It has 90 days from the election to hand over the management of Punggol East to the PAP, and has hired external auditors to work on separating the accounts of the constituency.Īljunied GRC MP Pritam Singh - who has taken over as AHTC chairman from Ms Lim - as well as the other Aljunied MPs has pledged to "serve the residents to the best of their ability".Ī week after the election, the MPs' weekly meet-the-people sessions had resumed. Meanwhile, the party has been busy working to close its Punggol East town council office, and plans to redeploy its staff to the other offices under AHTC. Party chairman Sylvia Lim, who was also chairman of AHPETC, has said that progress has been made and most of the remaining disclaimers were due to information gaps when the Aljunied Town Council was handed over.īut party insiders are worried that many voters do not have the time for such details and have little patience for lengthy explanations. Verify its accounts, including the latest statements for financial year 2014/2015. Since taking over management of Aljunied after winning the GRC in 2011, independent auditors hired by the town council have been unable to Following the results, the WP had publicly maintained that it had little impact on voters' choice.īut some senior members now privately concede that voters could have been swayed by the negative news about the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) issues. Still, the burning question is, Why the spurning? Activists say that, so far, the reasons thrown up from the ad-hoc conversations include the SG50 effect, the death of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, and the change in government policies over the last four years.įormer Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Yee Jenn Jong also said on a Facebook post that the one noticeable difference during campaigning was that voters were less angry compared to 2011.īut one thing missing in discussions is what part was played by the party's handling of town council finances. And work is under way to separate the accounts of Punggol East - which has gone back to the People's Action Party - from the WP's newly reconstituted Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC). In Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC, meet-the-people sessions and community activities have also started in earnest. In the month since that Sept 11 blow, it has trained new volunteers, held a youth wing election, co-opted three new faces into its top decision- making body, and started walking the ground again. As for its crown jewel of Aljunied GRC, it only managed to hang on to this with a reduced winning margin, as was also the case with Hougang SMC.īut while the WP is in soul-searching mode, it is making an effort to look forward.
But in the end the WP gained no ground and even narrowly lost Punggol East single-member constituency, which it won in a by-election in 2013. Singapore's dominant opposition party had held such high hopes for the Sept 11 polls.
#Chiat lost saga how to
It is not that the party does not want to move on, but rather that its performance at the ballot box appears to have dealt a blow to its confidence about how to proceed.Īs a volunteer said right after the party's weaker-than-expected poll showing: "I wonder whether what we're doing is worth it if it is not what people want." Speak to any Workers' Party activist now, and they are likely to try and find out how you voted in the general election.
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