Workers’ Party rally

Rooster analogy gets a roasting

Roosters got some unexpected attention in Hougang Central last night as two Workers' Party (WP) candidates sought to turn on its head an analogy that PAP leaders had used against it.

The WP claiming credit for the Government adopting more inclusive policy measures had been likened by Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong last week to the story of the rooster boasting that its crowing causes the sun to rise.

But WP's Mr Yee Jenn Jong and Mr Chen Show Mao took turns taking jibes at the comparison.

Mr Yee, who is leading the party's Marine Parade GRC team with four new faces, said that if the WP was a rooster, it wasn't crowing to make the sun rise.

"It crows every morning because it is time to wake up. The rooster is telling the people, 'Hey, wake up!' That's what the WP has been telling the PAP. That's what you, citizens of Singapore, have been telling the PAP," he said, as the crowd on the Hougang field cheered.

Mr Chen, in turn, contrasted Mr Goh's words to Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean's remarks that the WP had kept silent on important issues in Parliament.

Mr Chen said it was akin to Mr Goh and Mr Teo describing the WP as two different types of rooster.

"It is the same rooster. But one says we are a hao lian (boastful in Hokkien) rooster, and the other says we are a silent rooster," he said.

"It is hard being a rooster in Singapore," said Mr Chen, referring to the challenges and attacks an opposition party faces.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 03, 2015, with the headline Rooster analogy gets a roasting. Subscribe