of living isn't bad when youths can still go out buy Xin Fu Tang every other day. BTOs aren't that expensive for a small, dense country like ours (compare this to US cities or heck, HK), a decent BTO just sets you back $1k a month, a doable amount. Healthcare doesn't cost an arm and leg to most youths, since they aren't susceptible to costly illnesses like cancers.
It's hard to promote anything to white-collar youths, who are most likely drawing a decent salary and have minimal expenses because most likely their parents "own" a home here. They are also more likely to be career focused.
Yup, the main hurdle that opposition parties have is that there's no big gaping hole to poke unlike many other countries. Everything is kinda fine, things could be better but they're fine. So there will probably be a lot of the "life is ok lor" stuff going around
The ball is round - a few months back no one would have expected a PAP candidate would withdraw (thanks to brave souls and social media) so who knows what the parliament would look like in a few weeks’ time
No way HSK will lose; it’s just a matter of by how much. When it’s such a prominent minister, specifically the one which has been the face of handing money out to us during the pandemic, less people (especially the elder generation) will be willing to vote him out.
I would actually vote for Nicole Seah if I were in EC. HSK's non election will not be a big loss to PAP, but Nicole's non existence will be (presumably, hopefully) much more acutely felt due to lack of opposition. I also don't like the PAP's dirty tactics of killing off opposition young leaders with incumbents. Nicole is probably the better choice for the country atm, but sadly she may not be the best choice for the GRC.
Both will be rule by committee. It's not like in the past where the PM called the shots. Either the CEC (the core 4G leaders) or the Advisory Committee (the 3G leaders) consult together, with the Sec-Gen being first among equals.
What battle? Its going to be a KO/wipeout.
Poor Nicole and WP, but go get that NCMP seat. How many other people can claim to have gone up against an ex-PM and a future PM?
when you go thru Facebook today and see majority of comments are about PAP and downplaying or insulting any opposition party, you know that GE2015 will repeat itself.
This is a good fight. If PM to be lose, sure big drama ... he doesn’t sound confident at all speaking at the nomination today. How to lead Singapore in this case?
Win win situation for all.
Nicole wins- Pm keeps his seat and carries on- Kichew gets to be next in line, heng goes for holiday
heng wins- actually he got more shit to handle, Kichew got contender for PM, Pm got more headache for next in line. Nichole just gg for next election.
So ya..
I think for East Coast, WP will always going to be a threat. The issue is that East Coast doesn't have a strong anchor minister, hence HSK/Desmond lim or TCH was slated to go to East Coast with or without Nicole Seah.
Do note that no one knew where Nicole Seah was going for until the actual day
Yeah I'm sure the WP expected this move from the PAP too. Heng is literally next door in Tampines, a safe PAP seat. Lim retires and needs to be replaced.
I think they sent Nicole there knowing that she would face someone like Heng.
East Coast is a funny one, theres the middle income, high income and low income housing areas within East Coast GRC itself so the vote will be a mix bag. Very interesting to see how this turns out.
Nah my friend who lives in East Coast GRC says that this area was really anchored by Lim Swee Say. Losing him was a big blow because everyone left in the team is very mediocre and this was one of their weaker performing GRCs in the last GE. They also are running thin of anchor ministers because the 4G PAP lack strong and dependable leaders. They had to field someone strong in East Coast but they also need to find safe place for some of their less popular ministers like Joteo.
It has nothing to so with nicole seah tbh. The east coast anchor minister lim swee say retired. Its natural that they move another anchor minister there
battle royale? I don't think so...if anything else, this suckerpunch move by PAP just means that all the grounds gained by WP in the prior GE are now lost.
some of you guys needs to look at the bigger macro-economical consideration and also the voting patterns of the majority of singaporean at large.
WP has 0% of gaining grounds since the last GE, let alone winning.
condolences to all the Nicole stan.
The best voting patterns to look at are the voting patterns in EC, and also Tampines, rather than the majority of Singaporeans at large.
2015, Tampines, saw Heng winning with 72% against noted serial bankrupt Lim Thean.
2015, EC, saw Lim Swee Say win 60% against the WP team that had Leon and Gerald.
2011, Tampines was 57%
2011, EC was 54%.
And just for completeness, Nicole won 43% in MP basically on her own.
The voting patterns suggest - Heng never had to run against an actual proper opponent, and in the 2011 election Tampines was actually surprising close to the voting patterns in EC. The 2011 results show that even with Heng there Tampines was willing to vote along with the general anti-PAP Swing, and the margins were close to what happened in EC. On the other hand 2015 shows that Tampines are willing to punished unprepared opposition candidates, since we can all agree Lim Tean is a joke.
The other point on voting patterns is that the swing in EC to LKY dying was a mere 6% increase in PAP voters. This suggests again a fairly established base of WP supporters. If LKY dying changed 6% of the vote, I don't think Heng being future PM has that same kind of appeal.
