The election fault lines

There are several major issues that will be tested in the GE. Among them will be the cost of living, the cost of housing, foreign talents, casinos, high ministerial salary, public transportation, medical fees, the political system, cronyism, corruption etc etc. All these issues will generate a lot of heat during the campaigning. Some of them will develop into fault lines that will divide the people into taking sides. One of the hottest fault lines must be housing, the owners and the young people waiting to buy their first homes. The owners will be more comfortable with a policy that will keep the price of their properties intact or growing. The non owners will be rooting for a party that could hold down the runaway prices to make their first purchase more affordable. In the ring will be the 80% HDB owners against all the young people that are queuing up or are waiting to grow up. Technically, it is a forgone conclusion that the home owners will have an upper hand. But going deeper into the issue, it may not be that straight forward. The other fault line is the divide between foreigners and locals. The govt is still taking a stand that they are all for more foreigners here and are heaping praises on the importance of foreigners to the well being of the locals. This will definitely piss off the locals who have one way or another affected adversely by the presence of too many foreigners, competition for jobs, housing and space. In this divide it is clear that it will be the govt and the foreigners versus the opposition parties and the locals. The govt will still have an upper hand with their die hard loyal local supporters and the new citizens behind them. The devil hiding in the shadow is when the foreign talent issue is linked to new citizens and old citizens in politics. We can see the anger brewing and the divide gaining momentum. The third major fault line is likely to be the pro PAP versus the anti PAP groups. There will be many who will stay on to support the PAP as the govt because of its track record. There will be a new emerging force that sees the track record, especially those of recent years, as being less than satisfactory. The old records will be played over and over again. But the new records with its new funky beat and off beat may not be acceptable to some voters. The old records were good, the new records bad. So going down the road it could be more of bad new records than more of good old records. There could be a shift in the followers, especially when the opposition are presenting the voters with a new wave of new talents. And the new idols are looking quite attractive. The alternative is at least seen to be better than the new records which are being rejected for all its flaws. The danger here is that the ruling party is lumping the old record and new record together and the people could be confused and think that they are the same, or they could only look at the new record and reject it completely. The fourth fault line which is seething in the under current and not fully exploited is the casinos. This is not only an emotional issue, an issue of values, a social ills, it could be tainted with religion and morality. This could become a full blown issue to divide the electorate during the campaigning. For the moralists, it is a clear cut right or wrong issue and can be very uncompromising. The election battle line could be drawn along these fault lines which will make voters taking sides much simpler.

Geisha and companions

A geisha and her companions. Both companions are partially hidden by her body, on the further side. Click the Art of RAR image on top right for more photo paintings.

As good as god speaks

‘As Finance Minister, I have made that very clear in Parliament that at least for the next five years …. there is absolutely no reason to raise the GST….’ Tharman Shanmugaratnam The citizens can now rest assured that in the next 5 years the GST will not be raised. Tharman has said that ‘there is absolutely no reason to raise the GST.’ He must know what he is talking about to be so confident about no reason to raise GST. Some sceptics are suggesting that if GST is not increased, then he can raise other taxes. Some were reminded of Boon Wan saying that mean testing would not be introduced but was introduced. What I am glad is that we have a minister that has that kind of confidence to commit himself for 5 years that nothing will happen. He must be super brilliant or is probably omniprescient. Whichever, it is good for the people and country for such ability. Our future is in good hands.

Impressive!

I am impressed. First we have the Tony Tan and Hazel Poa, then Benjamin Pwee, Vincent Wijesingha. And then standing ovation when Chen Show Mao appeared. And look who's entering the arena, Tan Jee Say and Ang Yong Guan. And all these, not discounting the pathfinders like Sylvia Lim, Goh Meng Seng, Gerald Giam, they all add up to quite a bit of weight to the pioneer and veteran fighters of Chiam, Low and the other opposition leaders. One thing that stands out, the new candidates are standing head to head with the PAP slate. But the most startling of all is Nicole Seah. At 24 she seems young, but not when she speaks. She is every inch a mature and able politician in the way she carries herself and how she handles the press. I am impressed. When you have a good candidate, it shows. No one is questioning her on her maturity though she is only 24. It is not just age. You have it or you don't.

The timing of heaven

When a big storm is brewing, or when a natural disaster is about to hit the shore, all the creatures in the wild, big and small, will get the first signal to evacuate. The timing of heaven is obvious to those recipients who are meant to receive the signal of a major change. Throughout our 40 odd years of existence, other than the founding years, never has there been a time when so many talents are standing up as if someone has blown a whistle. They came from thousands of miles away, they sprouted out from under the carpet, sprang out of cupboards, they came out of retirement, from the most unexpected quarters, all heeding a call for change. They are not the only one that is answering to this call, everyone can sense that change is coming and many are standing up to make the change. Everyone in cyberspace is contributing in his little way towards this change. Even the often reticent and fearful aunties and uncles in the kopitiams and markets are making the change. They are stretching their hands out to greet the opposition party candidates. The days of fear and shunning the opposition parties were gone. There is a new kind of exuberance. The recent barrage of failures after failures, against all the big talks about being pro active, about thinking and planning ahead and about preventing problems from taking root seem so defeating. Can the high cost of living be arrested earlier, can the high influx of foreigners be prevented, can the high housing prices and housing problems be foreseen? Can more be done to make public transportation more efficient, can the escalating medical cost be prevented? The answer is either one in 50 years or due to external forces. Nothing can be prevented or anticipated even by supertalents with super salary. The worst part is that many of the problems created are claimed to be good for the people. The influx of foreigners are good, the high property prices are good, the high medical fees are good, after all you can’t get world class medical services for free. High GST is also good. Is there anything that is not good? High population density? High salary in public offices? If these problems are regarded as good, don’t expect them to go away. They will be fed to become bigger. The heaven has signal for change. The timing is just about right. And the forces for change are all ready to effect the change. Even the ruling party is contributing positively to the impending change either intentionally or unintentionally.