The Singapore Democratic Alliance [SDA] seemed to be rather low profile. I get quite a bit of buzz for the other parties on social media but not much from the SDA. In fact, I don’t recall seeing anything from the SDA at all. So I went all the way to Buangkok after work to check out the SDA Rally today.

I arrived around 7pm. It was raining as I came out of the station, and there was probably just about several hundred people at most near the exit sheltering from the rain. The rally has not start so I went by the party mechandise area to grab myself a souvenir.

The rally began around 7:15pm with the SDA candidates saying the national pledge. I wasn’t really paying attention because my friends haven’t arrived but I realised a handful of people had made it to the center of the field. So I used the phone camera on my Samsung Omnia7 to snap one photo of the people there. My friends arrived about 10mins later and I went with one of them into the field. I must give credit to the people who went into the field because there were puddles of water everywhere. I even noticed a lady with high heels standing in the field with her boyfriend and I think she’s going to have a hard time getting out later. Even so, it was a far cry from what I heard about yesterday’s Workers’ Party [WP] rally where people stood in the rain.

My friend and I gave up after 30 minutes when the turnout didn’t drastically improve, though I did notice small groups of people drifting towards the field as I leave, so I have nothing much to report on what was said. However, I may have left too early since I saw on TV the drama where Desmond Lim’s wife sobbed on stage. Allegedly, she broke down because she received a call from an alleged WP-supporter asking for Desmond Lim to withdraw from the contest.

Frankly, if their rally turnout is any indication at all, I personally fear for the results for all of the SDA’s candidates on the night of 7th May / morning of 8th May.

~ * ~

The fact that Lee Hsien Loong finally gave us token assurance that he will do something about it after so long makes me wondered what spooked him. After all, the purported bad turnout at People’s Action Party [PAP] rallies should not be worrisome, since that simply meant a lot of people have already decided that whatever the PAP does is always in their best interest. The PAP supporters had simply stayed home and not turn up to hear what they already know. As to the great turnout at the opposition rallies, why should that even be worrisome? That is just some of us kaypo (nosy parkers) from all over Singapore congregating at one place to see a “5-year one time good show”. Neither should he be concerned with the massive amount of not-so-friendly social media material online (e.g. pro-opposition blog articles and videos). The impact these will have compared to the PAP dominated main stream media [msm] is truly insignificant. Even if it has an unimaginable greater reach than the msm, the “opposition supporters” that these material reached are just spread all over the little red dot and not concentrated in one GRC to be able threaten the elite PAP anyway.

So, if I am asked what to make of this news report – I’ll call it panic. Much like the panic selling that grips speculators when the market seems to turn against them. The PAP has won handily so often that it has lost its ability to handle the election heat. One can see that from the number of interviews Lee Hsien Loong’s father is giving a day, to the seemingly self-defeating comments Goh Chok Tong gave: “What mistake has he made? You can take a minister and criticise him for not delivering on perhaps housing and transport. “Like Wong Kan Seng you can say he let Mas Selamat escape.” It is almost like giving us an endorsement to vote out Mah Bow Tan and Wong Kan Seng, and if I am in Tampines or Bishan-Toa Payoh, I wouldn’t even hesitate for a minute to take it at face value.

Anyway, to me this apology is worth as much as the air that carries it. It is too little and too late. It is an apology that is born out of desperation. It is nothing more than attempt to play on our compassion. I will want to see some concrete action before I would even considered the apology sincere enough. Personally, I would like to see Lee Hsien Loong make some of his ministers eat the humble pie and unreservedly apologise. Not ifs, no buts! And please don’t cry like a little girl!! Just simply apologise! If they are still elected, they should never be appointed a minister again! Perhaps after that I will forgive them.

Now this really makes me wonder what is so important about is Aljunied GRC that the haughty PAP humbled itself before the people. Is George Yeo so important and indispensable? After all, if (and a big if) it happens, it will not be the first time the PAP has a candidate holding a ministerial position lost in an election. Seet Ai Mee who is also a minister lost in the 1991 General Elections too and in that election the PAP also lost 4 seats. Is the PAP who claims to have all the best talents in this country not able to field someone else to fill George Yeo’s position? I personally thought Chan Chun Sing would be a great candidate as foreign minister. His Lamfang Republic analogies are quite… entertaining. My friends and I never seem to get very far without talking about that these days.

I wished I am a voter in Aljunied GRC, since then I won’t stand by helplessly and watch other people decide on who to vote. If I was a Aljunied voter, I won’t feel any emotional dilemma in deciding who to vote for – especially if I was formerly in and around Kaki Bukit which used to be Marine Parade GRC. I don’t owe Aljunied Town Council or George Yeo anything. Even if I was originally an Aljunied voter before the boundaries are redrawn, I owed George Yeo nothing since I paid for everything that was provided. As they used to say, there is no free lunch in the world.

If I was an Aljunied voter I would be walking over to Hougang Single Member Constituency [SMC] to take a look whether the WP failed to provide the same services expected of a town council. In fact, I would even ask whether the Hougang voters have gotten more with less. I would see for myself has Hougang really turned into a real slum!

If I was an Aljunied voter I would be asking myself whether it is morally right that I expect my fellow citizens in Hougang and Potong Pasir SMC to vote in good candidates from the political minorities and ‘carry the cross’ for the past 20 over years. Why would their MPs – especially Mr Chiam See Tong – fought on had the PAP been flawless? I would wonder why even more strongly now that Lee Hsien Loong himself admit the PAP is not.

Alas, I am not an Aljunied voter. Words are cheap when I do not need to bear the burden. But I can only say to my fellow citizens in Potong Pasir and Hougang who has for at least two decades supported their non-PAP MPs:

I’m not gonna let you down. Just don’t give up on me.