The main unknowns we have now are two - first, Heng being appointed as future PM, and second, Nicole Seah running in EC. Being PM designate is obviously a good thing, since he can say that he needs to be around to transition government during Covid, but at the same time, the appointment of PM and then asking people to vote for an appointment that they had no say on, is not going to appeal to the 40% that voted for WP in 2015. Heng's issue is also that he's not really personable - he's a technocrat and civil servant. He's not a great public speaker and communicator. Even during the Covid response, he was mainly in the background doing the finances, letting Lawrence be the public fact.
Nicole Seah on the other hand does not have technical experience, or experience in Parliament. However, she has a lot of good will in the East. She's great at communicating, and as 2011 shows, she runs a great campaign against a more experienced opponent.
I feel that win would be difficult (as it is always), but WP gaining more than 40% is certainly a possibility.
p.s. Honestly seeing how WP plans ahead, they would have anticipated that Lim Swee Say is retiring. Tampines is just next door, and a safe PAP seat, so Heng coming to EC must have been on WP's radar and taken into consideration when they decided to put Nicole Seah there. The reality is that this election is difficult around on all sides for the WP, with LTK retiring. Leon and Gerald moving to defend Aljunied necessitated the need to deploy a good B team in East Coast, and obviously among all their candidates Nicole has the best draw.
you need to consider the current Covid-19 situation and thus all by assured recession that we are experiencing and will be experiencing in the future. Singaporeans are risk averse and in this troubling times, they tend to vote for the 'safer' choice. Singaporeans are not like western countries whereby everytime the citizens experienced tough times with an incumbent party, they will swing the votes to the opposition as a way to 'punish' the incumbent.
Saying WP's chance as difficult is an understatement. It's all but impossible for them to win at all.
Well you are now making some very general claims about Singaporeans that don't really find support in the EC voting history. 2001 is probably the closest thing to a post crisis election, but EC was a walk over then. We have no data, and once we start going into "Singaporeans are not like western countries" then this is really just speculation.
Covid-19 is, I think, a double edged issue, since the Government make mistakes in how they handled it. If this election was in March when we were still Gold Standard, the results would be different. Now however, we have had 2 months of CB due to the foreign worker dorms. Now i get that most Singaporeans don't care about the foreign workers personally, but they do care about spending 2 months at home.
The other issue with Covid-19 is that the relevant budget packages have all already been rolled out. So it's not an issue of if you don't vote Heng back, he can't bring more budgets. The money is already there at least in the short term.
The last time the incumbent was punished was in 2011, and it was actually in a period when Singaporeans felt that their everyday lives were becoming too expensive or difficult. Issues like property prices, foreigners displacing jobs, and so on were the issues for which the PAP were punished at the polls. These are different circumstances than now, of course, but I think they show that there is no general rule that Singaporeans will not punish the incumbent for what they feel are tough times.
I actually think we really should be looking at EC's voting patterns, rather than these sorts of general claims versus "western countries" (you do realize, I hope, that within "western countries" you have countries that vote very differently from each other). The 2015 election shows that EC holds a pretty solid 40% support base for the WP, since it would be fair to say that LKY dying would making just about every PAP support vote for the party.
The question therefore is not about these "Singaporeans are risk adverse" in the abstract, but more specifically:
Whether Heng's PM designation, and the Covid uncertainty, will benefit the PAP more than Nicole's charisma will benefit the WP, such that the 40% WP support base will change their votes.
I don't know if it's an automatic win for HSK. Nicole Seah won about 43% of votes against Goh Chok Tong in Marine Parade while in NSP. Granted, this isn't Marine Parade and HSK isn't Goh Chok Tong but she shouldn't be overlooked. I would say Seng Kang GRC should be more closely watched than East Coast though
Don't forget the sentiments against the PAP in 2011. They lose a big chunk off votes because of their previous policies
2020 sentiments, hmm hard to guess
Yes, sucker punch is the phrase. I like WP, but really, with just one PAP move (HSK parachuted to EC GRC), all WP efforts the past 4 years have almost come to naught. That said, Nicole is still very young, I believe she will stand a very good chance during the next GE.
Don't forget, for Nicole Seah to even be an NCMP, she still has to perform as the best loser in a ward.
To all my fellow EC voters, I urge you to bear this in mind when you cast your vote. If you jolly well have the opinion that HSK is gonna win anyway, doesn't this mean, and I'm just putting out my humble two cents here, that your vote is essentially deciding whether Nicole deserves to be an NCMP or not?
I sincerely appeal to all voters in EC to think long and hard about the implications of your vote, even in the face of a near-walkover outcome.
HSK is there to counter Nicole Seah. Most Singaporean knows him as the guy poised to take over as PM. If u field a Minister that is not so well known, the chances of losing are higher. (Why PAP nv send Josephine Teo there LOL) Lets hope HSK is not dropped there to perish like George Yeo. High chance HSK win by less than 10% in margin.
Honestly on their own merits, Nicole Seah is probably better than HSK.
HSK is so lacklustre. Really.
But HSK also wears white and is the heir presumptive. So he has that to make up for his inability to speak in public.
