$160m Transform Fund: An Aluminium Rivet or a Stainless Steel Rivet?

After WP candidates and grassroots leaders have been working hard on the ground in Aljunied GRC for almost 4 complete years and not "recent months" as reported in Straits Times on 9 Oct 2005, PAP finally gave way.

It is just like a falling window mounted by an aluminum rivet which was approved by the PAP government. So, in order to secure votes, PAP decided to pump in $160m to transform Aljunied GRC, using taxpayers’ money, by building more recreational facilities and embarking on more upgrading projects.

These are good news for house owners, whether they are staying in HDB flats or landed property. One would even claim that this is a laudable achievement for Workers’ Party.

But this poses a question: is that what political competition should be, pushing for more facilities and upgrading projects and banking on the belief that more votes count?

Property value goes up, really?

"My flat can now fetch a better price!" This is what a typical resident of Aljunied GRC might think, after PAP announced the $160m Transform Fund. It might be true or false, depending on how you vote. If voters choose to "verbally" support the positioning of Workers’ Party in their constituency but ultimately vote for PAP in the hope of seeking more effective and better services and benefits, similar to what they find in Hougang, they are making a grave mistake and would regret their decision a few years later.

Allow me to share a bleak prospect: a team of opposition candidates and their grassroots leaders spent 4-5 years in a constituency to gain support and hopefully to secure a chance to prove that they can manage the town council and constituency as good as the PAP MPs, if not better.

But during polling day, the results showed otherwise. To make things worse, the constituency they targeted has been re-drawn - a "traditional practice" since the 1988 Parliamentary Election after PAP lost a single seat in Anson.

Some candidates realized that despite having secured about 25% of the votes from their hardcore supporters given the disadvantage of boundary changes, a sizeable portion of voters actually was just seeking for better benefits and facilities under the premise of "political competition".

These candidates decided to quit after being active for years as they felt it was not worth fighting for residents who were materialistic.

One might argue that opposition candidates should have stayed longer and be more patient and responsible. But let’s be honest and put yourself in their shoes: are you willing to do that - spend at least one weekend every week doing the groundwork for 4-5 years when you can actually spend more time with your family, friends and loved ones?

If you can’t do it, what makes you think that others should do it for you? Let us not take for granted the opposition’s active work on the ground. The $160 Transform Fund has already proven a fact: even if the opposition has no seats in Parliament, they have already forced/coerced the PAP to serve the people by using political pressure.

So let us change the mindset that the opposition cannot contribute SINCE they are not in Parliament.

This is what the PAP is waiting for – by "investing" $160m Transform Fund in Aljunied GRC to woo materialistic Singaporeans for their votes, demoralize the opposition and finally kick them out of the constituency.

Payback time

Consider this scenario:

Since there won’t be any more opposition teams active in Aljunied GRC and the threat has been removed, to PAP, it’s time to take back the "investment", perhaps in double the amount the PAP had invested. Let me quote Aljunied GRC’s MP, George Yeo, when asked if the Transform Fund has anything to do with the GE. He said, "If you ask me whether this has anything to do with serving residents, winning their support, yes, the whole idea is to serve residents, win over their support and serve them better."

One can interpret: if there is no competition from opposition, WHY SERVE?
Soon after opposition exits, PAP would announce that house owners who live within Aljunied GRC would now need to pay higher conservancy charges compared to residents in other constituencies, citing that "it don’t make sense" that residents still pay the same conservancy charges while enjoying and benefiting from "world class facilities" that are out of reach to other constituents.

Given our small scale of land, it is impossible that the government will continue to spend billions of dollars as in the past 4 decades by reclaiming lands. So the only way is to go inland by exploring the undeveloped open fields. Under these circumstances, the "adventure park with a flying fox station" as promised by PAP in the Aljunied Upgrading Master Plan will be demolished to give way for better purposes.

Therefore I urge residents in Aljunied GRC or other constituencies where the opposition will contest: instead of pushing for Disneyland or adventure park in the air, vote WP into Parliament so as to encourage more credible candidates to step forward to challenge PAP.

Singaporeans need to decide if they want to opt for an aluminum rivet that will be distorted over time, or a stainless steel rivet that will bring long term benefits to this country that we call home.