General Elections. Yeap, another round of walkovers, landslide PAP victories and a few more battles in some constituencies. Having been in power, since before I was born, success for PAP shows no signs of abating yet. At least not while Singapore remains safe and clean and the economy thrives. Success breeds success they say.
Honestly, I feel as though half the nation is just going through the motions. It's not that there is no opposition, Probably, just a lack of credible ones. Having a 1-party government for decades, means that most of us never knew what a credible opposition in the government could bring. Heap that with the conformist attitudes that are so prevalent amongst the locals, means, the opposition may not get much of a sniff at winning. I'm not shooting down the opposition before the battle has begun. But apart from the opposition controlled constituencies, not much else can be seen on the ground to garner votes and to sway those on the fences.
One of the key contention points in every GE is upgrading. It seems that those constituencies who vote for the opposition gets pushed down the pecking order for any estate upgrading. It's a carrot that has always been promised by the ruling PAP. I don't get it, are such upgrading supposed to be a reward for putting the PAP in power and a punishment for putting the opposition in power? While the elder statesmen, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Goh Chok Tong spoke of the need for a credible opposition, it's either the opposition are not strong enough to put up a credible challenge or they don't do enough to canvass the populace for votes.
Granted that the policies put in place by the government are mostly spot-on. I mean, we have amongst the smartest people in the world, Math Olympiad anyone? However, we are not the most innovative, creative and proactive. We'd rather sit and wait and take what's given and silently complains when things are taken. Who could blame us? Raised on a diet of fed propaganda, numerous social campaigns and countless policies that defines how we live, it's little wonder that we have raised more machines than humans. Let's face it; it is socially unacceptable to be a failure in school. How many of those who were condemned early in their education as failures managed to get themselves out of that rut?
Think the Speak Good English, Courtesy and many other campaigns. While the purpose is to educate the public, it also forces those ideologies on us. Should it matter that we don't speak good english when we have little interaction with foreigners? While it's stereotypical, it's also true that those who don't speak good english has little contact with "angmohs". They don't run global empires or MNCs. They are just simple people eking out a living to fulfil their basic needs. While the various campaigns and policies have mostly hit the targets, it has also made us a society afraid to think out of the box and to voice out our opinions. All thanks to decades of being told how to live our lives.
Now, I'm sounding like an armchair politician. I can't help it when it bugs me. Think I'll just adopt the nationally accepted approach to politics and life in general - wait and see.
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