Sunday, April 02, 2006
My little piece on the upcoming GEA read on
soonbing's blog triggerred my memory on 5 years ago.
The memory was rather vague.
It was election year. Facing the popular Hougang MP Low Thia Kiang, some PAP MP fired a shot at the management at Hougang SMC.
"I've heard the rubbish there are stacked high like mountains and the old paints of the flats are peeling off."
For another contestant wanting to unseat a veteran opposition MP, it was the same-old election trick.
"For blocks that 95% of the voters vote for us, they will get an UPGRADE."
Yes, that magical word, UPGRADE.
"I've heard the rubbish there are stacked high like mountains and the old paints of the flats are peeling off."
-- A dig at the opposition's inability to run a ward well.
It led to me thinking. What's the reason behind this?
Is it a lack of ability..? Or more possibly, is it a lack of funds?
I've concluded it is the latter.
I despise that smug on that MP's face went he said that. To me, it seems that he's saying,
"heh heh, we purposely don't give you funds to run your ward. see how long can you tong? The people will be FORCED to vote for us sooner or later. Heh heh heh."
"For blocks that 95% of the voters vote for us, they will get an UPGRADE."
-- a promise of rewards to blocks who vote for the PAP
Fast-forward to 2006.
"I do not want the two constituencies to be left behind, especially Potong Pasir, an old estate. Five years down the road, assuming Chiam do win, there will be no upgrading," Goh was quoted as saying on state broadcaster Channel NewsAsia's Web site.
First point.
WTF?
You mean you can manoveur funds in whichever way u like?
U mean the MPs in the opposition wards don't get to decide how are they going to spend funds in their wards?
You mean the Town Councils in the opposition wards do not get as much money to provide facilities for their people?
You mean the government, in deciding which precincts get the upgrades first, first consider their political preferences before comparing their needs on the ground?
Second point.
Since they can know whether did each block vote 95% for the PAP, it means that
THEY KNOW FOR WHICH PARTY EVERY FREAKING VOTER VOTED FOR!!
" Voting is scared. Voting is confidential "
Confidential my ass!!
I've always supported the PAP as the ruling party for the government. The country, under its rule, rose from a third-world la sup place until the first-world standings it has today. The government today also showed signs that it could change with the times, formulating policies to combat the pressures of the globalised economy, like tying links with up-and-coming economies such as Russia, India, the Middle East etc. It seek to continually improve Singapore, through the constant improving of the city area by building more attractive structures and revamping orchard area in the future, and the encouragement of developing the arts in Singapore, evident in the building of the Esplanade and introducing more appreciation of the arts. It also has a good record of handling crisis like the SARS outbreak, and the arrest of JI terrorists before they could execute plans to bomb the Yishun MRT station or sabotage the water supplies in Singapore.
It should be confident of its ability, acheivements, and track record.
Then why do they engage in petty politics then?
When the WP raised up its 4-point Party Manifesto, the PAP government is fast to slam it down, using strong words like 'time-bombs'.
It could have shown the grace of a big brother by explaining to the people why the WP's policies wouldn't work, and thus scoring a point by both highlighting the WP's naivety and emerging as the more graceful party.
But it didn't.
I'm right, you're wrong. Full stop.
In
soonbing's entry on the GE, he said something I couldn't have put it better myself.
"Upgrading an estate should be based upon objective criterias made by professional engineers whom are non-politically affiliated parties, who plan the upgrades for the betterment of the people, and not be dangled like a carrot in front of voters during elections by PAP politicians, just because they control the budget with their majority in the parliament. It demeans the voters, treating them like dogs by rewarding ones who obediently follow the commands of the PAP, and depriving voters whom choose the opposition."
Can you imagine that picture of treating the citizens in Potong Pasir and Hougang like dogs, by dangling the UPGRADING carrot in front of them to exchange for their votes?
It worked last time because, with all due respect, people were uneducated and did what they think it's best to suit their practical needs.
Give me money? I vote you.
If PAP rules my ward, then my ward will have more $ to upgrade? I vote you.
Now it is different. People start questioning.
" How are the funds for upgrading the estates allocated? "
" Is it correct to deprive the people of the opposition wards of better facilites just because of their political preferences? I thought they pay the same taxes as well? "
" Can the PAP just use the funds as and where it likes? "
" Is this corruption? "
" Are they being fair to the opposition MPs who work equally hard for their people? "
" Is this a democracy at all if the opposition are put to a total disadvantage? "
" Is this a democracy at all if all disargeeing voices are being clamped down without mercy? "
" Are the people treated like fools when they're threatened to vote for the ruling party? "
I hate it when the PAP use this upgrading crap to threaten people in the opposition wards to vote for them. It's really like treating them like some dumbass.
" Either you vote for me, or your estate will be like shit. "
It's not as if the upgrading money is the PAP's. It's the government's money, it's OUR money!
