Went to the Worker's Party Open House on Monday with a NUS friend of mine. We met up at Lavender MRT at around 7+ and proceeded to have dinner at a coffee shop nearby. We didn't intend to go to the Open House so early (it started at 8pm), thinking that there would only be a small gathering of people. Boy were we wrong though.
The Worker's Party HQ consists of a 2nd Storey office of a small shop office. A far cry from the big and impressive buildings that the ruling party spend there time in ruling over Singapore. In fact, there was another office (for a ShippingCompany I believe) that shared the same floor as the WP office. The WP office area consisted of a large conference room (large being relative here) and a smaller meeting room. By the time I reached there at about 8.30pm, the place was packed! There were no more seats and my friend and I eneded up standing at the side of the room. All together I estimated about 60 people, not including the WP members there themselves.
The first half of the Open House consisted of some informal speeches by WP members like Perry Tong, Goh Meng Seng and few others I don't recognise. Nothing too deep or 'cheem', just some comments on the recently conducted GE as well as some introduction on the work of the WP. About 15 minutes after I arrived, Sylvia Lim was ushered to the front and she was warmly received by those present. She answered some questions on her team's performance in Aljunied as well as making some remarks about the Gomez Saga. (Won't post here lah, skarli she kena sue then how?)
The loudest applause was undoubtly reserved for Mr Low Thia Khiang when he entered the room. He came much later closer to nine and my friend commented maybe it was because the turnout was so large, that they had to "activate" LTK to come down and 'show face'. He encouraged people to sign on as WP members and to remain active in order to serve Singaporeans in grassroot activities, etc.... Seeing all these WP 'bigshots' up close was quite exciting for me. Heck, I think this is the closest I've ever been to a MP. (Actually, I once ushered Teo Chee Hean and Cedric Foo during my NS days, but this was different since LTK was actually talking to us on a personal level. ;p)
After all the talks, we promptly split up into smaller groups with each WP member talking with a few members of the public. I ended up listening to Chia Ti Lik recounting his experiences with helping the WP sell their newsletter as well as his work during the GE. All in all, it was an eye-opening experience. These people were educated and possessed a certain personal touch that allowed them to speak the language of the common man, quite different from the alleged 'riff-raff' and 'troublemakers' that the PAP countinually spout through their faithful Party Newspaper, The Straits Times.
One can't help but admire the courage that these people take to participate in the GE. Few people acknowledge the sacrifices and pitfalls that these men and women face the moment they put their name down as a candidate. Maybe many years down the road, Singaporeans will remember those who so courageously decided to stand up for what they believed in and accord them the respect they deserve.
