— aka.spvn

And… That’s a wrap. (Singapore GE2011)

So GE2011 is over and I think this GE deserves more than the single sentence blog post I gave for the last GE. Plenty of thoughts on what many people consider a watershed moment in Singapore politics.

Electoral Divisions

Before going into any specifics, I think the way in which Electoral Divisions are drawn up every election is kind of… interesting.

Take a look at the two SMCs I’ve coloured in above. Yuhua SMC and Bukit Panjang SMC. Why in the world are they so precisely cut out of the bigger GRCs that completely surround them?

Yuhua SMC was just formed for this election while Bukit Panjang SMC was drawn up only during the last election. And both SMCs were won by PAP this time round with 66% of the votes, which is a relatively comfortable win as compared to other constituencies.

If randomly cutting out portions of a GRC to form random SMCs is so easy to do, then there’s a perfect solution to get George Yeo back into parliament next election. Cut out a tiny portion of Aljunied GRC, name it like “George Yeo SMC” and let him run there to walkover.

Aljunied

Not surprising that WP won Aljunied in my opinion, despite how popular George Yeo is. Though I believe that if our media hadn’t branded the Aljunied WP team as the "Dream Team", they wouldn’t have won. Interesting.

I’m kind of glad that the WP team finally got a GRC, we really do need more opposition in parliament. However it is such a shame to see George Yeo go. Xiaxue’s posts and other stuff I’ve read have really convinced me that it’s such a shame that George Yeo is going.

There’s been speculation that George Yeo was a scapegoat due to infighting within the PAP. That’s a redonkulous theory IMO. George Yeo is too awesome a Foreign Minister for him to not be recognised by the PAP. He’s been contesting in Aljunied since forever. WP just decided to go all-out in this GRC because it secured 44% of the votes last election, the closest any opposition party had ever come to winning a GRC. It’s just unfortunate that George Yeo had to be the victim in order for a opposition party to win a GRC.

Potong Pasir

I had expected Potong Pasir to finally go to PAP this round, though not by that close a margin. Mr Chiam’s stroke is obviously taking its toll on him (Here’s a video of him before, and after his stroke). I think the fact that he can’t even stand up straight and can barely speak coherently (let alone convincingly) anymore caused people to lose confidence in the SPP. Add to that the fact that its his wife running in Potong Pasir and not him, and it’s pretty obvious that the man in white would get that SMC.

It is really really shocking to me however how close the fight was. PAP garnered 50.3% of the votes, winning by just over 100 votes. If just a fraction of 200+ spoilt votes had gone to SPP, they would have won. What a shame. It’s obvious how much his supporters love him, and while I don’t really know him, I’ve heard plenty of good things about him. So it’s sad to see him go. Looking at the condition of his health, I doubt he’ll be able to put up a good fight in the next round of elections.

It’s pretty obvious how passionate he is. This is the makeshift cubicle at one of the void decks that he has to use for his Meet-the-People sessions. While most other MPs have proper air-conditioned offices for such meetings, he’s been stuck with this “office” for the past few decades.

It’ll be interesting to see if the new Potong Pasir MP from PAP, Mr Sitoh Yih Pin continues to use this cubicle, or moves to an air-conditioned office.

Hougang

Hougang’s results were also really really interesting. I was expecting Hougang to go to WP by a lower margin as compared to previous years. However, despite Mr Low moving to Aljunied, WP’s Mr Law Shin Leong held on to Hougang SMC with the highest percentage of votes (64%) ever since WP got the SMC in 1991. I think it really goes to show how much faith the people of Hougang have in not just Mr Low, but the Worker’s Party as a whole.

Joo Chiat

Just a quick note on what I think is the most surprising result of the night. The PAP got Joo Chiat SMC by just ONE percent. That’s just insane. Out of absolutely nowhere, WP almost got a PAP stronghold. PAP got 65% of the votes in Joo Chiat in 2006, and roughly 80% for every preceeding election since 1972. Suddenly they only get 51% of the votes?! Seems like no one saw that one coming. Joo Chiat SMC might cease to exist in 5 years.

On the whole

There’s still other stuff I have in my head, but I can’t be bothered to list them all down. Just a couple of stuff to round up this post.

It’s sad to hear so many opposition candidates go “If this SMC/GRC is still around in 5 years, I’ll come back and contest”. I don’t think any other country in the world has its election divisions redrawn so drastically every couple of years.

PAP has gotten the lowest percentage of the popular vote since independence in 1965 with just 60%. A very clear downward trend. They have got to be concerned about that figure.

Finally, am I anti-PAP? I don’t think so. I’m more “pro-more-opposition-voices-in-parliament”, which is why I’d rather have 5 strong opposition candidates in parliament than one very strong PAP foreign minister. PAP’s scare tactics and the way they treat us all like babies is exceedingly annoying, but you cannot deny they’ve been doing an excellent job at governing our country.

Their focus on nothing but the economy and GDP growth is a little weird as well. Does so much emphasis need to be placed on the economy that other things like housing are left behind? Though I do agree that Singapore is in a very precarious position. If other small countries like Denmark fail, they have the EU net to catch them. If we fail, nobody’s going to catch us. As I’m no economist, I can’t say for sure if our economy is the one and only yardstick to determine if Singapore can survive or not. Though I really do have doubts over PAP’s constant assertions that Singapore will plunge into chaos and turmoil the moment our economy falters or if opposition members get into government.

If the PAP changes in the next five years and stops treating us all like idiots, maybe I’ll start supporting them. Part of the reason why I kind of support the opposition is not so much that I thing they’re awesome, but that I cannot stand the kind of things PAP says (“repent if you vote for opposition”).

Things are going to get really exciting five years from now, when I’m actually eligible to vote. Even with 6 opposition members in parliament, I think the next five years are going to remain relatively boring.