Saturday, May 13, 2006
Post election thoughts
I've not been blogging for quite a long time. First of all, I was waiting for the James Gomez issue to clear up before I make some comments about the recently conluded election. Secondly, I have been heavily addicted to Maplestory. Anyway, please do not ask me how I fare in this RPG cos' I'd rather keep a low profile. I think too much Map-ling will take away my precious time for blogging and some intellectual discourse in this blog.
There was a couple of issues that made me both satisfied and dissatisfied in this election. First of all, I was glad to see that the opposition have declared a 'strategic victory' in this election. This is just the beginning, and the renaissance of Singapore's opposition has just barely started with the Workers' Party leading the way. Back then in 1991, Chiam See Tong's SDP promised Singaporeans a kind of 'renaissance' but the fire failed to blaze on with Dr Chee's ouster as well as the failure of the by-election strategy. I'm very impressed with the amount of 'daring initiative' that the rookie WP candidates possesed. (By the way, "Daring Initiative" is one of the core values of the Commandos.) I think that they possesed as much passion of serving the people as much as those PAP rookie candidates. However, what makes them more prominent and outstanding than a PAP rookie is that they dare to challenge the established system. They possess the "do or die" attitude and spirit and have a great amount of tenacity. (I believe neither Sitoh Yih Pin nor Eric Low didn't possess that strength and hence deserve to retain their status as MPs of Dreamland.) I can only hope that the opposition's renewal process can be sustained for the next five years where Singaporeans will have a better and more informed choice when they cast their votes.
However, this election campaign wasn’t as rigorous nor comprehensive in terms of the issues which they focused on. At one time I felt that this election is a referendum on upgrading, while at another time I felt disgusted that this election was again, smeared with the PAP usual target of some particular opposition candidates. In 1997 it was JBJ and Tang Liang Hong. In 2001 it was Dr Chee, and in 2006 it is now James Gomez. I ever wonder if this fiasco was a deliberate set-up by the Workers’ Party to generate media interest to get sympathy votes, or blown up by the PAP out of proportion to deliberately garner more votes to crush the WP. After all, a friend of mine who stays in Aljunied GRC commented that the PAP only won because of the strong support from Serangoon Gardens. Whether or not his view is valid is not for me to comment for I’m not an Aljunied resident. In the very end, the PAP still wins, for Gomez’s credibility has been tarnished. I wonder if his incident can be compared to that of Steve Chia, where Steve Chia got investigated for the “nude pics” incident and recently, that of reckless driving. Even though it seemed that residents have ‘forgiven’ him, have they really translated that into votes? Gan Kim Yong was smart enough not to bring up his dirty laundry, or nobody would know what would happen to Choa Chu Kang.
Several issues affecting our country were glossed over during this election campaign. The PAP seems to have made every election since 1997 the “upgrading election”. The reason why they’ve successfully gained a strong mandate among the people is because they’ve exploited a particular weakness of Singaporeans like you and me. This weakness of we Singaporeans is that we are a materialistic lot who painstakingly pursue the Singaporean dream of attaining the 5 ‘C’s. We are a “kiasu” lot. We fear that our living conditions would be compromised, and our accessibility to our needs and wants would be heavily compromised if we didn’t support the ruling party. We fear that our vote is not secret because of the serial number. We fear the “Big Brother” view of the polling agents (as shown how candidates judge the level of support in every small polling centre). Moreover, we fear that our estates would be brought behind time if the opposition wins our ward. That is sort of our weakness. As a result, we write off alternatives very easily even before details are offered. We become a selfish lot when we think only about our own constituencies and not consider the larger national and global issues at stake. Perhaps the media should consider conducting an opinion poll in every contested constituency on how Singaporeans polled. They should ask what kind of motivations spurred them to cast their vote for the relevant party. For example, we need to know why Hougang residents gave WP’s Low Thia Kiang their highest mandate in his political career and why Ang Mo Kio residents gave the PM a mandate lower than the national average.
We often link lift upgrading to that of an ageing population that several elderly residents often consider lift as their lifeline rather than the basic healthcare policies. However, both the ruling and the opposition parties fail to consider how to tackle the root of that of an ageing population, which is the tilt of the population balance as a result of couples bearing less children. Neither party has discussed how we should encourage our young couples to have more children. We may have “romanised” Singapore, but how far has that take us any further? We speak of grand upgrading plans for the heartlands, but have we tackled the economic and environmental implications of such plans? Are we building too much that perhaps, we forget about global warming actually makes our estates hotter with less and less green? We focus so much about our integrated resorts and our biochemical industries that have we forgotten how to help other industries rise up to equal strength like these two? In addition, education and youth development did not have that much airtime compared to upgrading and healthcare. Both parties speak so much about developing the abilities of the young as well as engaging them to more actively informed about current affairs, but the big question is HOW are they going about it?
I can only hope that the new MPs have not forget about the untackled issues when the new Parliament convenes. In addition, I hope that newly appointed NCMP Sylvia Lim would perform much better than her predecessor, bringing the quality of debate to greater heights as well fulfilling Singapore’s hopes of having both a “First Class government and opposition”. I also that the newly-elected PAP class of 2006 would also prove to be as radical and outspoken just as some of the MPs of the class of 2001. The 3G Parliament has yet to materialize, and it is up to them to decide how the 3G Parliament would be for it’d ultimately shape the landscape of a 3G Singapore.
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zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
13:15
