Overall i'm in an opinion that most Singapore citizens had voted in a generally logical and rational manner for the recent General Elections even though emotions ran high at certain points during the campaigning period. For that, i am very glad and pleased because the results will eventually affect the policies of this nation in the not too distant future and we cannot allow emotions to impair our judgement. How did i come to such an opinion? Let's have a look at the following points i noted during this election.
1) Contest for Ang Mo Kio GRC - the only electorate contested where percentage of votes for PAP actually went up instead of going down in comparison to the rest of the other constituencies. In 2006 when AMK GRC was contested by Workers Party, PAP garnered a total of 66%. For GE 2011, the percentile went up to 69% when facing Reform Party. It indicated that residents will not provide their support for candidates who are not sincere in serving them. Given a limited choice, they will continue to cast their vote for a team who had been serving them for the past years as long as the basic expectations have been meet.
Lack of sincerity by the opposition party is evident when they did not walk the ground to connect with the voters and failed to communicate their plans for the residents (there were neither banners put up nor leaflets distributed to indicate their presence in the GRC). It was as though they were not in the contest for the GRC and there was also the fact that some of the team candidates were loaned from other opposition parties in order to make up the numbers required to partake in the contest. This reflected one important point, they only contested for the sake of contesting and to ensure it was not a walkover, tying down PM Lee in his own GRC so that he cannot devote 100% of his time for the support of other GRCs.
2) How Workers Party won Aljunied GRC - the opposition party made political landmark breakthrough in the GRC system with some of the following factors in their favour. Voters only voted in an opposition team when they field excellent candidates that shown promises of being capable taking over the helm from the current team of elected MPs.
a) Miss Sylvia Lim - she contested in 2006 and was recognised as one of the best candidates that the opposition party had ever fielded. She had both excellent educational and career credentials. Her team had garnered 43.9% votes, the highest percentage for any opposition teams in 2006 elections. None of the opposition came close to such high percentile, none over 40%. That in turn allowed her to become a NCMP in the Parliament. Although she had no voting rights in the House but it allowed her to debate on all issues raised within the Parliament. That was something that she did exceeding well over the last 5 years, gaining her the reputation that she is not in any way inferior to the elected MPs. To her credit, she also maintained her presence in the ground over the last 5 years, making sure that the her party did not lose any of the grounds gained in the previous election.
b) Mr Low Thia Khiang - one of the only 2 elected MPs from the opposition parties in the last 20 years before GE 2011. It is no easy task being one of opposition voices especially when you are out numbered 82 to 2. However, he had done a good job ensuring that his constituency was well taken care of while he challenged some of the more debatable issues in Parliament in a logical and rational questioning manner. All these have been done despite the odds and obstacles that were met throughout his political career such as not having an proper meeting room to conduct his Meet the People Session and having only limited funds at his disposal. That built up his reputation as a man who sincerely wish to serve his people and a credible alternate voice in the Parliament.
He also shown the people that he is a man with vision and quick to correct his weakness as long as the criticisms were valid. One example i can think of is how he reached out to top candidates like Miss Sylvia Lim and Mr Chen Show Mao to build up his ranks when MM Lee commented that he did not have a First World Opposition. Another is how he envisioned ahead and calculated his move into a contest for a GRC. He only went for the broke when he was sure that his chances of winning were even. How did he level the playing field? That brings us to the next point.
c) At least 2 heavyweights in the team - Mr Low ensured he was not the only experienced politician and heavyweight in the team that contest for Aljunied GRC. He had in the same team, Miss Sylvia Lim who by this election is a experienced parliament member although she was not attached to any constituency. That lent a lot of consideration to the voters when they were deciding if the opposition team should be given a chance. Afterall, the team will be able to rely on at least two experienced politicians to guide the rest of the team members who are new to the political scene ensuring a smooth transfer between the incumbent team to the newly elected MPs from the opposition team.
Pity to say, this is the point where i believe Mr Chiam mainly lost out on his bid for a GRC. He was the only heavyweight and experienced parliament member in his team. Had he at this election, had another able and experienced person with credentials similar to Miss Sylvia Lim in his team, more votes might have swayed his way and we could have seen another upset. It is evident from the percentages of the votes for the various GRCs contested in this election that one heavyweight in the team will garner you a slight advantage but not enough to win the contest. 2 or more heavyweights in the team will level the ground and give the opposition team a fair chance of winning the GRC.
3) How PAP held on to other GRCs - one lousy team member in PAP team will not tip the scales and win the battle for the opposition parties. This is immensely evident for this election. From what i gathered so far, Minister Mah Bow Tan, Minister Wong Kan Seng and Miss Tin Pei Ling are some of the most unpopular PAP candidates fielded in this election and yet their teams continued to hold on to their seats in the GRCs they contested in. It shows that one man or woman will not make or break the team. Although the overall percentage of their supporters will drop but it is simply not enough to unseat them.
What voters did was to also take into consideration of the other 2 or 3 MPs in PAP's team that performed decently in the past and compare them to the opposition team of unknown and untested candidates. When cornered with such a choice, they will rather see in a team with the 2 or 3 decent MPs that has performed admirably (even though there is a member that they immensely dislike) than to see an entire team of untested candidates elected. I suppose this is what we termed as the "lesser of two evils" and the residents made the choice best to their knowledge. Ironically and sad to say, it is also this mentality that we lost a most respected former elected MP Mr Chiam See Tong. Simply because he did not have better and tested team members on his bench for his bid for a GRC.
In any case, the votes have been cast and i wish that no matter who is in the Parliament, be it PAP or the opposition parties, they will bear in mind that they are citizens first and party members second and work towards the common good of all Singaporeans. It is only then we will truly see a First Class Government and First World Parliament.
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