BB BE: Are pointless promises what the by-election will boil down to?

by Daniel Yap

IGNORE the mudslinging if you can and focus on the positive campaign. Promises made are the real substance of an election. Promises kept are the substance of a re-election. Neighbourhood renewal, job programmes, full-time Member of Parliament (MP), local healthcare, schemes for the needy, schemes for the elderly – what are we to make of all the promises being made to Bukit Batok residents this last week?

You might be impressed until you realise that nothing really new is being promised by either candidate.

Take the $1.9 million Neighbourhood Renewal Programme: After Mr Murali announced it, it was revealed to already have been part of an old $24 million plan. Either candidate can execute or change it, and the money for such plans is already available. Walkways, parks, and ramps are already planned for and budgeted for.

Plus, both candidates’ initiatives for the elderly and the poor and the jobless do not require a political mandate to execute – just look at the number of community and volunteer organisations that run similar social programmes and get things done without dangling their toil as a carrot for votes.

All these promises are nearly pointless because most of us are so well taken care of. Between Medishield and the Pioneer Generation Package, Social Service Offices and the Health Promotion Board, Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), and so many charities and VWOs, we have all these bases covered.

It’s not that the candidates shouldn’t promise anything – life in Singapore is good enough that we don’t need to rely on by-election promises to make life better. Sure, the current system is not foolproof. And while it is nice for a political party to pick up where the G or charities or VWOs haven’t, these promises don’t make an impact on most people. All the more in a by-election where neither candidate will significantly sway the House’s policymaking.

What about the promise of a full-time MP? Truth be told, Mr Murali doesn’t even need to be a full-time MP. Most People’s Action Party (PAP) towns are run well enough by professional managing agents. Then there is the Citizens Consultative Committee (CCC) which disseminates and channels feedback from residents to the G and recommends amenities and improvements. Read about how effective, influential, and well-hidden the CCC is in our exclusive report.

Dr Chee, however, will need to spend more time working to align himself with the CCC. Guess who will be the grassroots advisor if Dr Chee wins? Ah yes, there’s the recipe for an awkward relationship.

There is still the matter of the Community Projects Improvement Committee (CPIC) fund, which sits with MND. How are these funds accessed? Each constituency’s CCC has to recommend projects to the CPIC, making them the primary gatekeepers for millions of dollars’ worth of improvements like walkways and disabled ramps. All the key leaders of the CCCs just so happen to be closely related to the PAP. Dr Chee had better devote a portion of his time to making sure things go smoothly when it comes to the CCC.

So with all the bluster and irrelevant stuff out of the way, what do all the election promises boil down to?

Mr Murali’s advantage is the PAP’s real track record of running a town council (upgrading is a separate matter), especially with Jurong-Clementi Town Council at his back. Dr Chee is completely untested in this area, in spite of the transition team he has assembled, fascinating new ideas – like having an interim financial report within the first 100 days, producing a 12-month work plan for operations – and his insistence that he can do even better than ex-MP David Ong.

Dr Chee’s advantage is SDP’s real track record of speaking up. He is clearly unafraid to ask tough questions of the G or make radical proposals and has promised to continue to do so in Parliament. Mr Murali’s muted campaign, mired in comments from senior party members, does him no favours when it comes to convincing residents about his independent-mindedness and personal charisma.

That’s what this by election should be all about.

 

Featured Image by Sean Chong.

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The post BB BE: Are pointless promises what the by-election will boil down to? appeared first on The Middle Ground.

- Daniel Yap