Tag: GE 2011

Singapore Democratic Party Jurong East Stadium Rally – April 29, 2011

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I rarely write admirably of the SDP or Dr Chee, because ever since Dr Chee took leadership of the Singapore Democratic Party’s [SDP], I held him responsible for causing a setback in our democratic progress for 15 years. Maybe it wasn’t justified but I am entitled to my opinion.

Thus, I went to the SDP rally at Jurong East Stadium without any expectations. I went because the least I can do for them is listen to what they have to say, and also to listen to Tan Jee Say and Dr Vincent Wijeyshinga in specific. I must say even though the turnout was not as spectacular and electrifying as that of Hougang last night, I am glad I was there – because I was there to witness the rebirth of a political party.

Let me explain what I meant by the SDP’s rebirth – because it was orderly and I didn’t see any SDP members pulling any crazy stunts. At the end of the rally, it was announced that someone has come from Sembawang to present Dr Chee Soon Juan a garland. I was half expecting a scuffle and yet another fiasco when I saw the SDP party flags waving. I thought Dr Chee will attempt to step up to the stage and create a scene. He didn’t and received the garland below the stage. I breathe a sigh of relief and later read on Facebook that when asked, a clearly mellowed Dr Chee had replied (and I paraphrase): “I am not allowed by the law to speak.”

One might consider his reply as a whimper, but to me it annouces the SDP’s return to the local political scene as a sensible party with a bang! My friends and I discussed over supper the reason of the SDP’s change in behaviour, and we speculated that they did a post-election evaluation and noticed there was at least 8% of spoilt votes in Sembawang Group Representation Constituency [GRC] in the last election. They probably also reviewed the response to their activism on the social media and realised just how much that damaged their image and their cause. All of these may have caused the SDP come to terms with the futility of that course of action and mature accordingly.


Danny the Democracy Bear

Anyway, again I was too distracted to pay a lot of attention to what the candidates said on stage, but I’ll bring up some of the points I have heard. If I remembered correctly, Tan Jee Say mentioned he was taken to task by People’s Action Party [PAP] leaders for suggesting to use 60-billion dollars from our reserves on a National Regeneration Plan. The PAP tried to have us understand that $60,000,000,000 is no small change. Indeed, it maybe no small change but could anyone really tell us just how much reserves is there is for us to decide just whether this is going to take a large chunk out of the reserves? In fact, does the PAP even know how much reserves there really is in the first place? I certainly recalled that even ex-President Ong asked and never got an answer. The PAP said that the reserves gave us comfort and confidence, but can you be confident when someone tells you there’s a safety rope around your waist so you can do a bungee jump now when you cannot even see or feel and touch that rope? Really, I would rather hug a larger version of Danny the Democracy Bear for comfort in my time of crisis.

It was the first time I heard Vincent Wijeyshinga spoke (if one does not count what I saw on video) and I must say it was a very rousing speech. I understand that many people would be asking what is the point of a rousing speech. Many would ask whether the speaker can deliver and to show them the beef.

Allow me to sidetrack a little… I noticed that some of the people got bored and walked out when Teo Soh Lung spoke. In fact, I even noticed people walking out of Chen Show Mao’s speech last night. It was not that what these speakers said have no grounds or good reasons. In fact, Teo Soh Lung was making a promise to her potential voters what she would do as a Member of Parliament [MP] – from donating half of her MP allowance to the party and community, and questioning her opponent on why our education policies have turned Singapore into a ‘tuition nation’.

My point here is, a rally speaker should not attempt to ‘reason’ with those present. Reasoning should be done with armchair warriors like me typing away on a keyboard, or in a forum where there is interaction between participants. But when speaking in a rally, a speaker rouses those who are present. I am not expect a Hitler but at least I expect an Obama. A rally speech should be so filled with political talk that when the speaker is done the people present get so fired up and inspired that they felt they are invincible and walk out of the rally ready to take down Godzilla with their bare hands.

Mr Low Thia Khiang and some of the Workers’ Party speakers were able to do that. Teo Soh Lung certainly couldn’t but Dr Vincent could. I find myself agreeing with many things he said and the crowded responded and rallied like never before. I can’t judge whether the SDP could deliver on their promises nor can I say whether there was any bite in what they said. But, I walked away remembering some of the things Dr Vincent said – like how the PAP talks about the value of money, but refused to talk about the YOG over-budget. Not to mention how a town council lost several million dollars of sinking funds in bad investments. If I am not wrong, he even threw in a joke saying that there are 6 zeros in million but when you lose that money you get 7 zeros. It took a while for me (yes, I am not that smart) to get the joke what the extra zero signifies. I walked away remembering all these, and it rekindled my anger over the lack of humility and accountability from the PAP.