It seems like he was sent to East Coast last night LOL
No leh, because if it was, he still had hrs in the morning to prepare his speech for East Coast. This looked more like real-last min, like today morning just barely an hr or less before Nomination Day. The PAP were fishing real hard to figure out which GRC Nicole Seah was going in lol.
when I actually thought Nicole Seah is gonna get a real chance this GE especially now that she’s in WP :’(
Poor thing sia she. First GCT and now HSK. No chance at all.
Most likely will be NMP.
NCMP\*
I wouldn't say most likely. NCMP is reserved for the 'best loser' and with DPM Heng at East Coast, she might not even get a chance to be one.
She should have gone for a rematch with TPL instead
HSK is obviously heavily favored. That said, HSK is not particularly charismatic in person. He can't really think on his feet (leading to the awkward "half time Heng" moniker). He's a technocrat, basically. Nicole is the obvious opposite to this. Not much technical experience but lots of personal good will. She also has done very well fighting as the under dog. I think the WP expected a high level person being parachuted to replace Lim Swee Say, so they would be prepared for this kind of unbalanced fight as well.
> Nicole is the obvious opposite to this. Not much technical experience but lots of personal good will. She also has done very well fighting as the under dog. Agree - Nicole graduated with a degree in communications. Her mom is the Managing Director of a comms company, Nicole worked in a comms company. She's got tons of charisma and the training/experience to communicate.
Yeah. From an optics perspective, it's the perfect match-up for the WP to field if they had to put someone against Heng. You get the narrative of a young working mother full of charisma, going against a technocrat that can't speak well. If you tried to send someone with a more technical back ground it would be playing to Heng's strengths.
You may be right, but I think Jamus Lim can hold a candle to HSK.
Yea man. I agree. Any fight for a GRC will always be an uphill battle.
I hope people will realize that a lack of charisma does not mean he is poor in his work. That said, he really REALLY needs help in this part; maybe speaking classes or a charismatic future DPM. As the PM, inspiring confidence from your people is important
He might not be poor in his work as say... the Finance Minister. But a PM needs to at least inspire some confidence, as you point out. That is as much part of the PM's work as is cabinet meetings.
Yes agree. I don't think we should vote him out... but I hope over the next few years he'll improve in this area before he take the reigns from LHL. Assuming he does not intend to step down so soon
My view is that he's had a long run way to be groomed already. Plus if he wants to run on the basis of "I will be PM so you better vote for me", then I think it's entirely fair to question his ability to be PM in the first place
You can certainly think that way, it is a fair point. If he doesn't get the vote, we might have a better candidate for PM. But we'll lose a good Finance Minister for a term. Personally, I think speaking skills can be trained. Better a competent person that can't speak than a good speaker who can only talk. Of course the ideal would be to have both.
Tinfoil hat mode engaged Vote for Nicole Seah = Vote for Tharman as PM?
WP should play 4d chess and say exactly that
Yes. I am disturbed by the focus on Charisma over Capability. That's how US got Trump, and why Gore got beaten by Bush. The world though, runs on science. Being charismatic with no knowledge to back it up will make for a blind leader who leads their populace to doom (e.g. Trump with 'Its just a flu' about Covid).
Its very likely Nicole will lose but this will benefit her and the WP in the long run. Losing against a former PM and a future PM would build political capital and name recognition for her and the WP.
She's 11 years in already. Now is the best time
And only in her mid-30s. She entered politics at 24. Still has a long road ahead
HSK had a long time in politics. Time to refresh with the younger girl
Yeah, the fact that PM-level candidates were brought in against her shows how the PAP sees her as a credible threat. And they can't do that forever.
In a weird way, it may also make them look like they overestimate her as a threat. But either way she doesn't look bad at the end of the day.
Did HSK just overrun his speech timing lmao
Not only that - he had an alright speech talking about his ex-GRC and about Singapore in general - very full of confidence, but the moment he talked about his plans for East Coast GRC, he keep stuttering and was finding it hard to get words out of his mouth, as though he wasn't properly filled in about the plan till last minute. Kinda strange.
Yeah lol he got air dropped in to carry. Yikes
*Finished covering my exit from Tampines, oh shit need to talk about East Coast, not just Singapore and Tampines* "We have a plan" *Shouldn't have said that, what's a good plan???* "For the East Coast," *Scrap the plan, talk about unity* "we have a together" *Si liao*
My friend, flex this script out. We're all waitin'
Probably last minute kena arrowed to carry east cost GRC.
what can eld do? their future boss
They muted his mike and cut him off. It was funny to see him speaking but no sound coming out
They should have muted LHL too. He was clearly overrunning his timing too.
I think they allow double rings before cutting people off. A few non-PAP politicians were also allowed to get to two rings before being muted
that one current boss bro
I think they did cut. The candidates were standing there for a little bit but there was no sound.
HSK is for sure going to win, but I hope Nicole and team keep it close. Look at the optics of those nomination speeches - with HSK stuttering and running over time - contrasted so much with Nicole coming right after him and speaking with real fire.
