Obsessed with staying in power?

There was a conversation and dialogue tonight within the party, with Chris, Eng Hen, Cheow Tong and others. A short introduction of the area was given, and we have a population of about 76,000 people.

Some of the things discussed included freak results, the party going soft without an election challenge taking place, that an election would cause the people involved to come together and enjoy bonding and camaraderie, the possibility that there would be 9 opposition members entering the Parliament, given the low entry level for the last election, that anyone in shirts and slippers can get 25% votes even if they didn't show up, the high standards of the party (hence causing potential candidates to join other parties instead), the consequences of losing an election, an early candidate might suffer character assassination, and a JIT candidate might not gain enough popularity. Eng Hen asked about how to transfer "branding" (my own term) should a new candidate come in. Based on counselling lessons I learnt last year, I suggested using classical conditioning, akin to Pavlov's experiment, and suggested that the new candidate should sit beside Cheow Tong and shadow him, so that there is a transfer of clout and "branding" to the new candidate, since likeability is based upon the human touch. I think that suggestion was brushed aside.

He also asked for a strategy on winning the area, and I suggested a strategy based upon an independent party publicizing the consequences depending on how many percentage of the party lose the election. This suggestion is also briefly based upon counselling lessons I've learnt and incorporated into myself.

In addition, though I didn't voice this, I had the thought that the voters in Singapore are like young children, and have grown up rebellious, similar to the rebellious streak of teenagers. The more you tell and advise them not to do something, they would do it instead. Finally, while writing this, I realized about there being safety in numbers, another of the topics covered in our counselling lessons (which chapter did I read/study this?). People would rather follow popular opinion when in a group rather than risk being wrong, which is why in a group, not a lot of people would want to voice out, for fear of not voicing out the more popular opinion. Another thing would be to encourage more political discussion, and engage people so that everyone becomes more aware of the issues involved, this being similar to the dynamics and rules of what I learnt in a group discussion.