Rilek1Corner

Category: Politik

  • Nomination Day: What To Expect

    Nomination Day: What To Expect

    When the clock chimes 10 tomorrow morning, on Nomination Day, the nine nomination centres islandwide will be open to candidates’ supporters and the public.

    But before that, most candidates and their entourages would have gathered elsewhere for pep talks and final checks of forms.

    For members of the People’s Action Party, these meeting points are usually their branch office. Opposition party members typically gather at their party headquarters.

    Some smaller parties and independent candidates, however, may meet up outside their respective nomination centres.

    Police have advised people to arrive at the centres only after 10am.

    The critical hour begins at 11am.

    • NOMINATION CENTRES

      Bukit Panjang SMC and Holland-Bukit Timah GRC

    • Assumption Pathway School, 30, Cashew Road

      Jalan Besar and Tanjong Pagar GRCs, Radin Mas SMC

    • Bendemeer Primary School, 91, Bendemeer Road

      Chua Chu Kang GRC, Hong Kah North and Pioneer SMC

    • Chua Chu Kang Primary School, 20, Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2

      East Coast GRC, Fengshan SMC, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, Punggol East SMC

    • Fengshan Primary School, 307, Bedok North Road

      Bukit Batok and Yuhua SMCs, Jurong and West Coast GRC

    • Keming Primary School, 90, Bukit Batok East Avenue 6

      MacPherson SMC, Marine Parade GRC, Mountbatten and Potong Pasir SMCs

    • Kong Hwa School, 350, Guillemard Road

      Hougang SMC and Tampines GRC

    • Poi Ching School, 21, Tampines Street 71

      Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio and Bishan-Toa Payoh GRCs and Sengkang West SMC

    • Raffles Institution, 1, Raffles Institution Lane

      Marsiling-Yew Tee, Nee Soon and Sembawang GRCs

    • Yishun Primary School, 500, Yishun Ring Road

    Candidates have one hour, from 11am to noon, to file their papers at the correct nomination centre.

    The administrative requirements they have to meet are strict.

    Nomination forms must be complete and submitted in duplicate by the candidates in person.

    These forms are: the nomination form, the political donation certificate, and the certificate issued by the Malay Community Committee or the Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee, if the candidates are to contest in a GRC.

    Candidates must be accompanied by a proposer, a seconder and at least four assentors.

    These individuals must be registered voters from the constituency that the candidates are contesting and have to be present when the nomination is filed.

    This is the stage where teams have tripped up or had close shaves.

    In 2011, a group of independents planning to contest Tanjong Pagar GRC turned up at around 11.30am at their nomination centre, but were disqualified after filing their nomination forms late.

    In the 2001 General Election, a Workers’ Party team was disqualified from contesting when its nomination papers were found to be incomplete, as it had not filled in a blank for the name of the ward it wanted to contest: Aljunied GRC.

    If candidates fill in their forms incorrectly, they must correct the problems flagged by the Elections Department – by noon.

    Objections to the nomination papers can be made in writing between 11am and 12.30pm by any rival candidate for the same constituency or any of the proposers, seconders or assentors.

    Each candidate must also fork out his or her election deposit of $14,500. This can be in cash, bank draft or cheque.

    If there is no contest in a constituency, the assistant returning officers at each centre will declare a walkover for that division.

    If there is a contest, the candidates’ names will be put up on a notice board at the centre.

    Candidates can also apply for permits to hold election meetings and vehicle processions in the areas they are contesting.

    The meetings can be held indoors or outdoors for eight days, from Sept 2 to 9, between 7am and 10pm.

    Candidates can use perambulating vehicles fitted with loudspeakers between 2pm and 10pm tomorrow, and between 7am and 10pm for the remainder of the campaign.

    Outdoor meetings, which can be held in stadiums, open fields and open spaces, must take place at the space specified in the permit.

    The list of outdoor rally sites will be released at the end of nomination proceedings tomorrow.