Really, I am not expecting (and certainly do not like) any mudslinging or our politicians to play really dirty and be down right personal like those in Taiwan. But this was a rally speech I am expecting.

Keep up this good work, SDP! As a Singaporean, I welcome you back into the political scene.

Workers’ Party Hougang Rally – April 28, 2011

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I must say I am shocked by the crowd at the Workers’ Party [WP] rally in Hougang. The field is just a few minutes short walk from Hougang MRT Station along the North East line, and even before I reach the actual position, the few of us – including my friend’s old mother who came without any free food – had a hard time getting into rally ground proper.

At the rally site, we joked that many of the people at the rally are just kaypohs (aka nosy parkers) since among the 7 of us, 4 came from areas where the Workers’ Party do not directly contest. I didn’t stay for the whole rally because I don’t want to leave when everyone is leaving as I have no faith in the ability of the MRT system to be able to take the load, neither do I want to let a taxi driver earn some easy money by calling for a cab.

I arrived late at around 7:40pm and left at 9:30 so I only heard a few people speak. Loud cheers went up when Mr Low Thia Khiang arrived, and more cheers went up when he introduce his protégé – Mr Yaw Shin Leong. My friend tried to cheer for Mr Yaw but he couldn’t get it going and I understood his intention since while Mr Low deserved our cheers, we can’t only cheer for him forever. That is perhaps something the Workers’ Party should work on.

Anyway, I managed to hear Miss Lee Lilian, Mr Yaw and Mr Chen Show Mao speak. Mr Chen spoke in several language, even greeted those present in Malay and Tamil. If I had any doubts that this is a son of Singapore, my doubts went out of the window. The crowd itself and my camera was quite a distraction so I didn’t remember everything that the candidates said.

One thing I did catch however, was Mr Yaw (I think it was him) imploring those who came from other constituencies where the WP is contesting to vote for the WP. He mentioned that it is rather disheartening to see a large turnout at the rallies many times, but the votes always came out otherwise. I sincerely hope that this won’t happen this time round since the stakes are so high. Even so, I am heartened by my fellow Singaporean’s increased political awareness. My concern is that the turnout at Hougang today may cause some voters to be taken in by the PAP’s scare mongering (i.e. of a so-called ‘freak result’) and vote for the PAP instead on May 7th. That would have created another kind of ‘freak result’, one in which the PAP gets a clean sweep in spite of its past few years of mismanagement in certain areas. So vote wisely, Singapore. Vote boldly. As Chen Show Mao says: Don’t be a cowardly lion!

The pictures I took at the rally doesn’t do the crowd present any justice. I should have taken a picture of the crowd standing behind me when I was leaving. Do note that that area behind me was empty when I arrived. By the time I was leaving I could see nothing else except people. It was an amazing night and I sincerely hope that our democracy is finally taking root and sprouting flowers of spring.

By the way, I got myself a blue Workers’ Party umbrella as a souvenir. Yaaaay!

Random Discourse – Nomination Day

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27 April 2011 – Nomination Day.

Had the the Singapore Democratic Alliance [SDA] / Socialist Front [SF] team contesting Tanjong Pagar Group Representative Constituency [GRC] not been disqualified, all the 87 seats will be contested. Anyway, 82 out of 87 seats to be contested isn’t so bad either, and the best part is I finally get a chance to vote for the first time in almost 40 years of my life.

I don’t really care about what the incumbent has to offer, since they are more of the same – either more groomed scholars, more generals and rear admirals who have never fought wars or some obviously mediocre people who just make the numbers to ‘ki chiu’ (raise hands) and pass the seemingly ‘always sexy’ laws the incumbent party pushes. Thus, I am more interested in which are the best people the opposition is fielding and where they will be contesting, beginning with the existing MPs from the minority parties. (I used the term ‘minority parties’ because the term ‘opposition parties’ create the misconception that these parties have no vision of their own or that they oppose for the sake of opposing only.)