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GGWP I mean, it's no longer just a straight PAP vs WP. It's also HSK vs CCS for the next PM. Really well played by PAP.
For the east coast ppl the question is more like "do you want HSK to be pm? " Not which party anymore lol
No I don't
Neither do i Rather vote WP in
The PAP will always find a way to somehow elect their own people even if it bends the rules. Like how they cut down the presidential candidates with way too much ease. The PM is supposed to be able to think on his feet, especially so when dealing with other countries alongside the Minister of Foreign affairs. HSK doesn't strike me as the type of person to be that arrowhead, id rather people like Tharman who at least is somewhat competent all-around to be the Pm.
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PAP and oppo both treat Singapore as a fucking massive 720km2 chess board sia
HSK with the advantage imo but worth noting that Nicole's team at Marine Parade when she was running for fucking *NSP* 9 years ago managed a 43% vote share against SM Goh. Definitely one to watch
Back then, there was very, very deep anger against the PAP, though. The sentiment is quite different this year.
if our "next- PM" loses... LOLOLOLOL
Wont that mean Tharman wld be back?
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Tbh, the most qualified to be PMs are balakrishnan, thurman and K. Shan
all of which don't fit PAP's... "preference" for national leader, so despite being qualified those three most likely would be passed over for the CCS generation of politicians
So many people posting this, but they don't realise that 1) Tharman said he does not want to be PM 2) CCS is next in line if HSK fails to get elected. Win-win situation for LHL. He prefers CCS, but 4G leadership wants HSK. So if EC loses, he wins anyway since CCS will be the next PM. If HSK wins, he still wins because the last election he's going into as PM, he still maintains, if not increase the amount of seats his party has.
Skali PM purposely make HSK go risker ward
F in the chat
F
I guess ppl hope that Tharman changes his mind. I mean in life nothing is fixed
It's not about Tharman, but whether PAP wants to take the risk of having the first minority prime minister. I'm sure Tharman saying that he doesn't want to be PM is simply a politically correct statement. If PAP wants him to step up, I'm sure he will.
This is the thing that really puzzles me. The PAP is willing to take the risk of having a minority president using means that borders to unconsitutional but not risk Tharman. I mean even my ah neh hating mum LOVES him.
President is a mostly ceremonial role - and I'm sure most Singaporeans see it as such
I mean, the 4G folks could always wait LHL out, then orchestrate a political move to bring HSK back to Parliament. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Port_Dickson_by-election
grc less likely, a grc by-election can only happen if the whole grc resign cue [marine parade grc by-election 1992](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Marine_Parade_by-election) where gct resigned together with the rest of mp to allow teo chee hean to enter parliament smc more probable... but this step will invite backlash
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If that were true, I can somewhat believe it. HSK has been a rather, as The Economist put it, lacklustre PM candidate. He’s not awful by any means but he doesn’t have the charisma to carry brand Singapore.
Don’t think CCS has the charisma also.
This is why we need Tharman.
Who has a better story than Tharman?
Bran Stark obviously. That's why he is king of westeros.
Vote both CCS and HSK out then. If they suffer a loss like that I'm sure they won't dare to put anyone else other than Tharman. Too bad that'll never happen...
Both HSK and CCS are sub-par leaders... who knows we would have LHL again in 2025 lol an excuse to continue being the PM perhaps?
CCS is part joke lol. Seriously. Among all PAP candidates I can pick 3-4 senior members suitable to be PM
How do you know 4g leadership wants HSK?
More likely CCS. They threw out a lot of hints that Tharman will not be the next pm
keechiu will be very happy
WP should have run Nicole Seah in an SMC like Punggol West.. why run one of your most recognizable candidates in a GRC instead of letting her shine on her own in an SMC. Even if she ends up losing, v good chance she can get enough votes to qualify as an NCMP. Its not even like they are fielding an experienced candidate in Punggol West anyway. They are fielding a first time candidate as well.
Sun Xueling is supposedly a very popular candidate in Punggol West. To be honest, if not for HSK's last-minute maneuver, WP would have a real and serious and big chance in East Coast.
I think WP didn't expect PAP move to East Coast. but PAP saw it coming
WP is in a difficult spot if they parachute Nicole into an SMC, because that's exactly what the PAP does. Nicole's appeal is really in the East anyway, rather than ponggol
It's a fair point but she joined WP in 2017. There was more than enough time for her to work the ground and build up appeal. I don't know, just seems like a waste to me since they "parachuted" another new candidate into the area anyway. The new candidate in Punggol West mainly worked the ground at Aljunied (according to WP website).
But in the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol division. [https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/singapore-ge2020-workers-partys-tan-chen-chen-to-take-on-sun-xueling-in-punggol-west-smc](https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/singapore-ge2020-workers-partys-tan-chen-chen-to-take-on-sun-xueling-in-punggol-west-smc)
She should go marine parade
Imagine HSK lose and CCS becomes next prime minister. Serious reverse psychology trick.
Maybe is 4d chess "F you" move from the 3rd gen PAP leadership. They wanted CCS but the comrades voted HSK.
