A brilliant piece of Singaporean political analysis by Xeno Boy, "The Political Savant."    He shows how the PAP’s earlier repression of Chee Soon Juan, the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party (the CSJ of his post, for newcomers to the Singapore political scene) has undermined their capacity to ridicule and harass other opposition parties, most importantly the Worker’s Party (WP), which seems to pose the biggest challenge to PAP hegemony this time around. 

     Without Chee, the PAP has gone after WP candidate James Gomez, manufacturing a shabby and fake charge that he "lied" about a clerical matter that has no bearing whatsoever on the substance or style of the campaign. (Yawning Bread provides background on the PAP’s anti-Gomez attacks – look for the link, "Don’t Open the Papers! Screaming Banshees!").  It is an obvious trap to lure Gomez into a libel suit that the PAP is guaranteed to win in the corrupt judiciary.  But Gomez is smart, he is not taking the bait.

    Xeno sees the PAP’s strategic error:

The irony is this. As day after day, the Ministers continue their tirade against Gomez, the Ministers are resembling the media’s portrayal of CSJ in previous GEs.

They seem to be the mad dogs this time round.

And how apt.

As this strategic failure is ironically premised on their supposed success in silencing CSJ.

Heaven has Eyes.

     The PAP has become a caricature of the caricature of Chee Soon Juan they used to create and disseminate, through the state-controlled media.   Wow.  And everyone can see it now because we are all on the web, passing around links of opposition rallies, and PAP lies and distortions, and all sorts of information that the PAP men cannot control.   Wow.

    As Xeno says: "Heaven has eyes" – and maybe a fast cable modem, too….