Singaporeans have been more than patient. Fourteen years on, what progress has been made?
How many more years should Singaporeans endure the haze? (Read about the Workers' Party Press Release on the Haze Problem)Miss Sylvia Lim, Chairman of the Workers' Party, 13 October 2006.
In response to Sylvia Lim's press release to the media on the haze problem, this is what Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim replied.
"It is always very easy and opportunistic to criticise the Government and once you criticise, it gets reported in the media you score some political points and then what happens after that? (Yaccob Ibrahim's reply can also be found in the Sunday Times of 15th October 2006, Page 19) It is of deepest regret that I write this post. Why do the government think that the Workers' Party was trying to be opportunistic? What good do the Workers' Party stand to gain from highlighting a persistent hazard to Singaporeans? More Votes at the ballot boxes? Unlikely.
Be it PAP or WP, both parties are pro-Singapore. WP is Pro-Singapore and believes national interest should precede party interest. Essentially, the Workers' Party like all Singaporeans is worried and tired of seeing the haze year in year out. i believed that was the entire motive behind the press release; to once again remind the government that the recurring haze is a big problem, and Singaporeans are getting increasingly disappointed with seeing the haze problem recurring again.
Do you think that the Government would have said what it said in its reply if the same words was commented by a resident living in Tampines GRC? Seriously , I doubt so. Essentially, there would be greater impact and pressure of the ruling party if the problem is highlighted by an opposition party who understand the mechanisms of governance.
The Workers' Party, by issuing the press release, serves to pressure the government more effectively and this would have more of an effect on the "urgency and firmness" on the part of the government to tackle and eventually solve the problem. What Sylvia Lim was trying to do is this. To move the entire issue back from the back-burner and into the forefront. To bring the entire matter into focus and urging the government to exercise more urgency and firmness in tackling the issue.
I believed that the PAP or otherwise, have the interests of Singapore at heart and contrary to what Yaccob Ibrahim had mentioned, it's definitely not a case of "Look here, I can do this better than you, woeful PAP !"; essentially political tic-for-tat. The PAP must recognised that the viewpoints of the opposition is worth listening to and taken seriously into consideration. The basis of the viewpoint of a credible opposition party like the Workers' Party is based on grievances of the people. I believed this aspect is crucial enough for the government to sit up and take notice.
As a matter of fact, the people gave this existing government the mandate to rule and essentially, this government is the people's servant and the government owes it to every single citizen for its position in power.
Contrary to what the PAP would like us to believe, the ruling party and the opposition parties are coalition partners in advancing, promoting and sustaining the interests of the people. The PAP do not have the monopoly of ideas and policies.
In my viewpoint, the Workers' Party do realised the problem and knows that it is rather diffcult to eradicate the problem and Sylvia Lim is definitely not trying to accuse the government of failure in tackling the problem. Why then did Yaacob Ibrahim attempt to politicise the entire issue and hoping for a response from the party and thereafter using the entire media machinery to discredit the Workers' Party? Another case of overreaction or the PAP being opportunistic?
Once again, the PAP-knows-everything-you-shut-up-listen-and-follow attitude is prevailing again. "I'm glad that she has come to this realisation, it's something that we have known for a very long time." Not only Sylvia Lim knows the problem. Every Singaporeans does!
And it's truly time for real action !