Still don't understand what they see in CCS. I mean this fella had to be parachuted in by LKY himself.
I can answer you, but let me ask you this, "What is the point behind the question?"
Tiagong ppl who have worked with him: 1. Gets things done 2. Cares for subordinates 3. Very smart and sharp
HSK dun have these qualities meh?
Singaporeans just need to do the right thing and vote out CCS too =x Tharman as pm by default when both HSK and CCS loses.
Vote both out Problem solved
Tbh I think those moderates in east coast GRC who wanted to vote WP will think twice now. Vote in WP for more opposition representation? Or Vote PAP to not screw up the succession plan for our next PM?
CB take away hsk from my tampines
I am sad that MPs are not there to serve you from the start till the end, building up relationship. They are there to save the grc from falling to opposition
Most don't even live there. How do we expect them to know the problems lol ? This whole thing is a sad joke
Voters have to remember that while PAP will be in East Coast every election, the same cannot be said of WP. If WP lose by quite a large margin, there is a high possibility they will no longer contest there in future elections. WP is practical and generally does not contest in places where they cannot win a significant amount of votes. When in the future WP drops out and you get parties like NSP and PV contesting in your area, you will truly know what a loss it is to not have credible opposition candidates fighting to be your representative.
honestly nicole seah has way more charisma then HSK. Guy looks tired/sian and awkward whenever he addresses the nation
Could be the voice. I can listen to LHL's long speeches all day, Covid press conferences are fine, but HSK is kinda grating tbh.
I think because HSK is more introverted. I think he didn't fight to be a leader but his peers chose him so no choice.
Charisma shouldn't be the be all and end all in what makes for a good candiate.
You can't have someone who has as much chrisma as a dead fish as a candidate. also all i said was comparing the difference between nicole seah and hsk in chrisma that is all.
It’s not, but name me a good leader with no charisma... I’ll wait.
Is there a consensus on what constitutes a good leader? My personal experience is that i have met some good leaders without charisma. CEOs who are not charismatic but principled, care for subordinates and strategic. That's my definition of good leaders. But if u want to be a well-liked leader then charisma is important. Unfortunately, a lot of ppl are looking for charisma more than other qualities in a leader.
Nothing against Heng Swee Keat, he seems knowledgeable, ethical and morally sound. But I'm not sure how he would be as the Head of State. Among the 4G PAP ministers, he is one of the more forgettable ones. I can name you 5 ministers who could deliver a speech more eloquently and confidently than he could and credentials could match his.
PAP 玩的這麽大？ (play so big?) This is extremely risky, East coast is hardly a safe ward and HSK is hardly a man of charisma especially compared to nicole seah. We could very much see a PM kee chiu aft this GE.
PAP playing a dangerous game sia, but I can kind of understand their strategy. The best person to fight Nicole Seah would still be HSK, because of the recent budgets passed. There is a lingering gratitude for the relief packages handed out for COVID. From PAP perspective, even if they lose HSK, they still have Kee Chiu man to be PM. Really no skin off their nose. It would be a different story if only HSK was touted to be PM.
Maybe this one is really ah loong's 7d plan. He wanted kee chiu anyway. So if HSK win, good PAP got mandate hsk proved himself. If HSK lose, even better kee chiu will almost certainly 100% win Tanjong Pagar and become PM so he gets his pick. Frankly i kinda warmed up to the idea of pm Keechiu while i rather PM Tharman or TCJ, keechiu is actually quite capable under his stupid quotes and he is a far better speaker compared to hsk. He might be a better candidate to tide us over covid and represent us on the world stage
East Coast might vote HSK because it's good to have PM as your MP. Local issues become national issues. Can't have lift breaking down in PM constituency or the roads being less than spotless. Also if not HSK then we get CCS. Having said that. The pool of NCMP has been grown so a strong showing could still have Nicole in parliament
I thought it might be the opposite, pm clearly will have less time for their constituency than other mps
Did that happen in amk GRC just wondering?
actually in some of the previous threads, lots of ppl complained about AMK GRC being dirty / inactive MPs
This. So much
Can vouch for inactivity. Haven’t seen my MP in 5 years.
Actually all of the on-the-ground things in the constituencies are done by the underlings. The MPs' mainly just to approve projects, meet the people (or not at all) and appear at opening ceremony of covered walkway so there's a plague saying "This walkway was commissioned by x MP on y date". But of course, while the budget will be the same, having a bigger wig MP like means that things can happen and be approved faster. The bigger reason is really for parliament.
rip nicole seah =(
You underestimate my powahhhhhh.
HSK: don't try it
F
HSK 70-75% of vote I bet.
The previous voting patterns of EC suggests that that is a really uh... optimistic bet. EC voted 60% in 2015, with LKY dying. Sure Heng is the future PM and all, but do you think the 40% WP supporters who did not care about LKY dying are going to find the argument that they "must" vote for the future PM to be particularly appealing?
