Polling Day

I was an agent this morning to observe the voting processes in a polling station. Got a first hand look at how a polling station was running and the polling station officers going about their duties. I must congratulate the Elections Dept for a job well done. The officers were all very well trained and know what they were supposed to do and conducted themselves very professionally.

I arrived before 7.30am and everything had already been set up and ready to go. By 7.45am they started to seal the ballot boxes, made of cardboards with two open slots for dropping the poll cards. The boxes were checked and carefully sealed with the seals of the Elections Dept. The civil servants from various ministries did all the necessaries and by 8 am sharp it was open for business, and everything went on smoothly in the spacious canteen of a primary school. Nothing could possibly go wrong with so many officers and voters streaming in.

There were already some early birds waiting outside the polling station way before 7.30am. They could not get in before 8am. I walked through the gate only to be stopped by the school’s security guards. I told them I was a polling agent but they were like deaf, pre conditioned to tell everyone to wait outside. I had to tell them I need to be in to watch the sealing of the ballot boxes and only then did they understand who I was, a polling agent.

I went in, met the officers in charge, showed them my authorization letter as a polling agent and was issued with a pass to hang on my chest. After a short briefing and queries on the do’s and don’ts, I was shown where I would be sitting to watch the whole process of voters casting their votes.

As I said, everything was as flawless as it could be and with the helpful officers all waiting to assist, it was smooth flowing. I have never seen so many seniors on wheelchairs in a single morning. They kept coming in, pushed in by the polling station officers. I was asked to witness a wheelchair bound voter that refused to mark the card and the Asst Returning Officer, after confirmation with the polling agents present, and asking the voter a few times to make sure that was her intention, finally dropped the blank vote into the box. There were several seniors that should not be there but were there, wheeled into the station by their family members. Their mind was far from lucid and could hardly know what they were doing. The family members with them just went through the motion and dropped blank votes into the box.

I was told that after the end of the election a polling agent from each candidate/party would follow the coach with the sealed boxes to the counting stations. This process would rule out or greatly minimize whatever mischiefs that were speculating in the rumour mills. With all parties represented by their trusted polling agents, the journey from the polling stations to the counting stations should be safe in the company and under the watchful eyes of so many officers in the coach. It would be unduly difficult for hanky panky affairs in their presence even if a polling agent turned out to be a mole. Not really easy to do mischief inside the coach on its way to the counting stations, very remote.

The whole voting process is as transparent as it could be and conducted in the best possible ways under the watchful eyes of many officers including those from the candidates’ parties. Any room for error or monkey business could then be left in the counting stations How the votes are counted, how spoilt votes are declared void etc etc there seem to be some room for discretions and human errors, intentional or other wise. The impression I have is that most of the problems are likely to occur during counting and after counting, recounting. And that is where all the fighting would occur to make a few votes more or less counts. The counting agents could play a vital role when the real hustle begins inside the counting stations.

In the next few hours, the fortune of Singapore will change, could change dramatically, or going down the same path under the PAP. The fate of Singaporeans are in the process of being cooked now.

SG2015 – New kids on the block

The 9 days of hustings in this GE have thrown up a few new faces that would likely to create waves when the results are known on Saturday morning and the next decades to come. Two of the greatest finds happened to be from the SDP in Chee Soon Juan and Paul Tambyah.  Chee Soon Juan, the come back kid, has endeared himself with the crowd that turned up at the SDP rally. And the crowd size kept growing till the final night of the rally at Clementi Avenue 6. The muddy field did not stop them from coming and the reception was befitting of a politician thrown into the wilderness and coming back in glory. The crowd simply loved him, for his oratory, for his sincerity despite efforts to demonise him, to share the pains he had to go through with his wife and children. For several nights, the crowd stayed back for him to autograph his books, waiting for hours, waiting patiently in long winding queues. The force is with him, with the people standing with him. No more is Chee Soon Juan the feared, and the leper he was made out to be. They see in him a potential PM in waiting. The signs are all favourable for this man like the stars in alignment.

Standing closely on his side is Paul Tambyah, a man that could easily be another minister in the PAP cabinet. Tambyah spoke about the sufferings of the common man in an area that he knew best, healthcare. He spoke in a calm and professor like manner unlike some behaving like hooligans and gangsters. The crowd listened to him intently and appreciated what this man was all about, a very good man needed to speak in Parliament for the people. They trusted and liked him. They see another good man speaking out for the people, with all honesty and integrity, very real, no bunkum.

The WP also has a few pleasant surprises in Daniel Goh and Leon Perera. Both were of the same generic DNA that the PAP sort after. They were eloquent and sincere men that have stepped forward on their own to join the opposition camp, not waiting to be invited for tea. And there is Cambridge graduate He Ting Ru, another young lady in the likes of Nicole Seah. These three candidates could be the shining stars of the WP if given more time, exposure and coverage by the media for what they deserved. They provide depth to the leadership in the WP and augur well for the party. It was unfortunate that not much coverage was given to them, but that cannot deny them for showing their potential that could only grow and blossom in the near future.

Another very strong candidate is Lim Tean from the NSP. This is a man that exudes leadership, well articulate and has a commanding voice to go along. People like to listen to him. How could the PAP miss him when he is in the right industry that the PAP often seen digging into, a lawyer? PAP’s lost is the opposition’s gain. This man would go far if he is in a stronger party. This round NSP is troubled by a lot of resignations and negative news that put a question mark on the credibility of the party and its future well being. In the WP or SDP camp, Lim Tean would be a force to contend with and likely to waltz into Parliament.

