This must be the single hottest topic for the past 24hrs as it makes up 6 out of 10 of the top 10 posts on ping.sg. In fact, I think it has make a record on ping.sg itself as one post by haney actually had almost 750 pongs when this screen capture was made

This is not going to be a congratulation post to the winner, Hady Mirza. Nor will this be a post talking whether he deserved the title or not. There is nothing fair, or unfair in a popularity contest, but it is almost a foregone conclusion he will beat the 5 other contestants from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

First of all, let me just categorically say that none of these ‘Idol’ contests has anything to do with talent. All these are popularity contests and all popularity contests is a competition of personal charisma and influence. And one’s influence would of course has a lot to do with his community – i.e. his race and his nationality.

Anyway, according to Wikipedia: “The voting procedure for Asian Idol requires viewers to send SMS votes for two favorite Idols, thus allowing contestants to receive votes aside from their respective countries. As consideration on population size among the participating countries, tabulation of votes are done through an ‘Equal and Even Cumulative Method’, wherein the total votes of each country are converted into percentages. The winner was determined through 50% viewers’ votes and 50% judges’ scores.“

When that’s the case, it is no surprise that Hady will win in spite of Singapore’s small population compared to that of his competitors. The answer lies in the per-capita penetration of television and of course, mobile phones. It is also decided by the nation’s affluence.

In simpler words, if you have a really large population, but only many of the people do not have a television, then you have a large number of people who won’t be voting. And the people who have television may not even be interested in watching the program in the first place.

Next, if you are watching the program, you must also have a mobile phone to SMS and vote. And while there are those who would truly vote for the talented, I am in the opinion that this is only a very small percentage. Most would vote along the lines of their community – i.e. nation and race.

Now, how often you vote, and how much votes one would get, would depend on their affluence. After all, you need that spare cash you can spend to vote.

And, thus, this is my superficial analysis on why it is a foregone conclusion that Hady will win. Many would probably disagree, but I am entitled to my opinion… even if it might be seriously flawed.