The biggest surprise this nomination day comes from the Workers’ Party. Mr Low Thia Khiang (current MP of Hougang Single Member Constituency [SMC]) will be leaving his stronghold to Mr Yaw Shin Leong and leading a team of heavy weights to contest in the Aljunied GRC. I have half expected this to happen when it was Mr Low was quoted on the papers saying that that he will be making the greatest decision in his life. While I am apprehensive of this move, I wish Mr Low, Miss Sylvia Lim, Mr Chen Show Mao, Mr Faisal Abdul Manap and Mr Pritam Singh all the best in their battle ahead. It was both a bold move and a daring gamble. I wished I lived in Aljunied so I could vote for you guys for your vision of a First World Parliament. Even though I can’t vote for you, rest assured that there is at least one more Singaporean here cheering you on.

Mr Chiam See Tong of the Singapore has also left Potong Pasir SMC to his wife Lina Chiam to contest in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. It is clear this will be the last fight for this admirable old warrior. My heart goes out to him when I saw how frail he was on one of the photos. It almost looked to me as if he will just collapse anytime. Yet as I looked at him, respect rises from within and tears well up in my eyes. I had to rub my eyes so no one noticed I was going to cry. This man seems intended to burn his life to the very end for the greater benefit of nation and people. You have my utmost respect Mr Chiam, because you have done all these without any great reward of money. In another country, you probably deserved much better than some of the so-called top caliber the incumbent has to offer. Do the people a favor and get us some real accountability from Wong Kan Seng instead of the lip service he has given us.

The Singapore Democratic Party [SDP], which is generally considered a fringe party and a portrayed as a bunch of crackpots by the main stream media, has sent its strongest team to Holland-Bukit Timah GRC as expected. Vincent Wijeyshinga, who was recently thrown into the limelight for his sexual orientation, will team with Mr Tan Jee Say, Mr Ang Yong Guan and Miss Michelle Lee. Personally, while the people who bothers to read my vitriol knows for a fact I strongly opposed to the abolition of Section 377A, and I have written strongly against the homosexual / pink lobby – I object to making Vincent’s sexual orientation an issue in this election. It is my considered opinion that this matter is deliberately brought up in an attempt to draw both the pink lobby and their opponents out into open debate over the matter of sexual orientation and Section 377A all over again. The least the SDP team deserved is to be heard. I appeal to both sides of the debate to shelve this dispute and not allow it to over shadow the issue of the YOG overbudget and also the objectionable statements Mr Vivian Balakrishnan’s made in Parliament on the matter of Public Assistance.

Mr Desmond Lim of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) was unfortunately drawn into a 3-cornered fight with Miss Lee Lilian of the Workers’ Party in the Punggol East SMC. I do not know Mr Lim at all, and I do not necessarily agree with his actions before he left the SPP which ends in a fallout with his former mentor Mr Chiam. But I have come across people who jumps to Mr Lim’s defense when I criticise him, and I have heard some rather positive comment about the man. As such my impression of the man tends towards positive. On the other hand, I have met Lilian in person – a jovial and very friendly lady whom I will be glad to call a friend. It is tragic that the votes between this two minority party candidates will be split and it will reduce their chances of winning, but I hope more votes will be drawn from their incumbent opponent and even if he wins it would be less than half of the SMC. I can only say I am ‘glad’ I am not a resident of Punggol East SMC because I would be torn between voting for Mr Lim, a man I have come to respect; and Lilian, who is a friend.

The Reform Party [RP] will be contesting two GRC and its secretary-general Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam will be contesting in West Coast GRC, one that has not been contested for years. That came as the other surprise to me when it was announced a few days earlier, as I was some what expecting him to go to Radin Mas SMC to follow in his father’s foot steps. I will give Mr Jeyaratnam the thumbs up for contesting in West Coast, since that would at least shut up some of his critics about him riding on the coat tails of his father’s fame and legacy. At least he now shows these armchair warriors that he is his own man. As for the RP’s team in Ang Mo Kio, I hope this team get even more votes than the WP in the last election to show Lee Hsien Loong just how much we are sick of the PAP’s elitist attitude and lack of accountability.The RP however, need to get its act together. All of these mass resignations and defections is not doing them any good at all.

Last but not least, would be the National Solidarity Party [NSP]. I left them for last because Steve Chia will be contesting in my constituency – Pioneer SMC. The NSP has grown much at the expense of the the RP, even Nicole Seah used to be a RP member. While Nicole Seah has awed many online, the main point is that it isn’t just Nicole Seah vs Tin Pei Ling in a SMC fight, it is a team fight against Mr Goh Chok Tong. While Nicole clearly outclassed Pei Ling, by being the most outstanding member in her team means she will now take the bulk of the flak from Mr Goh. That might not bode well for the rest of her team unless those other members can find a platform of their own to take on the other members of the the incumbent’s team one by one.