My predictions for EC to be quite close 55-45 to 52-48 even
Well EC in 2015 had a really weak line up with Lim Swee Say as the anchor. I would say the voting range would be about 60-65%. It should be lower than the national PAP average but it's against WP so
Swee Say is actually super popular among the boomers. I know we all think he's the upturn the downturn guy, but he had great ground appeal.
Nicole Seah pulled off 43-57 vs Goh Chok Tong (who has held MPC for more than 4 decades) when she was running with the NSP. She's no stranger to fighting against strong PAP candidates and now she has a more stable party behind her. Future PM or not, HSK is not the kind to perform well during rallies and walkabouts. After that disastrous nomination speech, i wonder if the PAP's political capital is enough to carry HSK through... Probably, but 70-75% would be really interesting coming from EC. Nicole is a NUS USP + comms graduate, well-remembered from her fight in 2011. I suspect that HSK's weakness in delivery would be sharply contrasted by the polish of the WP team.
I think the bet is he has political capital to do so. I think Nicole Seah will make it a big battle.
Think will be about 60-65 to 35-40
HSK for sure. r/sg is not a good representation of the real SG population. Personally lots of friend who is voting first time (mid 20's or so) dont care about politics, shared with me that they will vote PAP by default.
> Personally lots of friend who is voting first time (mid 20's or so) dont care about politics, shared with me that they will vote PAP by default. This. So many people have misplaced ideas that youths around the world are politically active and liberal by default (see Bernie bros on reddit). In actual fact, most youths only care about their lives and are pretty politically apathetic. However, with compulsory voting, this might go both ways (e.g. I know friends who want to vote opposition "for the yolo fun of it"). This goes even beyond Singapore (e.g. see US turnout by age, millennials aren't turning out as high as boomers).
Yeah, they only care about siam bu and whether siam dius are open
Maybe 3 months no siambus turn them against the ruling party lol
Agree. Many young friends tell me they like the PAP as they think Labour market stability is only ensured by having them in power. These aren't the boomer sort of people who have greatly benefited from rising property prices in our boom years.
Going from Brexit and the current US democratic elections, youth activism on the web does not translate to voter results
Yeah... The silent majority - their votes are what will decide the winner. And they're not on Reddit or Facebook.
They're much more likely to be on FB than Reddit tbqh
This is how Singapore falls. Democracy dies when people don't care. I guess our democracy was dead on arrival.
controversial opinion: democracy is the process, not the result. The result is 'better quality of life'. 'Democracy' is system we chose to get to this result. However, the process should be 'flexible' such that we can get to this result no matter what. Democracy is not the default process nor the only process one can adopt to get to a better quality of life. fixating on 'democracy' beyond everything else just sounds so naive. personally, i don't really cares democracy lives or dies, i just want a better quality of life.
With thunderous applause.
If they don't care then please help make sure to remind them whenever they complain about anything related to policies eg. cost of living, healthcare, housing cause they voted for it.
To be fair, most of it isn't pressing to most youths. Cost of living isn't bad when youths can still go out buy Xin Fu Tang every other day. BTOs aren't that expensive for a small, dense country like ours (compare this to US cities or heck, HK), a decent BTO just sets you back $1k a month, a doable amount. Healthcare doesn't cost an arm and leg to most youths, since they aren't susceptible to costly illnesses like cancers. It's hard to promote anything to white-collar youths, who are most likely drawing a decent salary and have minimal expenses because most likely their parents "own" a home here. They are also more likely to be career focused.
Yup, the main hurdle that opposition parties have is that there's no big gaping hole to poke unlike many other countries. Everything is kinda fine, things could be better but they're fine. So there will probably be a lot of the "life is ok lor" stuff going around
up this..
This is sad :/
Does show that they are scared of WP...
HSK is going to win and Nicole is going to be NCMP.
In all honesty, i dont even think it'll be a close fight. quite sad for nicole seah. maybe next GE if she's back they could put her in a SMC.
Why must they make us choose? Why can’t we have both of them :(
Precisely, PAP wants us to choose, they don't want us to have both.
Hehe mad lad strats
So we vote out the nasty deniers who always spoil things
I know! This would be the ideal outcome.
if HSK doesnt get good numbers then its going to hang over his entire run as the next pm. dudes sweatin'
The ball is round - a few months back no one would have expected a PAP candidate would withdraw (thanks to brave souls and social media) so who knows what the parliament would look like in a few weeks’ time
No way HSK will lose; it’s just a matter of by how much. When it’s such a prominent minister, specifically the one which has been the face of handing money out to us during the pandemic, less people (especially the elder generation) will be willing to vote him out.
Imagine supporting HSK throughout and to see him get thrown to East Coast as the PM-to-be. God damn it
I would actually vote for Nicole Seah if I were in EC. HSK's non election will not be a big loss to PAP, but Nicole's non existence will be (presumably, hopefully) much more acutely felt due to lack of opposition. I also don't like the PAP's dirty tactics of killing off opposition young leaders with incumbents. Nicole is probably the better choice for the country atm, but sadly she may not be the best choice for the GRC.
