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Indeed, still plenty of dimwits who have that black ribbon sticker on their vehicles.
You probably won't see such dedication when their own grandparent dies.
Tan Tee Seng,
The year 2020 so far has been miserable for most of us. More miserable if you don’t make millions to cushion the pain. However, there is little light at the end of this tunnel. A light that can give guidance to how we could reset and rejuvenate what is dragging down the society. The General Election season is upon us again. Our votes matter and our voice comes into focus again.
In the last few weeks, we have been reintroduced to people, who were elected to represent us in our parliament but many of whom we have forgotten their existence. There are a lot of “heavy weights” pontificating about leadership and how we should vote. Many claim credit for delivering numbers, while these number don’t lie, there were many side stories suppressed. Yes, we are given a lot of pain killers and suppressants, but many root causes of problems remain untreated and even become cancerous. Most things are unchanged.
With a dismally under-performing main stream media, castrated civic institutions and a beaten-up civil society, the weight and burden on the votes is never more important in the history of our political development. Politicians and even long hair preachers would paint all kind of pictures – pie in the sky, horror movie, saints, superman etc. Many probably would not know what they are talking about or talking from the wrong hole of their bodies.
Just remember one thing: VOTING IS A CHOICE OF STATUS QUO OR CHANGE. Collectively it is about using your vote as a leverage to articulate the wishes of how the country is to be governed. Voting doesn’t decide on the leadership you want. Remember, we didn’t get to decide on the President that we preferred. And, we won’t be able to choose our Prime Minister, the top executive of the country. We just can decide what type of parliament we want. The Parliamentary is the supreme body of the land. Members of Parliament are supposed to be representative of the people sub divided into constituencies. They are elected to voice our concerns and impact government policies. Just that in some countries like China, the opposition parties (在野党) are not allow to oppose and are kept as a token and soften the image of authoritarianism.
The last two general elections are indicative of the Singapore situation. In the political dark ages of Singapore from 1968 to 2011, we actually never have a complete poll or referendum of the whole country. Elections were over basically on Nomination Day. Parliament become a chore and even being reckon as a theatre. Many see it as a circus because regularly monkeys are rewarded. But that is a story for another time.
So, what did we learnt from results of the last 2 elections? The opposition yielded only 7% of the parliamentary seats with 40% of the votes obtained in 2011 and 30% of the votes in 2015. Incumbent power has tremendous advantage when it comes to shaping outcome of the election. Some academics here reckon that incumbent can continue to govern even with just 35% of the popular votes. Well, the outcome of 2012 Presidential Election proved the point – we got a 35% President. Many levers are at the disposal of the incumbent.
In our current system, there is only one thing to decide when one goes to the poll. If you are happy with the status quo, vote for the governing party, and if you feel that you want to participate in shaping the society then your vote is a leverage. It is a ticket you still have until the dominant party curtailed it. This is absolutely possible and probable with the kind of super majority the current governing party has!
Think of the civil spaces that have been encroached – sharing a Facebook post has become a problem. Holding a smiley picture in public get the weight of police force onto you! The bravest among us like Jolovan have been sounding the warning and alarm that we may soon be unable to breathe. In current situation, transparency and accountability take a back seat whenever it is convenient.
Your one vote may decide that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train running down on us but put our national pledge as a national mission instead of just highfalutin ideas.