    Permit applications for meetings have to be made before 2.30pm the day before a scheduled meeting, except for those on Sept 2, for which the Police Elections Permits Office in the Police Cantonment Complex will accept applications until 4pm on Sept 1.

    Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are banned at nomination centres, rally sites and assembly centres. Police have also said that non-citizens, bankrupts, persons who have been associated with criminal activity as well as primary and secondary students cannot take part in any election activity.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • GE2015 Hustings: Focus On Policy, Not Political Grandstanding

    GE2015 Hustings: Focus On Policy, Not Political Grandstanding

    Will the General Election (GE)on Sept 11 be a “watershed election”?

    The leading opposition party, the Workers’ Party (WP), is contesting 28 seats so it will not breach the one-third threshold of seats that allows it to block changes to the Constitution in Parliament.

    The People’s Action Party (PAP) probably seeks a higher mark than its 60.1 per cent support from the total votes in GE2011 for its shift to left-of-centre in its policies, and for seeking to strengthen the social compact between the people and Government.

    A good mandate would be to return to the 66.6 per cent it pulled in GE2006; a very strong mandate would be better than that.

    In his post-election conference on May 8, 2011, the secretary-general of the PAP, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, said that having been returned to power, his party would adapt to the “new electorate” with policies and approaches, a “new formula” to respond to the sentiment expressed in the hustings, the trimmed margin of victory, and the loss of Aljunied Group Representation Constituency.

    Two years later, Prime Minister Lee said at the National Day Rally 2013 that the Government was shifting to a new balance between the state, the community and the individual with increased state support to help Singaporeans with housing, healthcare, and education.

    Over the years, more help has been given to the poor and disadvantaged, the pioneer generation, and certainly more than before to those in the middle-income group and the sandwich generation.

    The Government has helped businesses transition to a labour-tight, productivity-driven economy, starting with the release of the Economic Strategies Committee report in 2010, with the negative political sentiment on what was perceived as an all-too-liberal foreign labour policy pressing the cause further.

    The Productivity and Innovation Credit programme and the Wage Credit Scheme are examples of how the Government has tried to temper the cost of doing that.

    The Fair Consideration Framework and the Progressive Wage Model (PWM), which provides a skills and wage ladder, in addition to the traditional measures of raising foreign worker levies and the tightening of dependency ratios, ensure additional foreign workers are admitted only if Singaporeans cannot be tapped on to fill job vacancies.

    With the PWM being compulsory in three key sectors, Singaporeans working in them can expect a minimum wage at different stages of their career progression, and the sectors outside the regime that tap the same labour pool will have to match those conditions to keep their workers.

    Given the weight of these changes, they are a policy-based political signal that the governing party has tried to find that “new formula”.

    Yet, looking at the political Opposition’s agenda, there seems to be a strong theme around population and immigration issues, which all those initiatives seek to address. Anticipating this, PM Lee addressed them in his Ho Rih Hwa lecture in June, in a TV interview in July, and in his National Day Rally Speech a week ago.

    HOW MANY, AND WHO, ARE IN the OPPOSITION?

    Voters should be interested in how the Opposition dissects the Government’s policy responses thus far.

    Overall, while many say that the PAP is trying to ride on the SG50 dividend and the memorialising of the late founding Prime MinisterLee Kuan Yew, others claim that they are not so easily swayed and will consider the policy record and suggestions from both sides.

    But, they will also weigh those against the ideal of having some Opposition voice in Parliament.

    If Singaporeans believe it is healthy to have some Opposition voice in Parliament; that it makes a governing party more responsive to their needs and accountable for their actions, then with seven opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) versus 79 PAP MPs in the last parliamentary session, they may feel the country can afford a few more of them.

    The WP has said that the number should be 20. I wonder how Singapore voters will contrive that number when they go to the polls on Sept 11.

    When we think about it, it is not just the number of Opposition MPs there might be that is important, but also who they are.

