Looks like the next General Elections(GE) is around the corner with the Workers' Party launching its election manifesto: You have a Choice.



Immediately after the launch, the PAP went on the offensive and rebuke the 4 main points in the manifesto namely,

1. The abolition of ethnic quota for housing

2. Doing away with the elected presidency

3. Eliminating Residents' Committees and Citizens' Consultative Committees

4. Abolishing GRCs.

Are you wondering why did the PAP went on an immediate offensive against the Workers' Party?

Workers' Party Manifesto 2006 - Response to Ministers' Remarks

Why was the WP's response to the issue only available on their website and why was it not even covered on Channelnewsasia(CNA)?

The reason is very simple: The PAP views the WP as its greatest threat to its goal towards complete and total domination of the parliament.

Though Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong admitted to the media that winning back the parliament seat in Hougang and Potong Pasir is not the topmost priority for the PAP in this coming GE, I got this feeling that the PAP wants the parliament seat of Hougang and Potang Pasir back desperately,. This is especially so after narrow victories for the opposition candidates last time round.

By winning back these the 2 seats in Hougang and Potong Pasir, the PAP will see them grabbing all the seats in the parliament and this would keep out the WP's Chairman Low Thia Khiang whom the PAP view as a troublemaker in parliament.

If this would to happen, the basic checks and balances in parliament will be lost for the upcoming five years. The PAP would drool at this prospect!

In short, The PAP sees the Workers' Party as a very credible threat in the next coming election and failure to act early might see the Workers' Party gaining more seats in the next election. The attempt to rebuke the WP's manifesto is a subtle admission by the PAP that it fears the growing strength of the Workers' Party.