Punggol East by-election review

 I thought maybe I should put a picture of Nokia Lumia 900 to celebrate

At last, this is the 900th post! *claps, claps, claps* But that is not the end, I am aiming to reach the 1000th mark by this year. After that, I will consider whether to continue blogging or take a break. Anyway, back to the present, the ruling party lost another seat in parliament last night.

While some people think that the result was kind of unexpected, I find it completely normal. That is, even though Workers' Party won more than half (54.52%) of the valid votes. However, I pity both Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Desmond Lim who lost their $14,500 deposits.

I predicted that both the Reform Party and Singapore Democratic Alliance would be able to receive at least 12% but I guess Punggol East residents are more attracted to the hammer brand after all. So how did Lee Li Lian manage to beat PAP's Koh Poh Koon by more than 10%? The answer is pretty straightforward.

The majority of swing voters chose to support the opposition. Since the government is already formed, voters will focus more on the candidate than the party in a by-election. Ah Lian's victory shows that people want an MP who is "like them" so that he/she can serve them better.

Ah Koon, working as a surgeon, is the typical elite and high-calibre candidate which PAP is known for having. Nothing wrong with coming from the upper class but AH Koon lacks political sensitivity. His rivals seem to be able to "connect to the ground" better than him.

This by-election also highlights something important. A multi-cornered fight does not benefit the ruling party. If the brand of an opposition party is strong, it does not have to be afraid of batting another opposition party for fear that this might split the opposition vote.

In the next few days, there will definitely be one article or column in the newspapers which discusses moving towards a two-party system in Singapore. That's like scaling 3% of Mount Everest and claiming that you are near the peak.

Workers' Party may have changed the number of seats it has in parliament but in reality, our politics is still largely unchanged. But still, congratulations to Lee Li Lian and WP, I look forward to seeing you engage in more quality debates with PAP.