Elections '06

Elections ended as quickly as it came. Status quo has remained the same, as it has been since 1997. I'm glad that WP has taken the right approach, and its definitely preparing itself to become the opposition party to watch out for. Results at AMK GRC was great, and Mr Low won by the largest margin since he became MP for Hougang in 1991. Aljunied also witnessed a close fight, and I seriously hope it doesn't become the next Cheng San. Generally, every candidate got at least 31% of the votes. As a whole, there was an average of almost 4 (3.8 to be exact) out of 10 people voting for the WP in all the wards which the party contested in. Good sign? I certainly hope so.

Its going to be another 5 long years before elections come again. Before I distant myself away from it. I'd like to remember some of the happenings in the past week or so.

-> Upgrading
Kudos to Potong Pasir and Hougang residents for not taking the bait that PAP has dangled on them. Upgrading, Hey PAP this is what you owe citizens! Don't conveniently use it as a carrot to lure/threaten residents to let you remain in power! Its so downright pork-barrel. You have promised that upgrading will be done by 2014, and we'll see how you use upgrading as your key championing tactic come next elections.

-> Media control
Come on, 140th out of 178 countries in terms of freedom of media. The Straits Times and Channelnewsasia are still controlled by that you-know-who party. Its propaganda all right. Its used to buy the votes of those citizens who sit in the comforts of their homes and buy everything they see on the news and papers. I cannot help but to feel sad when I read the stuff they publish. Its forever PAP good, opposition bad. Something has to be done.

-> Fare/Price hikes
I can't wait for GST to go up. The higher the better. Same goes for transport. Yes its inevitable, but you will see how it always coincidentally happens after elections, and when the next raise is due, it'll be postponed till after elections, and in comes the goodies that are disguised in New Singapore Shares (in 2001) and Progress Package (in 2006). What will it be called in 2011? Stay tuned. I guess its quite fair to say Singaporeans are politically mayopic. They go for material comforts, aka upgrading, money that comes in forms of financial returns. What they fail to see is the after-effects of getting all these. Its just like spending on credit, you get all the joy and convenience of getting what you like, but at the end of the day, you have to pay for it, with interest. It'll take time for singaporeans to realise this, and I hope hell won't break lose when everyone does.

There's so much to be said, but for now these are some of the things I'll like to remember that has happened this time round. I hope more people will join the opposition, I may just too. We need more people to become politically awakened, enlightened and developed. A nation that is politically healthy will thrive. If strong-arm tactics are used to suppress the people, you are esstentially doing pressure-cooking. Right now, the pressure still isn't quite built up yet, but when it eventually is, there'll be no turning back. Yes its starting to sound like a horror movie, and if nothing is done, chaos will follow, right from within Singapore.

I know 5 years is long. Alot of things happen in this timeframe. As life goes back to normal, I'll leave this part of memory behind for the time being, and rediscover it come GE 2011.