A 10% swing is all it takes

The PAP’s popular vote has gone down to 60%. This came about after the great handouts just before the election, the unexpected apology and admission of mistakes by Hsien Loong, and a change of tact, no more threats but a pledge to listen and to be more humble. What if these three measures were not taken? The packing up of George Yeo and his team is a stark reminder that it can happen to any GRC. The margin for arrogance and aloofness the people is very thin. The man that called for reform and reflection is gone. Would those who are staying feel that they have fought a good fight and can go on as before, telling the people how great and deserving they were, and demanding for more pay and gratitude? Hsien Loong has taken the first step to humble himself, to be the servant of the people. The people have another 5 years to bear with the govt, the style and the policies. Would there be any change in govt policies and antics? Can the people look forward to a better life, to a change for the better? Well, they will have 5 long years to see the change, if they are going to be changes.

The vulnerability of GRC

The GRC was conceived and designed to act like impregnable fortresses or motherships that could not be taken down. It used to be defended by one minister in the prototype design but has since been reinforced by having two ministers in each ship. Couple with the fee of about $100k per ship, the barrier to entry is very high. The other difficulties are the availability of a number of quality candidates and minority candidates. Thus, putting up a GRC team to contest an election is a tall order. In this election the vulnerability of a GRC has been exposed. It is possible to bring them down. The high barrier to entry is not that insurmountable anymore. And with willing candidates stepping forward, the availability of quality candidates are also achievable. The Aljunied GRC is a pathfinder and more will fall in the same way. All it needed is a 10% of swing votes. In the last election, the WP polled 44%. This time round it polled 54.7%, an 11% swing of votes. And down the mothership came, like a big rock falling from the sky. Results of this election show that several GRCs are as vulnerable as Aljunied. Several polled more than 40% of popular votes for the opposition. East Coast has 45%, Tampines 42.8%, Bishan Toa Payoh 43%, Marine Parade 43.3% and Nee Soon 41.6%. All it takes is a 10% swing of votes and each of these will come tumbling down. The opposition parties have seen how it could be done and the next battle will be a different story. But the GRCs of tomorrow may not be the same or may not be around anymore. A lot of tweaking is likely to be introduced to strengthen the mothership. Maybe the $100k could be raised to $200k, maybe the number of candidates be raised to 10 or more, to raise the barrier to entry to a more painful level. Or maybe the whole scheme will be scrapped, as they are no longer that formidable and could no longer serve the purpose it was designed for.

A crooning song bird

A song bird with beautiful head gear crooning on stage. More pics on Art of RAR Gallery on top right of page.

The daft Singaporeans voted

The daft Singaporeans voted for the PAP to rule them again for the next 5 years with a majority of 81-6 MPs in Parliament. Despite the strong presence of able and credible opposition candidates, the opposition parties could not do much except for a little breakthrough in winning a 5 member GRC in Aljunied. The pattern and consistency in the way the daft Singaporeans voted are pretty predictable by now. They have seen what PAP could do and are enjoying the success and would only vote for good candidates if they are available. They are responsible and voted with their heads. There was a little disappointment in that a few GRC candidates from the opposition were equally good or nearly as good as those from the PAPs but only managed a closed fight. The best team other than the WP’s winners in Aljunied is perhaps the SDP team in Holland Bukit Timah, with every candidate matching those from the PAP. The next two good teams were the Bishan team led by Chiam See Tong/Benjamin and the NSP team helmed by Tony and Hazel in Chua Chu Kang. Both teams were handicapped by a weaker supporting cast while Chiam’s physical condition could have given voters a second thought. With hindsight, the popularity of Nicole, if included in the Tony Hazel team could boost them to victory in Chua Chu Kang. But no one could predict how well received she was for a 24 year rookie. She did very well to carry her team in Marine Parade to give Chok Tong something to worry about. Her losing came with a tinge of sadness for her supporters. A little sadness too could be felt with the defeat of George Yeo and his team in Aljunied. It was a big blow to the PAP that boasted of two ministers with George a core member of the PAP leadership. And there was Zainal Abidin, slated to be the next Speaker of Parliament, and young and promising unionist Ong Ye Kong. Now the morning after minus the storm and tsunami of a big political change that failed to take place, is there anything that has changed? For once, the PAP was humbled by the shift in sentiments against them. They sensed it during the election hustings. The knew that the people were angry. And they started to tone down their cocky and high and mighty approach even before Polling Day. Hsien Loong made a public apology for all the mistakes they had made. Very unnatural to have come from an elitist Party that claimed to have all the best talents in the island. They would now have to be more guarded about their claims and their demands for outrageous pay for themselves. George Yeo openly protested against the use of threats even when it came from LKY himself. The post election thank you speech too came out pretty well rehearsed. The cocky position of only looking after their supporters and treating those that did not vote for them with lower priority has changed, or has it? They claimed that they have heard and understood the people’s unhappiness and would want to win them back again. They promised to listen, to work harder, and Boon Wan said that all are Singaporeans and must come together as one people after the election. There is a concerted effort to want to heal the rift and change their aloof image. Those words were said last night. Now that victory is in their hands, would they have short memories and revert to their old self again comes Monday? What is important is that the people have shown that they were most willing to change if there are good alternatives. If the opposition can attract more good candidates, the next GE is going to see a better contest. The people of Hougang stood solidly behind the WP. And the people of Aljunied had taken the first leap of faith to reject the PAP. The sun rises from the East. It will get brighter over time. Nicole could have been the winner in Marine Parade if her team mates were stronger. And it is quite clear that this is the last term for the PAP in Marine Parade. It was a tough choice and a yearning for change, if only a better team was available. Nicole could not breach the wooden wall alone. Now the daft Singaporeans would have to live with their decisions for the next 5 years. Would they regret, would they repent, or would they rejoice? One thing for sure, don’t take them for granted, don’t bully them again.

Protecting our shared assets

This little rock is all we have. Theoretically all the infrastructure and assets belong to the citizens. I say theoretically as some will say no. The future generations shall inherit what is being left to them. My question is whether there will be much left for them if we keep on selling our assets/landed properties to foreigners, or keep inviting foreigners to become citizens to share these shared assets. By doubling the foreigners, who then turn citizens, what is left for the original citizens will be halved. If this process keeps going, the pie and the share of our children will keep on decreasing. Yes, we need to protect our shared assets by not selling them in the first place. And secondly, by not bringing in more foreigners to share with us. If these two processes are not stopped, there will be nothing much left to protect in the future. When we were someone's colony, we have no say as to who shall come and go. We too were visitors. Now that we are owners of this piece of rock, we must decide who we want to welcome and how many we would want to welcome. We are not a land mass, a continent. We are just a piece of rock. Many even sneer at how small we are. Only we are crazy enough to think that we have such a big piece of land and we can bring in the people of the world. Singaporeans have never been xenophobic. We have welcomed foreigners and made them feel very welcome and comfortable here. But when the number gets too big, we already have more than 1m foreigners here, and some are thinking of bringing in another 900k. Is this a good thing, a wise thing to do? It is like living in a 4 rm flat. It is quite tolerable and can be fun to share a room with a foreign guest. Do we want to give up two rooms to the foreign guests and squeeze ourselves into one little room, and share our common room, our toilets and kitchens with so many strangers? There is a limit that we can do. People living in big bungalows would not understand what it is like to share your little flats with strangers. And if they are going to make this kind of decision for you, they will, against your interest and comfort, while they stay happily in their spacious mansions. We have nothing against foreigners. But we must guard our assets for our families and children. We do not want to be squeezed into a little room and make our foreigners happy in our little flat. We have to decide our future for ourselves, the little people living in little flats.