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http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/09/04/staying-on-middle-ground-will-not-help-a-farce-election/
[h=2]Staying on middle-ground will not help a farce election[/h]
September 4th, 2015 |
Author: Contributions
Why Neutrality Is Not An Option In Singapore Politics
Recently there has been a rise in trivialisation of politics in Singapore by
popular social-media websites such as SMRT Ltd (Feedback) amongst others.
Furthermore there have been recurring arguments by members of the public for
restraint and neutrality in debating politics here in Singapore. That one cannot
fully rule out either side of the divide when it comes to voting time and that
we can get the best of both worlds.
These people hide behind the façade of maintaining civility in our political
process, and opportunistic social-media figures merely choose to use ill-thought
humour to disguise their apathy, ignorance or hidden bias towards a certain
political party that is hated by many in Singapore.
To these people who preach neutrality, I only have this to say to them.
A fence-sitter or vote-spoiler is neither for one thing nor another. He has
no opinion of his own and would simply blow along with the wind wherever it
blows strongest.
This is a serious time for serious people. If you don’t know when it’s time
to take a side and stick to it, you’re not grown-up yet and you don’t deserve a
chance to talk about serious issues. Having a third opinion doesn’t make yours
any less biased nor more correct than the two mainstream sides. And you just end
up thinning out the field of opinions, and in such a scenario who wins out? The
side that thinks it has history on its side.
The GRC farce
I’m afraid it is the Establishment and the incumbent that wants Singapore
politics to be one of “us versus them”. We go to elections to vote for a
national government and national leaders to represent us. So why is it that
every important post is filled by people from a single party, whereby they gain
and hold onto power by virtue of a stacked deck of cards and gerrymandering/FPTP
system? There’s no intention of national unity, neither side sees the virtue in
working together and accommodation and learning from each other to improve
collectively.
It is easy for people to use the neutrality card to browbeat Opposition
supporters who have taken a side against the PAP or the Establishment and call
them unfairly biased against without a cause. And if they have more neutrals,
they thin out opposition to themselves. End of the day, the incumbent PAP wins.
It is one thing to have one’s own opinion, but when it comes to public
declaration and electoral voting support having a third opinion or neutral
standpoint is as good as treason.
If you’re accusing me of wanting to make Singapore politics divided, I’m
afraid it doesn’t need me to do that, because it already is. And to preach in
such an atmosphere that a third option is a valid choice to take is treason
indeed, because your selfishness in maintaining your own individuality in taking
the best of both worlds merely plays into the hands of the side that has
everything stacked in its favour.
Elections in Singapore are going to be a farce, as long as we have GRCs
existing and campaigns run not on individual competency but on the basis of
voting for a party line. Democracy? What democracy do we have? That the
incumbent is so ingrained into local politics that they can afford to look nice
by allowing some Opposition members to win? They could fix anybody if they
really wanted to, but no, they think that maintaining a facade of allowing
alternatives in power would suit them more, as long as it’s just a facade and
not real concrete alternative options to their sole rule in power.
And even if the Opposition voice wants to sing in harmony with the incumbent,
do you think the incumbent will be open-minded enough to cooperate? For example,
should there be someone truly qualified within Opposition ranks, do you really
think LHL would make him Transport Minister, risk him doing a good job, and then
gaining popularity for himself and his party? If you are looking at the
unwillingness to cooperate, to play fair, to have constructive politics, I’m
afraid it is not the issue of the competing Opposition, it is the issue of the
incumbent PAP.
I’m an Opposition supporter, and I hate to admit this, but even if WP and SDP
win this time around it’s not enough to force a coalition government with the
PAP and build a true united National government that takes into account all
sides of the political spectrum. When we accuse the Opposition in Singapore as
being incapable, bear in mind that the ruling elite will never allow sufficient
numbers of them to enter power to threaten their grip. I could have 30
Opposition members in Parliament, but when I still have 59 people on my side
I’ll still overrule with a majority on anything I call a vote for.
Here in Singapore, can we truthfully say any of our new breed of Singaporean
leaders can stand up to the mettle of the politicians of old? Crossing party
lines, it looks like everyone is starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel,
some more so than others. We get flukes like the two professors who just joined
politics this time, and we’re lucky for it. But our generations are getting
softer as time passes, more dumbed down, more insistent on instant cheap
entertainment and who makes us laugh most because hey, life’s too short to be
serious right? YOLO? This is not a game of cards, this concerns your life and
mine. There is a time to joke, and a time to be serious. And I don’t think
politics is something to be trivialised. And looking at how some social-media
websites and figures are using GE2015 as joke fodder, it’s not even good humour
being applied in some cases.
So it’s either everything or nothing. There is no middle ground to take at
the current moment. Please do not spoil your vote, and please do not
over-trivialise discussions about politics here in Singapore this GE2015. Vote
for either side of the divide as you wish, but be ready to live with the
consequences when you get your wishes fulfilled. If this is the trend of how
politics is discussed and thought about in Singapore by self-serving citizens, I
have little hope in Singapore left.