The SingFirst has its two kingpins in Tan Jee Say and Ang Yong Guan, two second time veterans that are quite well respected.

In the PAP camp, there were a few promising newcomers in Ng Chee Meng, Mervin Yong, and Chee Hong Tat. It was a pity that their presence was not felt, more likely because the party is too big and there are still too many ministers calling the shot with a few ahead of them trying hard to impress. They were given too little exposure to be on the spotlight. Their speeches were not of the same stuff as the opposition camp that could arouse the emotions of the crowd. Could they do better if they were speaking from the other side of the camp? They were touted as ministerial material in the same group as Chan Chun Sing, Tan Chuan Jin and Lawrence Wong. Maybe they were simply out shone by the veterans in the PAP that are still dominating the stage.  Maybe they were given too little to show how good they are or could be. None of them really stood out on their own as exceptional and worth listening to, to draw the crowd, to mesmerize the crowd like the great leaders they are expected to be.

Other than the veterans that could still hold the attention of the crowd, the top crowd pullers among the new kids that really made a difference must be Chee Soon Juan and Paul Tambyah. Many are hoping and wanting them to be in Parliament. Would that be the case? Whatever, they have made their presence felt in the last 9 days of election rallies on stage.

SG100 – Your future

Is SG100 going to be celebrated in greater style, with more pomp and pageantry? One thing for sure, each HDB flat is likely to cost $2m or more.  By then the value of money would have taken a big tumble. A cleaner would be earning $10k pm but living under poverty line. The ministers would be paid $50m to keep pace with the high property prices. Cars would no longer be within the reach of the majority of the population. Only the super rich could afford them.

What is going to feature prominently in the lives of the average Singaporeans would be the expiry of their HDB leases. Many flats would be at the end of their 99 year lease and the value will revert to zero. Many would have to find $2m or $3m to buy a HDB flat. There would be fewer upgraders to take advantage of their appreciated HDB value to sell and buy bigger flats as the prices of HDB flats would all be tumbling.

The big question, how many could still afford to buy HDB flats? How many could afford to upgrade? Would other properties be able to hold on to their stratospheric prices?

SG100 will be a time when prices of old HDB flats will return to ground zero to many HDB lessees. Are you one of them or your children will be one of them? Many beautiful dreams of home owners will be dashed for good and they would have to start all over again in a new cycle. HDB flats that were worth $1m or $2m would be put up for sale at $50k or $20k depending on the years or months left at the tail end of the lease. No need to take loans, people can buy them for the price of a song, in cash. The average Singaporean’s monthly income would be $50k or $100k. All the people will be very rich with a lot of fiat currency that is worth as much as the banana currency of the Japanese Occupation.

Welcome to SG100, the year your HDB lease expires.

GE2015 Results – A hopeful assessment

On the morning of 12 Sep PAP is likely to be returned to power but with a smaller majority. On a fairly hopeful estimate, PAP should still end up with 63 seats with 26 seats going to the opposition. Among the likely GRCs to go will be Aljunied, East Coast, Marine Parade, Tanjong Pagar and Holland Bukit Timah. For the SMC, Huogang and Punggol East will stay with the WP plus Fengshan, MacPherson, Mountbatten and Potong Pasir joining the opposition camp.

There are a few borderline GRCs that could go either way. Ang Mo Kio, Tampines, West Coast and Chua Chu Kang have a slim outsider chance to go the other way if there is a strong swing in favour of the opposition. So too were a few SMCs like Bukit Panjang, Sengkang West and Yuhua.  Assuming luck is on the opposition side and half of these were to go, that would add another 11 seats to the 26 to make 37, still far short of the 50% mark.

Short of a miracle or ground swell, PAP will still be returned to Parliament with a comfortable majority though a bit painful for losing quite a number of ministers along the way. The people can look forward for more good years with the PAP charting the course towards SG100 and 10m population with more foreign talents. It would still be a good fight for the opposition for proving that going forward the PAP can only become weaker and weaker and the 2020 GE is likely to see a real change when more able people would come forward to join the opposition camp encouraged by what they see in this GE.

It is not so easy to remove a party that has been entrenched in power for 50 years unless there is a miracle, like a tsunami. This can only happen when the people lost trust in the PAP.  Would this happen in this GE? If it does, the final result would be totally different and a new govt will be installed.

PAP – What is happening?

The most recognizable political brand, the most respected and trusted brand for the past 50 years, has turned into a brand that is being hated in some corners of the island. Its election posters have been torn, sprayed painted and according to Victor Lye, thrown into a bin used for burning joss papers in the ghost festival month. And his personal encounters were not pleasant. He had been told to get lost, received angry stares and hostile remarks that he and his PAP team are not wanted in Aljunied.

It must all be because of the people’s fault, ungrateful. How can they treat the PAP team like that? Or is it the WP’s fault? It cannot be the fault of the PAP right? The PAP has been taking so good care of the people, treating the people so fairly, even in opposition wards, how can it be the fault of the PAP?

It cannot be the leaders of PAP, all flawless men and women, selfless and working for the people’s interest. It cannot be the policies as all policies are for the good of Singaporeans. I am now so lost as to why the people of Aljunied are so hostile to the PAP team. They never paste stamp on their eyes?

What is happening?