The fact that even the main stream media seems to give Nicole the limelight appeared to be a deliberate attempt to sideline the rest of the NSP teams and candidates which might pack quite a punch on their own. For e.g. the team for Chua Chu Kang GRC with Mr Sebastian Teo, Mr Tony Tan Lay Thiam, Tony’s wife Hazel Poa, Nor Lella Mohammed and Jeisilan Sivalingam. Both Tony and Hazel has written strongly against the housing policies and it puzzles me greatly why the NSP’s secretary-general, Mr Goh Meng Seng, had not field them together with himself to take on the hated Mr Mah Bow Tan in Tampines GRC is beyond me. But maybe that explains why I am an armchair critic while Mr Goh is the secretary-general of a political party. My wish is that Mr Goh could work with the WP and his mentor Mr Low on the matter of housing and teach Mah the true meaning of the word affordability.

I am apprehensive about how the opposition is lined up in challenge to the incumbent and my greatest fear would be a kind of ‘freak result’ in which the incumbent achieved a clean sweep even though many are concerned with the issues surrounding public housing and transport, immigration, jobs and the cost of living. I can only hope my fellow Singaporeans will vote wisely to avoid such a dreadful outcome.

I am quite sure I am already decided who I should vote for, and I am certain not going to bother with a party that remains unrepentant about their broken ‘affordable housing policy’ that enslaves the people. I will not vote for a party which doesn’t know the difference between permanent residents [PRs] and Singaporeans and use them as part of the statistics to tell us for every job a foreigner gets, 1.5 is created for us. I will not vote for a party that has turned my home into heaven for foreigners while it slowly turns into hell for me. I will not vote for a party which has no ideas to solve the problems like public transport, congestions etc other than to raid our reserves – not the national one, but our private individual ones – to the point that when we are old we are all asset rich but cash poor. In my opinion, if one thinks that the minority parties are incompetent, they are better than the incumbent since it is not the fault of the minority parties that we have people living in tents in National Parks. Even if these people are there because of their own foul-ups, where is the helping hand that would help them to their feet? It clearly isn’t even polices of the minority parties that drive people onto the streets and drive them out of their jobs. I do not want Singapore to become a colony again while we become the new aborigines of Singapore… and when that happens we will be worse off than those aborigines. We will be without the associated policies that aborigines in any other country would get as one can certainly not expect very much from a calculative, far right capitalist government where every logic surrounds dollars and cents.

That is also the reason why I have recently decided not to cast a ‘void’ ballot because such a ballot has no direct effect in deciding the winner. Even though every ‘void’ ballot is painstakingly counted, it has no purpose at all other than a statistical one, and also to ensure that every vote is accounted for and no fraud is being committed. In fact, a ‘void’ ballot lowers the margin to win and has the same effect as not voting. for e.g. There are 25740 voters in Pioneer SMC. By right, the candidate which obtains 12871 votes will win. But if 200 people didn’t turn up to vote and 200 people cast a ‘void’ ballot, then the number of valid votes will only be 25340, and now the candidate requires only 12671 votes to win. While this does not really seem like much, imagine what happens when there are a large number of ‘void’ ballots. That means that the winner is actually popular to less than half of the eligible voters. In our case where the incumbent is favored, casting a void ballot is as good as allowing them to win. While I am not encouraging anyone to vote for the opposition simply because they are unhappy with the incumbent, this is how I would decide to vote in the coming election. Some people might not like how I vote, but when the vote is mine – then the choice is mine so I’ll like everyone to mind their own business because I ain’t forcing anyone to vote as I do. But if anyone insist to give me a piece of his or her mind because of my view here, and call me all sorts of names and label me a PAP hater… *stomps feet* I don’t know what to say!!

Finally, I would like to remind everyone not to be taken in by the argument that we are given other voices because we can have 9 Non-Constituency MPs [NCMP] under the NCMP scheme. An NCMP cannot vote no matter how strongly they speak up against issues or proposals. The NCMP scheme has given the minority parties the bark, but it is up to you to give them the bite. If you agree that a one party domination is bad enough, remember that a one party dictatorship is even worse.

Vote wisely.

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