'Wild card' proposal is not democratic

'Wild card' proposal is not democratic
04:46 AM May 10, 2011
Letter from Mohamed Fairoz Bin Shariff
I REFER to the letter by Mr Ng Ya Ken, "Why lose the losers?" (May 9). He suggested that we modify the existing election system "to allow a 'wild card' window in a General Election so that a second chance could be provided for certain losing candidates to have another contest immediately after".

I am discomfited by such a proposal which goes against the spirit of democracy and the will of the people.
If the voters of a constituency feel their voice is not being represented by an incumbent, then he or she will be voted out.
The people would have spoken and yet is their voice to be ignored such that the candidate can live to fight another day in another constituency?
I agree with Mr Ng that our election system needs to be modified.
The better solution is for the Group Representation Constituency system to be abolished. Constituents have to vote in a team of candidates and we end up having good ministers being voted out.
An Single Member Constituency (SMC) system would ensure individual candidates get into Parliament based on their own capabilities.
The fact that Mr Michael Palmer, a candidate from a minority community, has been elected as MP for Punggol East goes to show that the minority community will not lose out if Singapore reverts to an all-SMC system.
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