General Election 2011

Much has been debated over the choice of candidates and parties for the General Election 2011 in Singapore. Nearly every single GRC and SMC is contested by the 6 opposition parties this year. Here in my GRC, Choa Chu Kang which had been under the PAP for a very long time is finally contested by candidates from the National Solidarity Party (NSP). What does this mean for Singapore? There must be a certain importance, looking at the debate online? For all the voters out there, ask yourselves what have the PAP done for you, and what can the Opposition do better? Over here, I will make a slight analysis.

As I have learned in History lessons, Singapore has faced a never-ending string of problems and challenges, both economically and socially since their separation from Malaysia in 1965. Who has brought us through the rough tides over the years? It was the PAP. In 1965, we had a severe housing shortage, we had an over-the-roof population growth rate. Who solved these problems for us? It was the PAP. One might argue that the PAP has made many major mistakes. One of them could be the frustrating decline in birthrate, (which was lower than the replacement rate of 2.1), the escape of highly-sought-after Mas Selamat, and the 300% spending of the YOG Budget (The Government explanation for this was that it was the first time that any country has ever hosted the YOG, and therefore we had no experience in it). The problems that we face now can also, arguably, be the PAP’s fault. The skyrocketing HDB prices which are becoming more and more unaffordable to Singaporeans and the increased costs of living were all results from the PAP’s policies over the past years. Is this enough to convince the population of Singapore not to support and vote for the PAP? In my opinion, it is not enough. If Singaporeans were to think this way, they are actually thinking quite selfishly – they are thinking from a citizen’s point of view. What we need to do, as layman Singaporeans, is to consider it from the country’s point of view. For 50 years, the PAP have made unimaginable efforts to bring Singapore to what it is now, a metropolitan and worldwide-recognized city, and have also achieved extraordinary results. Compared to other countries, Singapore is a relatively wealthy, developed and young at the same time. Singaporeans therefore cannot neglect the fact that it was the PAP who brought us to this step in the world, and it was the PAP who made us into such a wealthy, peaceful and developed country. However developed Singapore is, we are continually developing and learning more and more. This all resulted from the PAP’s reign and the policies that they have implemented. The few of us still cannot vote, but what we can do is to make a good analysis of the PAP as well as a comparison of the other parties’ plans for the country and make our own decision.

Due to the GRC policy, each area in Singapore is ‘ruled’ by a group of representatives of a particular party. Another factor that should influence any voter’s decision to vote either party would be the candidates themselves. The most basic criteria would be for the candidate to have a clean track record, as well as integrity and honesty. Personally, I would like the candidate to have a nice personality and a good character, and a person who interacts with the citizens a lot. For the PAP candidates in my own GRC include the Minister of Manpower, Mr. Gan Kim Yong. I have not had the chance or fortune to speak to any of the candidates, but from what my father told me the candidates are nice and are good people, and the same goes for the NSP candidates here. If it had been me, I would still go for the PAP, for the simple reason that they fulfill the above criteria better than the NSP candidates, and Mr. Gan has also done a relatively good job for Singapore.

What we have done as ACE is a comparison of the separate manifestos, and we did a comparison of their policies and beliefs. We intend to come up with our opinion and our own decision on which party to vote for (if we could). This project had been quite beneficial to us because we acquired much knowledge about the politics in Singapore, the policies of the government and of course, we learned much more about the History of Singapore.

The PAP could no longer be the supreme ruler of Singapore anymore – After this General Election 2011, there will be more checks and balances for the PAP so that they would not go overboard, and I’m sure that together, the parliament and Singaporeans will work together for a better Singapore.