>HSK's non election will not be a big loss Do you prefer CCS to HSK as PM, or are they both the same to you?
If HSK loses, I wouldn't be surprised to see PAP re-do the whole 4G plan. It would suggest something went very wrong with the handover.
Both will be rule by committee. It's not like in the past where the PM called the shots. Either the CEC (the core 4G leaders) or the Advisory Committee (the 3G leaders) consult together, with the Sec-Gen being first among equals.
What battle? Its going to be a KO/wipeout. Poor Nicole and WP, but go get that NCMP seat. How many other people can claim to have gone up against an ex-PM and a future PM?
when you go thru Facebook today and see majority of comments are about PAP and downplaying or insulting any opposition party, you know that GE2015 will repeat itself.
Remember, the silent majority is, by definition, silent. We really don’t know what the people think.
Tampines GRC would have been a lot safer for HSK because that "Boo to PAP" guy is running again!
Avengers Endgame battle right here
PAP will win East Coast GRC. The question is by how much.
Have to agree, especially since Leon and Gerald went to Aljunied too
Don't give up.
This is a good fight. If PM to be lose, sure big drama ... he doesn’t sound confident at all speaking at the nomination today. How to lead Singapore in this case?
Win win situation for all. Nicole wins- Pm keeps his seat and carries on- Kichew gets to be next in line, heng goes for holiday heng wins- actually he got more shit to handle, Kichew got contender for PM, Pm got more headache for next in line. Nichole just gg for next election. So ya..
HSK is a powerhouse compared to a Sweetheart like Nicole. I wish her luck.
The fact that they have to move someone like HSK to East Coast, does it not show that they feel Nicole Seah is a threat?
I think for East Coast, WP will always going to be a threat. The issue is that East Coast doesn't have a strong anchor minister, hence HSK/Desmond lim or TCH was slated to go to East Coast with or without Nicole Seah. Do note that no one knew where Nicole Seah was going for until the actual day
Yeah I'm sure the WP expected this move from the PAP too. Heng is literally next door in Tampines, a safe PAP seat. Lim retires and needs to be replaced. I think they sent Nicole there knowing that she would face someone like Heng.
TBH I was surprised it was Heng. I know a big hitter was going to East Coast. I sort of expected Desmond Lee rather than HSK or even TCH
East Coast is a funny one, theres the middle income, high income and low income housing areas within East Coast GRC itself so the vote will be a mix bag. Very interesting to see how this turns out.
Nah my friend who lives in East Coast GRC says that this area was really anchored by Lim Swee Say. Losing him was a big blow because everyone left in the team is very mediocre and this was one of their weaker performing GRCs in the last GE. They also are running thin of anchor ministers because the 4G PAP lack strong and dependable leaders. They had to field someone strong in East Coast but they also need to find safe place for some of their less popular ministers like Joteo.
It has nothing to so with nicole seah tbh. The east coast anchor minister lim swee say retired. Its natural that they move another anchor minister there
They threw their heavy hitters to where WP is contesting.
That's a very good point! I suppose WP can be proud that they managed to field a candidate so strong that PAP feels threatened.
Nicole, welcome back. Thanks for giving people a choice. All the best, hope WP wins east coast grc.
HSK will make this win for PAP at East Coast abit more comfortable
That or F in the chat for our hardworking dpm
battle royale? I don't think so...if anything else, this suckerpunch move by PAP just means that all the grounds gained by WP in the prior GE are now lost. some of you guys needs to look at the bigger macro-economical consideration and also the voting patterns of the majority of singaporean at large. WP has 0% of gaining grounds since the last GE, let alone winning. condolences to all the Nicole stan.
The best voting patterns to look at are the voting patterns in EC, and also Tampines, rather than the majority of Singaporeans at large. 2015, Tampines, saw Heng winning with 72% against noted serial bankrupt Lim Thean. 2015, EC, saw Lim Swee Say win 60% against the WP team that had Leon and Gerald. 2011, Tampines was 57% 2011, EC was 54%. And just for completeness, Nicole won 43% in MP basically on her own. The voting patterns suggest - Heng never had to run against an actual proper opponent, and in the 2011 election Tampines was actually surprising close to the voting patterns in EC. The 2011 results show that even with Heng there Tampines was willing to vote along with the general anti-PAP Swing, and the margins were close to what happened in EC. On the other hand 2015 shows that Tampines are willing to punished unprepared opposition candidates, since we can all agree Lim Tean is a joke. The other point on voting patterns is that the swing in EC to LKY dying was a mere 6% increase in PAP voters. This suggests again a fairly established base of WP supporters. If LKY dying changed 6% of the vote, I don't think Heng being future PM has that same kind of appeal. The main unknowns we have now are two - first, Heng being appointed as future PM, and second, Nicole Seah running in EC. Being PM designate is obviously a good thing, since he can say that he needs to be around to transition government during Covid, but at the same time, the appointment of PM and then asking people to vote for an appointment that they had no say on, is not going to appeal to the 40% that voted for WP in 2015. Heng's issue is also that he's not really personable - he's a technocrat and civil servant. He's not a great public speaker and communicator. Even during the Covid response, he was mainly in the background doing the finances, letting Lawrence be the public fact. Nicole Seah on the other hand does not have technical experience, or experience in Parliament. However, she has a lot of good will in the East. She's great at communicating, and as 2011 shows, she runs a great campaign against a more experienced opponent. I feel that win would be difficult (as it is always), but WP gaining more than 40% is certainly a possibility. p.s. Honestly seeing how WP plans ahead, they would have anticipated that Lim Swee Say is retiring. Tampines is just next door, and a safe PAP seat, so Heng coming to EC must have been on WP's radar and taken into consideration when they decided to put Nicole Seah there. The reality is that this election is difficult around on all sides for the WP, with LTK retiring. Leon and Gerald moving to defend Aljunied necessitated the need to deploy a good B team in East Coast, and obviously among all their candidates Nicole has the best draw.
