What to make out of May Day at Hong Lim?

I was there as an observer, met some bloggers who have followed my blog and listened to the views of Singaporeans there, mostly negative. One thing, the crowd was much smaller than the previous rally, probably less than 3,000. But this time there were more media representations. The other point to note was the predominantly older crowd. The young were less represented, perhaps more busy having a good time while it still lasts.

I must say that despite the smaller crowd, the speakers were more enthusiastic this time and speaking with more vigour. Leong Sze Hian made his often statistics laced speech simpler and easier for the people to understand. And the star speaker must be Ravi, the famous lawyer of the downtrodden. He posed for a photo shot for me. Ravi was simply exciting and witty in his speech. I remembered him saying that it needed a cleaner like Vellama to sweep clean up the Constitution or something to that effect. The crowd loved him. He was furthest from the stigma that he was having some mental problem. I think the people having mental problems are those who think so.

Many issues were raised in the presence of a respectable crowd. The main issue of 6.9 took the main platform. But after all have been said, would it have any impact on the Govt? Would the Govt be bothered to listen and reflect on this big population game plan and tone down on the aggressive ambition? I think the Govt is likely to ignore this Rally totally as if nothing happens.

There was a lone independent speaker who spoke generally about the same issues. He must have felt very passionate about it to mount a little mountain in Hong Lim with his own loudspeaker to speak to the crowd. And beside him was a poster that said it all. ‘You call us noise. We call it truth!’.

To some, what were being said are plain noise. But for the noise makers, it is their version of truth. Who’s will shall prevail? No prize for the answer. Looks like Hong Lim Rally will just be another rally that will soon be forgotten as most Singaporeans are busy making money and have no time for it. 6.9m or 10m, so what, they will take them in their stride.

Gilbert and his team and their hope for a bigger turn out must be feeling a bit dejected though they were not showing it. The Singaporeans that would be affected by the outcome of a huge population were not coming forward to support the cause. The Govt won hands down. The White Population Paper will be executed duly and in good time. Singaporeans should just live with the 6.9m comes 2030.