Hazy weekend

(This post was written and completed last Monday, 14/9, but I just didn't get it published somehow.  Today's 21/9, another weekend had gone by.  Better late then never...)


Another long weekend came and went.  Back to Monday blues and work and endless deadlines..

This long weekend,

(1) There was a joke circulating on polling day, that says "Breaking News:  PM will be changed tonight.  At midnight, PM will change to AM". 

The night (pm) on polling day turned out to be much longer than usual for a lot of people, because we stayed up to the wee hours to watch the election results.  It was super fun and exciting.  I thought I won't stay up past 12am, but I was hooked, and I tahan to 2.30am.  Then I slept with the TV on.  At slightly after 3am, WK's phone rang.  We woke up to see LTK giving half hearted thank you speech for winning Aljunied.  Finally, I can switch off the TV.

(2) I'm getting really old.  Sat, I woke up at about 9am, sent Lynn to class at 1045, and savoured my Cappuccino and the newspaper reports of a landslide win for PAP till 1pm.  By 2pm (after lunch), my body reacted violently to the late night.  I fell ill. And I was ill for the whole of Sunday

(3) The haze returned, so I stayed in and in bed for the whole of Sunday, till dinner time.  Lynn was so sweet.  She voluntarily did some house work, and gave me quite a lot of downtime on Sat and Sun. 

After thoughts about the election.  There were a lot of analysis about why the opposition lose big time.  I am happy that my prediction that the overall % for our incumbents will increase is right.  It also proves that those extremely nasty govt bashing junks on internet are indeed not from the majority of our population.  As for what is the real reason for the swing (LKY effect, or silent majority effect, etc, whatever), it is anybody's guess, cos nobody has any data to prove it.  And it is for the govt and the oppositions to figure it out.  I like LHL's saying that we vote more PAP to make the oppositions work harder.  I still like LTK and SL, so I hope they figure out that they can't be as complacency as they had been from 2011 - 2015.  They need to contribute constructively to our country too.

Finally, I like to believe that the real reason is that we, the silent majority, made the difference.  Here's an analysis that I like most, because it's what I like to believe:
https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/09/12/must-read-jg-explains-the-results/ 


 

Hopeful

2 more days.  After trolling FB for days, lapping up all kinds of postings, I am still hopeful that the results on Friday will prove that a majority of Singaporeans is good and sensible people.  I am hopeful that we are nothing like the social media population that behave like monsters and animals.

I see the passion in many friends, who make tremendous effort in correcting what they perceive as wrong views, very actively online.  Perhaps, they are worried that these lies may be taken as truth by the gullible readers?  Or they feel a strong sense of righteousness, that no unscrupulous politician should get away with sprouting lies?

There is suppose to be a fairly big group of rational swing-voters.  There is also a big group of non-active social media users who are either hard core government or hard core opposition supporters.  These people make their decisions based on their own experiences, and based on information gathered in the past 4 years.  They do not make decisions based on what's said in the past 2 weeks only. 

Politicians are unscrupulous by nature.  The good ones too.  They do what's necessary to get votes, and eliminate opponents.  Our beloved, late, first PM was fairly notorious in that aspect.  But, he is kind and selfless, to his country and his citizens.  It was not the purest form of democracy that helped get us to this prosperous state; it was pure luck, that we had him.   We should be grateful.  And we need to move on.

For the past 4 years, I see progress, made by good people in our government.  I also see a lot of shortcoming and flaws in this group of leaders.  It is very obvious to me that this group lacks the ability of the previous generation.  For example, what is the reason for the frequent breakdown in our train system, and the hardship felt by the ordinary citizens with the influx of foreign talents?  It is not because of the 6.9m population policy, not because of any incompetency of our current transport minister.  It is the failure of the various ministries and ministers to plan and build the infrastructure necessary to support the foreign worker policy.  I don't think this would happen during Mr. LKY's time.  During his time, finance, housing and all policies were perfectly coordinated. 

Luckily, we still have 60%, who are willing to work with the better team, and currently the only viable team.  I'm still hopeful, that the majority have the right attitude, to work hard, to work hand in hand in securing our own future. 

In any developed entertainment industry, critics are necessary; they help the actors and actresses to achieve higher level of performance.     But remember, critics can't act.

In a democratic, developed country, oppositions plays a crucial role.  History has proven, power corrupts.  We may only get lucky once.

So, how will I vote on Friday?
To put in social media language:  We need people who stir shit.  I will vote for people who can clear shit.

      

Where our hearts are

Exciting days ahead.   Due to the events leading up to the situation today, Singaporeans have become much more interested and in tune with politics.   There are so much discussions and views shared publicly.  So what's my?

My story must start by going back to the time when I'm in secondary 3.  Back then, I was a "green-house-flower", a naïve and protected gal, whose life was only about school and studies.  I'm those who went home straight after school.  My home back then was a spacious and windy HDB point-block unit on the 18th storey.  After finishing my homework, one of my favourite activity was to stand by window, wind in my hair, looking out and down, at the beautiful green surrounding and the clear blue sky.  Though not rich, I had never encounter any hardship.  Though I had friends from very poor families, living in rented or one room flats in the same neighbourhood, I was oblivious to their struggles. 

My only contact with politics was through my Sec 3 physics teacher.  His name is Mr. Yao.  He was, unique; caring but slightly eccentric.  He gave us his home number, and told us that we may call him if we face any (teenager) problem (not related to studies). 

That year in Sec 3, was the year of China Tiananmen 六四事件.  End of that same year, was the fall of communism in Romania.  He talked about how students fight for the ideology of democracy, and compared it to how Romania as a country suffered after the sudden downfall of communism.  It was a very different view from the rest of the world.  The foreign, western countries were all condemning the China government, that there was serious violation of human rights in PRC.   For him, he questioned the naivety students' moment. 

He also talked about Anwar.  Most Singaporeans of my age knew Anwar as a political victim and sympathize him.  And I think my Malaysia friends will wonder if the country will be in better shape than today, if Anwar succeeded premiership.  For me, because of Mr. Yao, it was different.  He questioned if Anwar was more or less race-blind compared to the then PM, and if Anwar will be beneficial or detrimental to the bilateral relationship, and to us, Singapore?

Those were heavy topics that he discussed.  For some reasons, the politically-apathetic me remembered these lessons. 

Those years, were a quarter century ago.  After 25 years, I have grown a lot.  A lot older, a lot heavier..  Jokes aside, a lot wiser and concerned.  Concerned about how politics are not someone else problem.  Concerned that, when someone holds a different opinion from you, it doesn't affect just them, but instead it affects everyone, and in a big way.  It can't be as simple as to just "agree to disagree". 

I had a discussion with my Dad last Saturday.  He said that our country is at risk of becoming like Taiwan, where democracy is almost a joke.   He said that the current leaders are too soft, doesn't have the iron fist ability like LKY's generation.   I refuted, telling him that it is precisely because LHL is not like his father, that I think that there is hope for our country.  The world will always belong to the younger generation.  If preaching, and LKY styled well-meaning-threats don't work anymore, we should use other clever means to influence the younger generation.   Going on and on about how fortunate they are is not effective in getting the message across.  LHL needs to be different from his father to lead the younger generation.

A lot had been said and analysed.  I offer my 2-cents worth to those who care to listen.  Meanwhile, let me end this by sharing this "poll".  My aunts and I were chatting, and we all bet that the overall votes for PAP will be increased (2011: 60.1%).  Our guesses are 64%, 67%, 62%.  We feel upbeat, that there is hope for this country and it's people.