- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 33,627
- Points
- 0
<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>
Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Do you think this PR will convert to SG?</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>12:11 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 5) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>32888.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>May 9, 2010
The Ex-Pat Files
Voting again after 20 years
<!-- by line -->By Jervina Lao
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
Two weeks ago, I did something for just the second time in my adult life. I voted.
I went to the Philippine Embassy in Nassim Road. I was given a long ballot sheet with a list of candidates for President, Vice-President, Senate and legislators.
I sat at a table, shaded the box beside my choice, fed the sheet into an electronic voting machine and had my index finger stained with indelible ink.
The presidential and general elections in the Philippines will not be held until tomorrow. But overseas voters began voting a month earlier, since April 10, with the embassy open for polls every day until tomorrow.
The whole voting procedure took all of 15 minutes. Yet it took more than 20 years for me to vote again after my first time doing so.
Living overseas definitely makes it harder for people to vote.
For Filipinos, it wasn't until 2003 that those living abroad were allowed by law to vote.
For other expatriates, registering to vote and actually voting take a back seat to the more important business of living and working in a foreign country.
There's also the challenge for the government to enable citizens living abroad to vote. Not all missions can be designated polling stations and not all governments have missions in countries where their expatriate citizens live. So not all expatriates can participate in their home country's elections even if they want to.
For me, however, being an expatriate was just an excuse for not voting. The real reason was apathy. I didn't much care for most of the candidates in the previous elections.
Since I had been away from the Philippines for many years, I didn't know many of the candidates. I had not seen their campaigns or heard much about their achievements or failures. So many of the new candidates were unknown to me, while many of the old politicians whom I knew, I shuddered to vote for.
Also, the experience of voting had become so much different from the first time I voted. Back then, I was a student in university and it was an easy choice. It was a matter of voting for either then dictator Ferdinand Marcos or martyred hero Benigno Aquino's widow, Corazon. The campaign climate was emotional. Issues were reduced to black or white. It was Princess Leia against Darth Vader. It was definitely no contest. Of course, what happened after that election is now part of history.
The following elections, however, were more sedate exercises. They were also more disappointing. Many of the candidates could probably be named on a list entitled Corruption Kings And Their Lesser Evils.
So why vote now? What changed? From what my relatives in Manila tell me, the candidates are not exactly inspiring.
I could have just passed on registering and voting, as I've done in previous elections. After all, I don't live in the Philippines and have no plans to return any time soon.
One British expatriate friend said she did not vote in Thursday's British elections because she didn't think it was fair for her to vote.
She doesn't live in Britain any more so why should she do something that would impact people's lives back home in Britain when she is living hundreds of miles away here in Singapore?
Voting is not just a right. It's also a responsibility. If you vote for the wrong man, you pay for his mistakes. Many people from the past to the present know what it means to have to pay for their leaders' mistakes. So why risk condemning your countrymen to a decision you, the expatriate, have made?
I know what my reason was and I admit that it was entirely selfish.
A vote is more than just a right and a responsibility. It is also a voice. And for expatriates who are merely guests and thus often voiceless, having a voice is priceless. Even if it is meaningful only to a place far away.
The writer, who was born in the Philippines, is a sub-editor with The Straits Times. She has lived in Singapore for nine years.
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%"> </TD><TD class=msgopt width="24%" noWrap>
Options</TD><TD class=msgrde width="50%" noWrap align=middle> 
Reply</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The Ex-Pat Files
Voting again after 20 years
<!-- by line -->By Jervina Lao
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
Two weeks ago, I did something for just the second time in my adult life. I voted.
I went to the Philippine Embassy in Nassim Road. I was given a long ballot sheet with a list of candidates for President, Vice-President, Senate and legislators.
I sat at a table, shaded the box beside my choice, fed the sheet into an electronic voting machine and had my index finger stained with indelible ink.
The presidential and general elections in the Philippines will not be held until tomorrow. But overseas voters began voting a month earlier, since April 10, with the embassy open for polls every day until tomorrow.
The whole voting procedure took all of 15 minutes. Yet it took more than 20 years for me to vote again after my first time doing so.
Living overseas definitely makes it harder for people to vote.
For Filipinos, it wasn't until 2003 that those living abroad were allowed by law to vote.
For other expatriates, registering to vote and actually voting take a back seat to the more important business of living and working in a foreign country.
There's also the challenge for the government to enable citizens living abroad to vote. Not all missions can be designated polling stations and not all governments have missions in countries where their expatriate citizens live. So not all expatriates can participate in their home country's elections even if they want to.
For me, however, being an expatriate was just an excuse for not voting. The real reason was apathy. I didn't much care for most of the candidates in the previous elections.
Since I had been away from the Philippines for many years, I didn't know many of the candidates. I had not seen their campaigns or heard much about their achievements or failures. So many of the new candidates were unknown to me, while many of the old politicians whom I knew, I shuddered to vote for.
Also, the experience of voting had become so much different from the first time I voted. Back then, I was a student in university and it was an easy choice. It was a matter of voting for either then dictator Ferdinand Marcos or martyred hero Benigno Aquino's widow, Corazon. The campaign climate was emotional. Issues were reduced to black or white. It was Princess Leia against Darth Vader. It was definitely no contest. Of course, what happened after that election is now part of history.
The following elections, however, were more sedate exercises. They were also more disappointing. Many of the candidates could probably be named on a list entitled Corruption Kings And Their Lesser Evils.
So why vote now? What changed? From what my relatives in Manila tell me, the candidates are not exactly inspiring.
I could have just passed on registering and voting, as I've done in previous elections. After all, I don't live in the Philippines and have no plans to return any time soon.
One British expatriate friend said she did not vote in Thursday's British elections because she didn't think it was fair for her to vote.
She doesn't live in Britain any more so why should she do something that would impact people's lives back home in Britain when she is living hundreds of miles away here in Singapore?
Voting is not just a right. It's also a responsibility. If you vote for the wrong man, you pay for his mistakes. Many people from the past to the present know what it means to have to pay for their leaders' mistakes. So why risk condemning your countrymen to a decision you, the expatriate, have made?
I know what my reason was and I admit that it was entirely selfish.
A vote is more than just a right and a responsibility. It is also a voice. And for expatriates who are merely guests and thus often voiceless, having a voice is priceless. Even if it is meaningful only to a place far away.
The writer, who was born in the Philippines, is a sub-editor with The Straits Times. She has lived in Singapore for nine years.
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%"> </TD><TD class=msgopt width="24%" noWrap>
