It’s ironical that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (PM Lee) has said that the Peoples’ Action Party (PAP) had only two years to prepare for the next general election. In saying this, PM Lee has given the impression that two years is a very short time and that the party would have to fight hard to get things done within that time frame. If two years is such a short time, aren’t things so much worse for the opposition parties who may have less than a month to prepare for elections? How can PM Lee say this with a straight face?
It is important to note that the PAP would be the party that would be calling the shots in terms of deciding when the next general elections would be. Indeed, PM Lee has already hinted that the elections could be brought forward and that it could be as soon as 2019. The rest of the parties can only play a guessing game. It is important to note that the time frame from when a writ of election is issued to actual polling day can be as little as two weeks!
Given that the PAP has huge resources while the opposition parties have limited resources, the effects of a lack of time plus the added disadvantage of not actually knowing when the election would be until the very last moment would be felt much more keenly by the opposition parties. Unless PM Lee is saying that our opposition parties are so efficient that they can work well with less? If so, what does this say of the PAP?
Of course, I doubt that this is the message the PAP is trying to send but you got to wonder, if a party that can basically decide when the next election is going to be while also having an arsenal of resources at its disposal considers two years short, then, we really have to applaud the opposition parties who manage to still field candidates against all odds.
Two years might not be considered a long time by PM Lee but in light of the fact that the PAP already has every advantage possible on its side, is two years really too short? With the opposition parties always having to scramble to the PAP’s timelines, I would think two year is an awfully long time – above and beyond what is sufficient to do a stellar job. And, if they are still lamenting a lack of time, they would well and truly come across as spoilt and entitled.
