After the loss of Aljunied GRC to the PAP team led by Foreign Minister George Yeo, Miss Sylvia Lim, party chairman of the Workers' Party declared, "We will be back."

The question is: Will the Workers' Party even have a chance to come back to contest Aljunied GRC in 5 years time?

If one were to notice, every GRC that encountered a close fight between the opposition and the ruling PAP government, suffered the same fate of being craved up; Braddell Heights in 1981, Eunos in 1988 and Cheng San in 1997 all but disappeared from the face of the electoral map.

What about Aljunied 2006? What will Aljunied GRC 's fate be?

The author thus present the following argument forward:

The practice of continually moving the goalpost around is an indication to the public that the PAP is shying away from healthy and much needed competition posed by an increasingly credible opposition and this sharply contrast with the PAP's claim of being a 1st World government.

In this case, if the PAP is a 1st World government, as what they potrayed themselves to be, the author would like to urge the PAP to keep the current electoral map intact. This is for two purposes:

1. To ensure a level playing field for all parties concerned.

2. To allow the voters in the constituency to judge for themselves as to whether the PAP or the WP have done a better job over the last 5 years.

By having stability in the current GRC system, it meant that the current political parties can start preparing for the next general election, and not worry about last minute changes to their party tactics and strategies. For example, at the last election, in terms of resources and party strategies, the Workers' Party was caught off guard by the sudden inclusion of serangoon gardens into Ajunied GRC at the last election.

If the PAP have done what they are supposed to over a period of 5 years, they have nothing to fear. The electorate, which is increasingly educated and street-smart will reward the party who have been consistently at work in their respective wards, by giving them their all important vote.

In the case of Chua Chu Kang and Nee Soon East, where there is a relatively strong opposition presence in the form of seasoned politicians like Steve Chia and Dr Poh Lee Guan, did the PAP lose their seat even though there were no boundary changes to both single member constituency?

The answer is NO ! On the contrary, both Mr Gan Kim Yong and Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee coasted to victories with 60.4% ad 68.7% of the valid votes respectively.

So why is the PAP fearful and consistently re-shaping the electoral map time and again? (All the talk about population shifts being the catalyst for the repeated changes in the arrangement of the electoral boundaries is flawed and doesn't stand up to close scrutiny.)

From the above discussion, it can be seen that the author sees no basis for the PAP government to keep shifting and bending the rules to fit their agendas. Being a 1st world government, allowing for fair and honest play should be one of their top priority for them. By constantly resorting to changing the electoral map just goes to show how 1st world our ruling government actually is. The PAP has always been synonymous with the tag of being a clean, fair, honest, efficient and popular instiution. In this case, the author would like to put this to the ruling PAP government: Live up to what you stand for, stand up and face the competition head on.

P.S. This appeal is in no sense an endorsement by the author of the current GRC system. The author still believes in the abolition of the current GRC system and the subsequently establishment of Single-Member Wards