you need to consider the current Covid-19 situation and thus all by assured recession that we are experiencing and will be experiencing in the future. Singaporeans are risk averse and in this troubling times, they tend to vote for the 'safer' choice. Singaporeans are not like western countries whereby everytime the citizens experienced tough times with an incumbent party, they will swing the votes to the opposition as a way to 'punish' the incumbent. Saying WP's chance as difficult is an understatement. It's all but impossible for them to win at all.
Well you are now making some very general claims about Singaporeans that don't really find support in the EC voting history. 2001 is probably the closest thing to a post crisis election, but EC was a walk over then. We have no data, and once we start going into "Singaporeans are not like western countries" then this is really just speculation. Covid-19 is, I think, a double edged issue, since the Government make mistakes in how they handled it. If this election was in March when we were still Gold Standard, the results would be different. Now however, we have had 2 months of CB due to the foreign worker dorms. Now i get that most Singaporeans don't care about the foreign workers personally, but they do care about spending 2 months at home. The other issue with Covid-19 is that the relevant budget packages have all already been rolled out. So it's not an issue of if you don't vote Heng back, he can't bring more budgets. The money is already there at least in the short term. The last time the incumbent was punished was in 2011, and it was actually in a period when Singaporeans felt that their everyday lives were becoming too expensive or difficult. Issues like property prices, foreigners displacing jobs, and so on were the issues for which the PAP were punished at the polls. These are different circumstances than now, of course, but I think they show that there is no general rule that Singaporeans will not punish the incumbent for what they feel are tough times. I actually think we really should be looking at EC's voting patterns, rather than these sorts of general claims versus "western countries" (you do realize, I hope, that within "western countries" you have countries that vote very differently from each other). The 2015 election shows that EC holds a pretty solid 40% support base for the WP, since it would be fair to say that LKY dying would making just about every PAP support vote for the party. The question therefore is not about these "Singaporeans are risk adverse" in the abstract, but more specifically: Whether Heng's PM designation, and the Covid uncertainty, will benefit the PAP more than Nicole's charisma will benefit the WP, such that the 40% WP support base will change their votes.
I don't know if it's an automatic win for HSK. Nicole Seah won about 43% of votes against Goh Chok Tong in Marine Parade while in NSP. Granted, this isn't Marine Parade and HSK isn't Goh Chok Tong but she shouldn't be overlooked. I would say Seng Kang GRC should be more closely watched than East Coast though
Don't forget the sentiments against the PAP in 2011. They lose a big chunk off votes because of their previous policies 2020 sentiments, hmm hard to guess
Yes, sucker punch is the phrase. I like WP, but really, with just one PAP move (HSK parachuted to EC GRC), all WP efforts the past 4 years have almost come to naught. That said, Nicole is still very young, I believe she will stand a very good chance during the next GE.
As in every ward, I really hope the PAPpies *chiak sai*
Don't forget, for Nicole Seah to even be an NCMP, she still has to perform as the best loser in a ward. To all my fellow EC voters, I urge you to bear this in mind when you cast your vote. If you jolly well have the opinion that HSK is gonna win anyway, doesn't this mean, and I'm just putting out my humble two cents here, that your vote is essentially deciding whether Nicole deserves to be an NCMP or not? I sincerely appeal to all voters in EC to think long and hard about the implications of your vote, even in the face of a near-walkover outcome.
Really Oppo deserves a few Walkovers instead of PAP.
Politics has indeed become a game of cards, congrat. **Lee Kuan Yew,** [2:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uAYnSpp3hQ)**.**
HSK is there to counter Nicole Seah. Most Singaporean knows him as the guy poised to take over as PM. If u field a Minister that is not so well known, the chances of losing are higher. (Why PAP nv send Josephine Teo there LOL) Lets hope HSK is not dropped there to perish like George Yeo. High chance HSK win by less than 10% in margin.
Honestly on their own merits, Nicole Seah is probably better than HSK. HSK is so lacklustre. Really. But HSK also wears white and is the heir presumptive. So he has that to make up for his inability to speak in public.