GE: S'pore's main political parties take part in TV forum
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By May Wong | Posted: 29 March 2011 1800 hrs
SINGAPORE: Five of Singapore's main political parties have taken part in a pre-election television forum, organised by Channel NewsAsia, in the run up to the General Election due by February 2012.
The hour long programme, in English, which will be broadcast unedited, is entitled "A political forum on Singapore's future".
It brought together representatives from the People's Action Party, the Singapore People's Party, the Workers' Party, the Singapore Democratic Alliance and the Singapore Democratic Party.
The programme participants were Finance Minister and PAP Treasurer, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh Josephine Teo.
The Singapore People's Party was represented by its Second Vice-Chairperson, Lina Chiam. The Workers' Party sent Gerald Giam, an Assistant webmaster and an executive council member.
The Singapore Democratic Alliance had Mohd Nazem Suki, who is the Assistant Secretary-General of the SDA and also PKMS Secretary-General. While the Singapore Democratic Party was represented by its Assistant Treasurer, Dr Vincent Wijeysingha.
It is the first such programme to be recorded since 1988 and Mr Tharman said that it was a good opportunity for people to get to know the different parties.
He said: "I think one good thing about it was that there is a deep concern about wanting to have a sense of fairness in our society. Everyone shares that. That's foremost on our minds in the PAP. And I think the electorate will be able to judge on whether we're delivering.
"[The forum] went very well. It's a good idea to have this exchange well before the elections so that people get to know what the different parties represent and whether they've got real policies or rhetoric."
The programme adopted a structured format with allotted times for representatives to present their party's position and perspectives. Opposition members were given half the air time during the structured segments, and the ruling PAP given the other half of the time.
There were also discussion segments, where participants freely argued and articulated their views to give voters an insight into their thinking.
Mr Giam said that he was looking forward to more similar forums in future.
"I would definitely want to see more of this because it gives people an opportunity to understand us better and to be able to see whether or not what we say, is really what we'd be able to implement later on."
Dr Vijeysingha said: "It represents to some extent a sense of unease on the part of the governing party. It shows itself now to be a party that has found it important to engage with other parties precisely because the other parties are now showing themselves to be so credible.
"[The forum] is important because it gives you snippets of what you can expect. It's also important because you're then able to engage with the politicians themselves and to watch the free for all debate between the opposition parties and the PAP."
For Mrs Chiam, the forum was an opportunity to present herself to Singaporeans.
She said: "I think the forum is very interesting. It gives me a platform to view myself to the residents, to the people of Singapore. Because a lot of people have been saying that they know Mr Chiam but they don't know who is Lina Chiam. And I hope that with this forum, on camera, I hope they will know more about me, my views, our party stand.
"45 minutes, spread out among the six of us, I think it's a bit too thin. I think we can just manage to say whatever we want to say and hopefully, the people who are watching are not just looking at the face but understand what we're talking. But having said that, I think in the end, we need to go to the ground, to talk to the people, to shake hands and to explain our policies."
Meanwhile, Mrs Teo thought the forum was a chance to engage a wide spectrum of Singaporeans.
"I thought that it was an interesting opportunity for the political parties to come together to have a verbal sparring of the ideas that we have for Singapore.
"On the plus side, I think it gives us an opportunity to engage a wide spectrum of Singaporeans for them to hear what we have to offer. On the not-so-plus side, I think because of the nature of a forum on television, usually it's going to be the sound bites that come across more strongly.
"What I think Singaporeans need to pay attention to closely is that behind the words that were spoken, there's a lot of thought that needs to go into the thinking of how to bring Singapore forward."
The forum's executive producer, Lee Siew Hoon, said: "We have decided on this hybrid approach of a structured deliberation and discussion which we think works better for our viewers, and they will find it easier to understand the respective party's position on how they see Singapore's future.
"This ultimately is a platform to allow voters to hear views of the respective parties and an opportunity to hear from some candidates standing in the coming GE who want to represent them in parliament."
The programme was recorded at MediaCorp's Andrew Road studios and will be broadcast on Channel NewsAsia on Saturday at 10pm.
Encore telecasts are scheduled for Sunday at 6pm and Monday at 1pm and 6pm. Channel 5 will also air the programme on Monday at 10pm.
A mandarin programme will also be recorded and is currently scheduled for broadcast on Channel 8 on Sunday at 9pm.
-CNA/ac -
The debate is not live.
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Five of Singapore's main political parties ...... HOW COME GOT 6 SPEAKERS??
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Originally posted by Leomanz:
Five of Singapore's main political parties ...... HOW COME GOT 6 SPEAKERS??
some party CMI must have 2.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
The debate is not live.
My bad.
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After watching the last 10 mins of the forum on CNA, the opposition party need to be more united and focused if they want to fight this battle.
I can see Tharman grinning when he see his opponents struggling to deliver their final speech.
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speed.
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Sorry to say opposition are not well prepared.
Just like what my manager will do in the meeting We tell him our problems, he throw back the problems to us.
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cheat code.
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Quite impressive debate n points put up by those opp parties .... except lina chiam fm spp.
She is not 'not prepare' ...... she's is blur.
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most important is to let the oppositions in
we need some check and balance in the political arena
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Originally posted by Icerage:
most important is to let the oppositions in
we need some check and balance in the political arena
no wonder when i post "POTONG PASIR IS FINISHED"they deleted my thread.
Reason Y: i dont know
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Originally posted by Leomanz:
no wonder when i post "POTONG PASIR IS FINISHED"they deleted my thread.
Reason Y: i dont know
where you post?
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
where you post?
here lor : election strategyy know y deleted anok??
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Originally posted by Leomanz:
here lor : election strategyy know y deleted anok??
not me probably by fifi, she can delete or lock any threads.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
not me probably by fifi, she can delete or lock any threads.
who's fifi?though i know she not obligated, at least give reason mah. ....mayb she hate pple talkign 'bad' abt opposition
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
not me probably by fifi, she can delete or lock any threads.
maybe fifi is pro PP. That's why got deleted...If thread is AMK is finished, it may survive -
Originally posted by Leomanz:
who's fifi?though i know she not obligated, at least give reason mah. ....mayb she hate pple talkign 'bad' abt opposition
still dunno fifi, the queen of Sgf.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
still dunno fifi, the queen of Sgf.
u mod oso ........ u help me go give her a kiss n ask her reason Yif she dont like opp lose, i can post all pap lose
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Originally posted by Leomanz:
u mod oso ........ u help me go give her a kiss n ask her reason Y
if she dont like opp lose, i can post all pap lose
you do yourself lor.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
you do yourself lor.
hahaha ....... muz b "sumthing" i dont know dat u oso scare 2 do it hehehehehhe -
you can try, she will delete whatever she don't like.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
you can try, she will delete whatever she don't like.
arh?? likdat ah?then likdat, how 2 b enter in2 parliament?? :)
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Originally posted by Leomanz:
arh?? likdat ah?then likdat, how 2 b enter in2 parliament?? :)
there is no election in Sgf.
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Not enough time for the debate. Sigh!
The moderator keeps on telling them you have 2 mins to talk.
It will be hard to put messages across to the public and everybody will try to squeeze all the information within 2 mins.
Shouldnt the live debate be longer? 2 hours?
It simply too short to garnish any informative debates.