I've been thinking the entire week about my vote. As I didn't want to get carried away by what the candidates were saying or doing in the 9 days of hustings, I reflected on the past few years.
To be honest, municipal issues don't bother me as a voter. I feel levels of cleanliness vary drastically even in PAP wards. There are days where I feel hesitant to touch the lift button or sit at the void deck tables because it clearly is quite filthy. Unless it is a major health hazard, it would be shallow to let the cleanliness of my void deck influence my vote.
Policy-wise, the government is not perfect. But we cannot deny that more is being done. Public assistance is being advertised more readily and doled out to people in need. Transport, while still extremely frustrating and unreliable, will take a few more years for new networks to help shoulder the burden and carry commuters with our population size in mind.
However, I look at the way the AHPETC saga has been managed. It is petty on the PAP to lynch them on this singular point to no end. Who then, will check on the PAP when they have lapses in their own coffers and stick it to them as much as they have the opposition? It appears that they still escape with nary a slap on the wrist when it comes to scandals and accounting lapses.
The partisanship in both hardcore PAP and opposition camps is troubling. I condemn the hatred and anger being spewed online. Part of that comes from decades of a monolithic political culture where "I say you but you cannot say me". There are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with nuances in arguments, or take it personally when others disagree with them. It is a model of discourse that is broken and should have no place in our society.
As a second-time voter, I'm also casting a vote for the progress I hope to see for SG100. I hope to grow old in a society where we can be comfortable in diversity. Where our decisions are rooted in social justice, mutual respect for one another, and equality. Where we as a large family may bicker occasionally at the dining table but ultimately reconcile to give Singapore our best and more.
The haze is bad today. Hopefully tomorrow we wake up to clear weather and blue skies.
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