A PAP Comic Opera

It has been sometime since we had been regaled with a PAP Comic Opera and a comical rookie Minister of State of the Ministry of National Development (MND) has taken upon himself to be the protagonist in the latest comedy to discredit the Workers' Party AHPETC for allegedly mismanaging the Town Council and its funds. MOS Desmond Lee saw this as a golden opportunity to project himself into prominence as an advancement to his political career. So right from the start he pulled no punches in a salvo of denigrations against the AHPETC obviously based on his glaring misconception of the actual situation in the WP Town Council.

MOS Desmond Lee jumped upon the MND annual report card which highlighted the worst scores in the areas of service and conservancy charges (S&CC) arrears and matters of corporate governance of the AHPETC which he saw as a god-send opportunity to condemn the WP Town Council for gross mismanagement with no doubt the main objective of diminishing the reputation and chances of WP at the next GE. But the clownish Desmond Lee had grossly underestimated the adroitness of the WP, especially the competent AHPETC Chairman Sylvia Lim, in convincingly countering his accusations of mismanagement. Ms Lim has adroitly explained why AHPETC was unable to submit the S&CC arrears report in the format demanded by MND and pledged to explain to the public the S&CC arrears in due course. Naturally, a seizable number of the public and netizens saw through the evil design of the devious Desmond Lee and rallied in total support of the WP stand. This was pooh-poohed by the desperate Desmond Lee as a co-ordinated online campaign to distract the public, using falsehoods, half-truths and speculations and proxies of the Workers' Party. This was like a drowning man grasping a last straw.

And so the battle of words continues ad nauseam seemingly without abatement. There was a brief moment when a timorous Minister for Culture, Community & Youth Lawrence Wong showed a fleeting moment of chivalry in coming to the aid of a floundering colleague with some half-baked comments. Lawrence Wong realised his own shortcomings in coming to Desmond Lee's aid, as a consequence he was frightened out of his wits by the fierceness of the fray and vanished from the scene.

The Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan could not have been oblivious to the antics of his MOS Desmond Lee unless he was contented to watch at the sideline the comic opera provided by his MOS. Such comic operas will not likely to endear the voters to the PAP and Minister Khaw  will not be the last person to acknowledge it. The AHPETC Chairman Sylvia Lim has given a pledge that the WP Town Council would explain the S&CC arrears to the public in due course. The implication is that this will have serious repercussions for the WP if it does not fulfill its pledge. The matter of corporate governance is quite another kettle of fish which the WP can ignore at its peril. Therefore Minister Khaw is advised to curb the ebullience of his clownish MOS to desist from making a fool of himself further for the sake of his own political future. He is still a one term politician and with his clownish behaviour it will be a joke if he is ever returned in the next GE.