Andy
Wong
* Submitted by TRE reader.
[h=2]Staying on middle-ground will not help a farce election[/h]
September 4th, 2015 |
Author: Contributions
Why Neutrality Is Not An Option In Singapore Politics
Recently there has been a rise in trivialisation of politics in Singapore by
popular social-media websites such as SMRT Ltd (Feedback) amongst others.
Furthermore there have been recurring arguments by members of the public for
restraint and neutrality in debating politics here in Singapore. That one cannot
fully rule out either side of the divide when it comes to voting time and that
we can get the best of both worlds.
These people hide behind the façade of maintaining civility in our political
process, and opportunistic social-media figures merely choose to use ill-thought
humour to disguise their apathy, ignorance or hidden bias towards a certain
political party that is hated by many in Singapore.
To these people who preach neutrality, I only have this to say to them.
A fence-sitter or vote-spoiler is neither for one thing nor another. He has
no opinion of his own and would simply blow along with the wind wherever it
blows strongest.
This is a serious time for serious people. If you don’t know when it’s time
to take a side and stick to it, you’re not grown-up yet and you don’t deserve a
chance to talk about serious issues. Having a third opinion doesn’t make yours
any less biased nor more correct than the two mainstream sides. And you just end
up thinning out the field of opinions, and in such a scenario who wins out? The
side that thinks it has history on its side.
The GRC farce
I’m afraid it is the Establishment and the incumbent that wants Singapore
politics to be one of “us versus them”. We go to elections to vote for a
national government and national leaders to represent us. So why is it that
every important post is filled by people from a single party, whereby they gain
and hold onto power by virtue of a stacked deck of cards and gerrymandering/FPTP
system? There’s no intention of national unity, neither side sees the virtue in
working together and accommodation and learning from each other to improve
collectively.
It is easy for people to use the neutrality card to browbeat Opposition
supporters who have taken a side against the PAP or the Establishment and call
them unfairly biased against without a cause. And if they have more neutrals,
they thin out opposition to themselves. End of the day, the incumbent PAP wins.
It is one thing to have one’s own opinion, but when it comes to public
declaration and electoral voting support having a third opinion or neutral
standpoint is as good as treason.
If you’re accusing me of wanting to make Singapore politics divided, I’m
afraid it doesn’t need me to do that, because it already is. And to preach in
such an atmosphere that a third option is a valid choice to take is treason
indeed, because your selfishness in maintaining your own individuality in taking
the best of both worlds merely plays into the hands of the side that has
everything stacked in its favour.
Elections in Singapore are going to be a farce, as long as we have GRCs
existing and campaigns run not on individual competency but on the basis of
voting for a party line. Democracy? What democracy do we have? That the
incumbent is so ingrained into local politics that they can afford to look nice
by allowing some Opposition members to win? They could fix anybody if they
really wanted to, but no, they think that maintaining a facade of allowing
alternatives in power would suit them more, as long as it’s just a facade and
not real concrete alternative options to their sole rule in power.
And even if the Opposition voice wants to sing in harmony with the incumbent,
do you think the incumbent will be open-minded enough to cooperate? For example,
should there be someone truly qualified within Opposition ranks, do you really
think LHL would make him Transport Minister, risk him doing a good job, and then
gaining popularity for himself and his party? If you are looking at the
unwillingness to cooperate, to play fair, to have constructive politics, I’m
afraid it is not the issue of the competing Opposition, it is the issue of the
incumbent PAP.
I’m an Opposition supporter, and I hate to admit this, but even if WP and SDP
win this time around it’s not enough to force a coalition government with the
PAP and build a true united National government that takes into account all
sides of the political spectrum. When we accuse the Opposition in Singapore as
being incapable, bear in mind that the ruling elite will never allow sufficient
numbers of them to enter power to threaten their grip. I could have 30
Opposition members in Parliament, but when I still have 59 people on my side
I’ll still overrule with a majority on anything I call a vote for.
Here in Singapore, can we truthfully say any of our new breed of Singaporean
leaders can stand up to the mettle of the politicians of old? Crossing party
lines, it looks like everyone is starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel,
some more so than others. We get flukes like the two professors who just joined
politics this time, and we’re lucky for it. But our generations are getting
softer as time passes, more dumbed down, more insistent on instant cheap
entertainment and who makes us laugh most because hey, life’s too short to be
serious right? YOLO? This is not a game of cards, this concerns your life and
mine. There is a time to joke, and a time to be serious. And I don’t think
politics is something to be trivialised. And looking at how some social-media
websites and figures are using GE2015 as joke fodder, it’s not even good humour
being applied in some cases.
So it’s either everything or nothing. There is no middle ground to take at
the current moment. Please do not spoil your vote, and please do not
over-trivialise discussions about politics here in Singapore this GE2015. Vote
for either side of the divide as you wish, but be ready to live with the
consequences when you get your wishes fulfilled. If this is the trend of how
politics is discussed and thought about in Singapore by self-serving citizens, I
have little hope in Singapore left.
Andy
Wong
* Submitted by TRE reader.
