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One person to leave the PAP’s support base is an accountant who only wanted to give her name as Irene. With more than 15 years of work experience, she previously voted for the PAP as she was satisfied with the “stable” and “upwardly mobile” environment she believed the PAP created. She was satisfied that – after working for 8 years – she and her consultant husband were able to comfortably put the down-payment for a condo and they were able to rent her 4-room HDB out for passive income. Even though asset enhancement has made her family “rich”, she has worries about her job security and meeting the costs of living. She estimates that she has another $500,000 or so in outstanding debts and mortgages while her two children would be going to university in less than 10 years’ time. “All these will require a huge monthly outlay for the next 15 or so years. To make matters worse, there are more and more foreigners replacing locals as accountants. I cannot imagine what would happen if I were to be retrenched. When I heard about the population white paper, it was the breaking straw.” Take undergraduate Anthony Tan as another example. Coming from a well-to-do family and a brand name school, he admits that he previously leaned towards the PAP as he thought that the quality of the opposition was questionable. What changed his mind was the election fever of 2011 when he first saw a video of Sylvia Lim debating about ministerial salary. “She put up a brilliant performance, and I couldn’t find any satisfactory answer from the PAP. In fact, it seemed to me in an instant that the PAP has grown complacent.” After completing his 2-year NS stint at moving on to a local university, he was appalled by the number of foreign students who were on scholarships even though they did not even have a rudimentary understanding of the English language and behaved like dogs “The PRC classmates I have from the city are actually quite well-behaved. But it seems to me that the scholars were mostly from the countryside, who were quite boorish in their behaviour. This is clearly not acceptable given that they are supposed to boost standards in the first place.” Both Irene and Anthony have promised to vote for the opposition in the next elections. Anthony pointed out that he would like 2016 to be a stepping stone for more opposition parties to gain experience for an inevitable transition in the 2020s. He added that it would be good if a “moderate opposition” like WP could gain at least 35% of seats in 2016 with another 15% for more “radical opposition” like the SDP so as to “prevent the PAP from their nonsense”. Retiree Ah Mun is another of those who had supported the PAP for his entire life because he remembered the uncertainty and poverty he grew up in during the early 1960s. He admired Lee Kuan Yew for steering the country into prosperity which he said was an extremely commendable feat that young Singaporeans do not understand these days. It was this respect that made him vote for the PAP in the 5 or so elections he took part in – the rest were walkovers, he said. However, what makes him want to vote for the opposition is the conditions today surrounding his post-retirement. He feels that the modern-day ministers lack the dedication and are incompetent bunches who talk too much nonsense while doing too little. He says that he is most affected by the increasing costs of living – especially healthcare – without them providing any help. While he stays in a PAP-ward, his assistance comes mainly from welfare groups which provide him food and groceries worth about $70 a month. Even so, he worries that escalating costs of living will soon prevent him from leading a decent lifestyle. “It seems the opposition cares more for us.” he concluded. As we look at the overall statistics, we can only see that our citizens grouses are getting worse and sentiments towards the PAP government is in decline. Instead of helping true Singaporeans such as Anthony, Irene and Ah Mun, they have chosen to use taxpayer’s monies on matters which have little palpable return. We can only contrast tickets like the $10 million fund used for integration and the $36 million used for foreign scholarships to the poverty that Ah Mun lives in today and know that they are no longer the caring party which once transformed Singapore. Till then, 2016! Joseph Kheng-Liang Tan [Source]: http://www.facebook.com/notes/josep...pport-from-accross-the-ground/167625993430793http://www.facebook.com/notes/josep...pport-from-accross-the-ground/167625993430793 |
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