    Will they take cognisance of the broader public good as they highlight the needs of social minorities; will they be rigorous in their analysis of important policy issues; can they hold to what they say, and do and respect the authority of the House; will they be focused on problem solving and not political grandstanding?

    This question applies equally to the PAP politicians.

    What the PAP will be most concerned about is whether more Opposition voices come at the expense of candidates it has lined up to form the corps of the fourth generation of Cabinet ministers.

    The biggest negative for Singapore, however, is if GE2015 is remembered for how politicians try to make their way to Parliament by stoking a wave of xenophobia as they make their claims about wanting an inclusive, compassionate and dynamic society. Let us avoid that at all cost.

    About the author:

    Dr Gillian Koh is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. This commentary first appeared in IPS Commons.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • GE2015: Key Takeaways In Manifesto

    GE2015: Key Takeaways In Manifesto

    If Singaporeans want the People’s Action Party (PAP) to form the government, they have to be unequivocal about it through their vote, said political analyst Associate Professor Eugene Tan. He explained that this could be one of the biggest takeaways from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s speech at the introduction of his party’s manifesto on Saturday (Aug 29).

    The Workers’ Party (WP) also unveiled its manifesto on the same day, and Professor Tan said despite its clear stand at not being ready to form the government, the manifesto is the party’s indication that it is growing from strength to strength.

    Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had called on Singaporeans to take the upcoming General Election “very seriously”, and not “wanting one party but voting for a different one”.

    Professor Tan explained: “It’s making clear that Singaporean voters can’t have their cake and eat it. So if they want a PAP government, they will have to be mindful of who they are voting for. Because I think he did allude, although without making a clear reference to it, the concern about a freak election result – that people want a PAP government, but believe everyone else will vote for the PAP and that they, in order to put pressure on the government, will vote for the opposition. And then we will have an outcome which they may not have otherwise wanted.”

    Professor Tan added that the PAP’s 88-page manifesto is a “self-appraised report card” that highlights the party’s track record over the last 50 years, and of how it has responded to issues raised in the last General Election.

    The WP manifesto contains 130 proposals covering areas like the economy and education. Professor Tan said some of these proposals have been mentioned in the previous election, or are refinements to current policies.

    “If the policies are very much similar to the PAP’s, we should not be too surprised because very often the Workers’ Party would hope to win voters who would have otherwise voted for the PAP. And so they are trying to say, ‘We are going to build on PAP’s policies but we’re going to make it better’,” he explained.

    With Nomination Day on Tuesday, Professor Tan also touched on the slate of candidates of the two parties: “The big questions for voters are, ‘how different will they be? Will they be prepared to stand up and speak for voters, or will they become very much party men and women?’”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Marriage Not On The Cards for Sylivia Lim And Quah Kim Song

    Marriage Not On The Cards for Sylivia Lim And Quah Kim Song

    Marriage is not on the cards for Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim and her boyfriend of more than two years, retired football star Quah Kim Song, as they are happy with where the relationship is at.

    “People do ask us often when we’re getting married. But we have discussed this and he’s already a grandfather and we’re enjoying our relationship as it is now, so we have no plans to get married at this point. We do not know if things will change but, at the moment, we’re quite happy with the way things are,” Ms Lim told The Straits Times.

    Despite her increasingly busy schedule as the party kicks into high gear for the polls, they have been meeting every day.

    “Kim Song is a very understanding person so he would try to get out of the way when I’ve got work to do,” said Ms Lim, 50, wearing a top emblazoned with football powerhouse Brazil’s flag during the interview.

    They have even devised a way to see each other during the impending campaign, as Mr Quah will act as her driver, ferrying her to rally sites and other places.

    Ms Lim also opened up in the exclusive interview about her wish to spend more time with her parents – who are in their late 70s – and her struggles with her father’s ill health due to strokes and dementia.

