When Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told 6,000 cadres at the People's Action Party (PAP)’s 60th anniversary rally last December that the next General Elections (GE) will be a "deadly serious fight", one didn't expect that it was the Workers' Party (WP) who heeded their advice.

In the period before the real campaigning, declared by Defence Minister and PAP Organising Secretary Ng Eng Hen on Aug. 10 as Singapore being "in election season", WP seems to have made little to no mistake. Every single move by them is on message.

In contrast, PAP has fumbled and stumbled, with a MP's premature retirement announcement, a last-minute substitution of a candidate who had been walking the ground for 16 months, a Transport Minister's surprise resignation and an awkward tribute to one of their key PAP leaders in the 2000s.

Again, it will be left to PM Lee to rally his troops and set the political agenda, for the PAP can be thankful that they have one last weapon left -- the National Day Rally (NDR) on Aug. 23.

That is before WP told TODAY that its nine MPs, including its two Non-Constituency MPs, will not attending the Rally.

So no glum-looking faces of WP MPs captured on television, no slow forced claps, even if PM Lee were to make any partisan statements.

Anyway, we will sum up three observations of the so-called "election season" so far: 

1. WP's messages to the public are calculated to produce the maximum political effect.

i) What was WP's first announcement when all the opposition parties were still lamenting about the government's perceived gerrymandering?

28 seats (out of 89 seats), said WP Chief Low Thia Khiang and WP Chair Sylvia Lim.

What they didn't say: WP tries to create a by-election effect where PAP is still in power. Even if WP wins all the seats they contested, it has less than 1/3 of seats in parliament and will not be able to block legislation.

ii) Opposition parties horse-trading talks?

"Time is of the essence to us, so we will have to proceed", said Lim.

What they didn't say: Enough of pussy-footing. Let's give the strongest hint by addressing the media with the very ground they had initially offered up to the NSP, beneath their feet.

iii) Will Low leave Aljunied GRC and take his residents for granted?

No, he “will not move” and he “appreciate (Aljunied residents) who have given us a chance to serve", said Low.

What he didn't say: He indicated that he is not taking his residents for granted by committing  geographically promiscuous moves.

Time and time again, WP has showed everyone else that it is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to political campaigning.

2. PAP's campaigning so far? Strong on style, weak on substance.

Minister Ng told the media that "election season started even before Aug 10. It started in earnest when the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee report was out".

But PAP still appears to be concerned with governing, perhaps treating campaigning as an uncomfortable afterthought.

Moreover, the changes we observe so far from the PAP are small, such as its move to introduce its candidates early and to present its candidates as a team, and the initiative to introduce the candidates from the "heartland" instead of the PAP Headquarters.

The Straits Times Opinion Editor Chua Mui Hoong observed PAP's press conference at the coffee shop and wondered if "this grassroots PAP" is "just a change in style or substance".

As many would say, actions speak louder than words.

We are not sure what to make of Minister Ng saying that a press conference at a coffee shop reflects PAP's message that elections are about the heartland and elections are about choosing MPs who can take care of one's town.

For we know that choosing our MPs should be more than just selecting MPs who can take care of one's town. Because if we are really choosing our Town Council leaders, we would prefer fewer office-holders and more "grassroots MPs".

In fact, the former Bishan-Toa Payoh team will be more beneficial for the residents because the new Bishan-Toa Payoh team will have three political office-holders (plus potential Minister Chee Hong Tat) who might be distracted with government matters and affairs.

In fact, this "grassroots message" seems to contradict PM Lee's PAP60 message that every seat would be a “national contest, not a local one”.

3. The PAP really needs to show Singaporeans that they can and will fight for our future.

Let's face it. Only one political party can form the government this GE.

Hence, we really need a generation of PAP leaders who can show us that they will lead us well in the next SG50, just like how our grandparents and parents threw in their lot with founding PM Lee Kuan Yew and his leaders after the Battle for Merger.

As PM Lee said in his National Day message, the first generation of "leaders and the people – the lions and the lion-hearted – fought with unwavering determination to secure our foundations"

Can these "clean-cut", "goody-two-shoes", slightly socially-awkward Ivy-league educated leaders do the job?

Then-Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, said in 2010 that if not for National Service, we might already have a strawberry generation like Taiwan.

Let's hope we do not have a strawberry generation of PAP leaders who do not know how to fight and win the hearts and minds of a new generation of Singaporeans.

Top photo from PAP website.

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