Mr Tan,
Thank you for posting a link to the article "Shame On You" in The Online Citizen.
I agree wholeheartedly with the views of this writer. Many Singaporeans behave in a selfish and shameful manner.
They urge the candidates from the alternative parties to stand up and contest the election, so that the PAP knows that they cannot take Singaporeans for granted.
AND THEY ABANDON THESE BRAVE CANDIDATES AT THE LAST MINUTE.
I don't know their reason for the last minute change of mind. It is a disgusting behavior.
Do they really know the sacrifice that these candidates have made to provide an alternative voice for Singaporeans? The money they have to spend on deposits, rallies, posters, printer, meals for volunteers?
How many people came forward to help them in their campaigns?
No wonder, Kenneth Jeyaretnam said - "You have voted for authoritarianism. I don't want to hear your complaint anymore".
REPLY
I understand your sentiment. I also understand that the losing candidates would have been very disappointed. (I felt the same after the Presidential Election).
The least that these Singaporeans could do now, is to donate to cover the expenses of the losing candidates.
I am only asking this from the people who had urged them to come forward to be a channel for express their unhappiness at the policies of the PAP.
Thank you for posting a link to the article "Shame On You" in The Online Citizen.
I agree wholeheartedly with the views of this writer. Many Singaporeans behave in a selfish and shameful manner.
They urge the candidates from the alternative parties to stand up and contest the election, so that the PAP knows that they cannot take Singaporeans for granted.
AND THEY ABANDON THESE BRAVE CANDIDATES AT THE LAST MINUTE.
I don't know their reason for the last minute change of mind. It is a disgusting behavior.
Do they really know the sacrifice that these candidates have made to provide an alternative voice for Singaporeans? The money they have to spend on deposits, rallies, posters, printer, meals for volunteers?
How many people came forward to help them in their campaigns?
No wonder, Kenneth Jeyaretnam said - "You have voted for authoritarianism. I don't want to hear your complaint anymore".
REPLY
I understand your sentiment. I also understand that the losing candidates would have been very disappointed. (I felt the same after the Presidential Election).
The least that these Singaporeans could do now, is to donate to cover the expenses of the losing candidates.
I am only asking this from the people who had urged them to come forward to be a channel for express their unhappiness at the policies of the PAP.
1 comment:
The voters have spoken, let's move on. The article “Shame on You” assumes that those who egged the opposition before the elections abandoned the opposition at the polls. It could well be that it was the 30% who voted for opposition who have been calling for change. Yet, the 70% who voted PAP could have remained silent all the while. So let's not assume that there was betrayal on the part of the electorate. It could be a misreading by opposition because the 30% was louder than the 70%.
That said, there are so many opinions as to why there was a swing towards PAP. But we will never know because there really is never an in depth study. All are just opinions. I don't believe it is gerrymandering because it is a national swing and it is not only constituencies that have been redrawn. Neither do I believe it is certain sections of the population like the old, the rich, the racial minorities etc who swung the votes. Nor is it because of new citizens because even in areas where there is a negligible number of new citizens, there still is a swing.
However, like many others, I have my own unproven theory. I believe that there is a number of hardcore PAP voters - let's say, x %. There is also a number of hardcore opposition supporters - let's say, y%. The rest are fence sitters.
I believe that even if you add up x% and y%, it will still be at most about 50% of the voter population. The fence sitters will swing the result to whatever the current situation is. The last swing towards PAP was from 1997 to 2001, where it swung to about 10% in PAP's favour. So GE 2015's swing is not unprecedented.
Now what caused the fence sitters to swing itself, we can again speculate. My guess is that there is economic uncertainty and because of that, the fence sitters played safe and voted for PAP. The stocks and many foreign currencies dived just before GE 2015, just like everyone remembered the financial crisis of the late 1990s during GE 2001. But then again, that's just my opinion that it was the economic adversity and uncertainty that caused the swing towards PAP.
We shouldn't pick any one category of voters and place blame on them. That is causing society to fracture and it is not good for harmonious living. Unless of course the intention is indeed to fracture society.
Lastly, we also shouldn't imply that there are traitors among the 70% who voted for PAP. Those who voted for PAP may have never intended to vote for opposition before 11 Sep in the first place. And they may have been silent all while.
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