You can just feel the tingling sense of excitement in the air.
If Nomination Day is anything to go by, then I think we’re in for an exhilirating ride the next 1.5 weeks leading up to Polling Day.
I’m certainly looking forward to reading all the news and attending some rallies in the next few days.
It’s gonna be fun.
The updates on Facebook were fast and furious this morning, and it wasn’t easy keeping abreast with all the action.
(And it’s only Nomination Day!)
This is the age of social media.
There is now so much information out there for us to digest, so many opinions for us to sift through.
It is much easier to obtain objective and unbiased information nowadays from multiple sources, and also easier for us to make informed decisions.
Gone are the days when people could only rely on newspapers, radio and television for information.
Anyway, the battle lines are fully drawn, and it’s show time now.
I believe there are 82 seats out of 87 seats to be contested.
The 5 uncontested seats were because the opposition team from Tanjong Pagar failed to submit their nomination papers on time, resulting in a walkover.
(Honestly, if you can’t even submit your nomination papers before the stipulated deadline, then I don’t feel confident that you would be able to handle matters of national importance.)
I believe this is the first time since independence that the PAP did not win a majority of seats on Nomination Day itself.
Do we see a change coming?
Is this the year of change?
I dunno.
But what I do know if that it is apparent that most Singaporeans (except for those who belong to Tanjong Pagar GRC) have suddenly felt a sense of empowerment thrust upon them, that they have the ability to cast a vote to determine who they want as their leaders for the next 5 years.
This sense of empowerment is something that is new to a lot of us, myself included.
And this opportunity to vote does in some ways bring a certain sense of optimism and hope to our lives, hinting to us that we could possibly affect our own destiny.
…
PAP
I think one online commenter put it very well.
He said that he felt that LKY and the PAP had done a very good job in the early days, and that it was perhaps necessary for LKY to rule with an iron fist as that was probably the right approach to adopt for that time and circumstance.
However, he said that he was disappointed with the new generation of leaders.
And I agree.
I think the main gripe I have with the current leaders is that of being “out of touch with the ground”.
I simply cannot comprehend how our ministers have made themselves the highest paid politicians in the world, bar none.
I read one article that stated that our Prime Minister is by far the world’s highest paid leader, and the 2nd leader on the list does not even get 20% of what our PM gets!
Why are our Prime Minister, Senior Minister, Minister Mentor, President, and other ministers being paid millions each every year?
This is incomprehensible and completely indefensible.
I’m not expecting them to suffer the way Mandela or Aung San Suu Kyi did, but I’m also not expecting them to draw such outrageous salaries when there are so many common folk out there in Singapore who are struggling to make ends meet.
How do you expect the poor folk to take what you say seriously, especially when it comes to austerity measures?
They’d probably be like “Ah, that’s easy for you to say…you’re the one earning millions every year!!”
Do you really need to be paid millions to govern a country?
Didn’t someone recently say that the leaders are meant to serve the people?
Barack Obama only gets paid around US$400,000 a year, so there should not be any reason whatsoever why any other head of state in the world should be earning more than that…much less multiple times of that.
And it is because of these high salaries which makes me feel that our leaders have grown cold and are out of touch with the ground.
And it’s not just me saying this.
Lots of other people are saying this as well.
C’mon, you can’t expect someone who earns millions every year to truly empathise with the poor and desolate, can you?
Do they understand the difficulties the common folk face when buying a HDB flat, when taking public transport, when trying to find jobs just to make ends meet?
Or has life become so comfy for them that they are merely looking down from their ivory tower?
…
Attitude
It’s not just me saying this.
I believe there are a lot of Singaporeans who are unhappy with the way many PAP leaders have handled matters in recent years.
There seems to be an alarming lack of humility and accountability in the way the PAP leaders have gone about their business.
At times when an apology would have done the trick, they have chosen to find ways and means to either shift the blame or skirt the matter altogether.
There are so many instances you can name, and YOG, flooding, Mas Selamat, and Temasek Holdings immediately come to mind.
It just seems as if they are more concerned with justifying their actions, rather than being humble and see things from the people’s perspective, and humbly accepting criticism wherever it is valid.
Another issue which I cannot agree with would be the building of the two casinos (but that is a topic for another day).