    “He was always a great supporter of the WP when I joined it 14 years ago and he was so proud when I went on to be sworn in as a Non-Constituency MP in 2006,” she said, adding that both her parents attended the ceremony.

    “But in between, before the 2011 General Election, he had two strokes so he was not able to come when I was elected.”

    Parenthood is not something that Ms Lim will experience “as being a mother is past my age now” and she will not consider procedures such as in vitro fertilisation, she said.

    “I suppose I have missed out on something very special – being a mother. But that was where my life took me so I just have to enjoy my life the way it is.”

    But the topic of marriage and children is still regularly brought up to her, she said, recounting a “hilarious” incident at an event she attended. “Somebody came up to me and said ‘Zao sheng gui zi’ (may you have a son soon) and I looked at the person – ‘Do you know how old I am? What are you trying to tell me?’ ” she said with a laugh.

    As for being a woman in politics, Ms Lim said: “I think my gender is just a fact. I don’t like to dwell on it in any way and I don’t expect people to treat me differently because I’m a woman or to judge me by different standards.”

    Ms Lim was 36 when she joined politics. Looking back on that decision and her journey, she referred to a book by US public speaker Brene Brown titled Daring Greatly. “The fundamental message of that book is that sometimes we may be very self-critical and face criticism from others as well,” she said.

    “But we should always remember there’s something to celebrate about the endeavour itself. And people who are prepared to come forward to be criticised should also sometimes cut ourselves some slack.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Cambridge-Educated Lawyer, Lim Tean, Appointed Acting Sec-Gen Of NSP

    Cambridge-Educated Lawyer, Lim Tean, Appointed Acting Sec-Gen Of NSP

    After weeks of turmoil, Cambridge-educated legal consultant Lim Tean has been appointed the National Solidarity Party’s (NSP) new acting secretary-general, TODAY has learnt.

    Mr Lim, who was a partner at law firm Rajah and Tann, was introduced as a potential candidate at a walkabout in Tampines GRC earlier this month. He takes over from Ms Hazel Poa, who abruptly resigned from her post over a week ago because she “strongly disagreed” with the party’s decision to contest in MacPherson.

    Mr Lim did not respond to calls for comment, but several party sources at a walkabout today (Aug 30) in Sembawang confirmed the appointment.

    When contacted, NSP president Sebastian Teo said the party will introduce its new acting secretary-general and its slate of candidates on Nomination Day on Tuesday.

    The party has said it will contest in Tampines GRC, Sembawang GRC, as well as in MacPherson and Pioneer. When asked, Mr Teo also said he planned to contest, but reiterated that final confirmation would have to wait until Nomination Day.

    Today, over a dozen NSP members, including NSP organising secretary Spencer Ng, new face Kevryn Lim, youth-wing head Eugene Yeo and former Member Of Parliament Cheo Chai Chen — all touted as potential candidates — gave out flyers at Sembawang and Woodlands MRT stations. Other new faces present included Mr Yadzeth Haris and Mr Nicky Tan.

    The walkabout came in the wake of the drama that besieged the party over the past two weeks, with its decision to run in MacPherson — a U-turn from an earlier position that sets up a three-cornered fight with the Workers’ Party and the People’s Action Party — leading to the resignation of Ms Poa and Mr Mohamed Fazli Talip, who was on the party’s central executive committee.

    This was followed by an anonymous online smear campaign that went viral, resulting in party member Steve Chia reversing his decision to run in MacPherson. Mr Teo was also a target of the online attack, which detailed his corruption conviction in the 1970s.

    On Saturday night, the NSP also said it was filing a police report on an alleged intrusion at its offices. In a Facebook post, the party said the four alleged intruders were captured on closed-circuit television. The police are investigating the incident while the party is also conducting its own investigations.

    The uncertainty over the NSP’s election slate has also led the Reform Party to signal that it is keen on contesting in Pioneer if the NSP withdraws.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

deneme bonusu