Poh Boh Hoh!

Sigh. What sort of game is Poh Lee Guan playing? He told TNP he would be contesting in Hougang, then denied saying so. TNP helpfully produced a transcript of what he had said – which made him out to be a liar. Unless, of course, he says he misunderstood/misheard such a plain question….I really wish newsmakers would tell the truth to the media, instead of denting the media’s credibility with accusations. Aggrieved media should make it a point to do what TNP did – produce evidence to maintain its integrity.

Enough of that.

So it’s a straight fight eh? And Desmond Choo “only” had Khaw Boon Wan and Heng Swee Keat at his side. Other bigwigs stayed away. Good. Looks like the PAP’s campaign strategy is to take down the WP as a party, pointing to the recent resignations and now, Poh’s stunt. Better than harping on the Yaw Chin Leong affair, methinks. The WP appears to be losing its much-vaunted discipline, never mind what Low Thia Kiang says. I don’t know if this says more about the WP or its disgruntled ex-members, who seem to be unhappy at not getting any fruit of the “spoils” of the past. It’s a rather big chink in its armour….

But back to Poh. Sorry.

Is he really the attention-seeker that some political observers have made him out to be? I found something he said most intriguing – that he had expected it to be a “quiet” thing but the Elections Department appeared to have pulled the rug out from under him by naming those who had taken political donation papers to the media. He claimed that this was the first time the Elections Department had done such a thing – and I frankly cannot recall this being done in the past. I mean, why release to the media a list of names of people who took political donation forms when this is no guarantee that they will appear on Nomination Day? If it was a GE instead of a by-election, imagine how many names would be out in the media? Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe the Elections Department did do so in the past. But if this move was unprecedented, it does give one “furiously to think”, as Hercule Poirot would say.