ISN'T THIS OUTRIGHT BRIBERY AND BLACKMAIL?!??!?!
And as what many observers has said, it is of no doubt that if were to happen in other democracies, it would have been deemed illegal.
I admire the residents in the opposition wards for having the balls to continue voting for the opposition despite those threats issued to them.
And I despise those who succumb to the bribery and threats, and abandon their MPs who worked so hard for them against all odds.
People will get sick of being threatened. Especially by a thing they don't really care -- upgrade.
People want better jobs. People want better lives. If you continually duck these really important issues and focus on some stupid issues people don't give a hoot about, you're not in sync with your people anymore.
The feeling of high-handedness will come in.
Then, people start to sympathise with the opposition.
Then, people with prove it with their votes.
But too bad, believe me or not, it's not gonna happen in this election.
The older generation, who still forms the majority of the voters, are still staunch PAP supporters. They care more about bread-and-butter issues than Singapore having opposing voices to check on the monopoly. To them, PAP = good government.
I got a job means good government.
The young however, after studying all the history craps, and seeing the democracies of other countries in action, are more inclined to ideals. They understand the need for an opposition. They understand the effects of unchecked monopolistic powers.
And the opposition, sadly, still lacks the promising candidates the public needs to see before having faith in them.
But the opposition can only get better though. Now we see more and more qualified young people wanting to be in the opposition to improve the democratic process in Singapore.
Given time, around two more elections, we'll see a change in the political scene in Singapore.
Me too, would like to see more opposition in the parliament.
However, I do not want to see a situation whereby Singapore will be like Taiwan, having no majority party and no policies could be passed through due to political clashes.
To me, an ideal proportion would be ard 70% ruling to 30% opposing, where there is sufficient power to the ruling party to execute polices, and yet insufficient power for the ruling party to amend the constitution without the consent of the opposition.
But will it ever happen? We'll see.
On april fools' day, I managed to see Hougang SMC (single-member constituency) twice.
First in the morning, when I took 87 back to Bedok from Hougang after soccer.
As bus 87 circled around the Hougang SMC, one word came to my mind - "slum".
Yes, this was the exact word the then-PM said, when he told voters that those wards which elected an opposition candidate would be the last in line for upgrading and risked becoming “slums”.
From the outside, the blocks looked old.
Old blocks designs, where the blocks show bricks on the outside instead of your usual well-furbished cement. The buildings look like they have not been painted for at least 20 years.
Night time, after the 2A class outing, I thought we were going to play mahjong at rayner's house, so I took bus 72 and wanted to change bus at Hougang. The bus-stop for the bus change with right in front of block 1 of the Hougang SMC.
A look at the opposite show another part of Hougang under the Aljunied GRC. It has bright lights, newly-furbished flats, and beautiful plants planted among the blocks of flats.
Unable to get rayner through his phone and attracted by the old blocks behind me, I walked deep into the election hot-spot - the Hougang SMC under the Workers' Party.
Immediately what struck me is the contrast. The neighbourhood was dark. Street lights were further apart, and the place is not as well-lit as what I saw opposite. The blocks looked like it was stuck in time (the 80's), except for some really nice-looking lift lobbies and letter boxes which stood out like a sore thumb.
It seem like only these parts of the estate moved together with time while the others still find themselves stuck in some timezone.
So I walked further in.
Immediately what I saw was the basketball and badminton courts. Granted, it was already around 11pm, but the darkness of the courts really struck me.
Yes, it was near a block of flats, but one just can't help feeling unsafe when walking alone here.
The worn-out floors with partially erased lines on the courts, along with the rusty and '0ld-design' goal posts and boards, make it seem like it has not been refurbished since the mid-nineties - it reminded of the court I used to play in my primary school.
Further in, it was the hawker centre. Again, the 'primary school' feeling came. The hawker centre is old, 80's-looking and it reminded me of the hawker centre along the bus 14 route (think it's called East Coast Food Centre or something) BEFORE THE RECENT RENOVATION.
The residents seemed like a contented bunch though, chilling out and talking in big groups at the kopitiams.
The shops at the first floor of the shophouses had a nostalgic feel to it too. Rusty doors, old signboards, and corridors fiiled with pot-holes make the whole place seem so backward.
You really have to visit this place for yourself to see how run-down it is.
A plus point is that somehow, I feel an old charm surrounding this place. It doesn't have that elegance of bugis, or that colonial feel of the city hall area. But the old surroundings gave me that sense of history and that feeling of a friendly, warm and united neighbourhood (like the old blocks we had at AHS), something you could never feel or find in new estates like Punggol or Sengkang.
Upon touring this estate, two words came into my mind - gek sim.
I wondered.. Why are the residents in this estate treated to this 'slum' living conditions simply due to their political preference?
If the government can launch multi-million upgrading projects in the PAP-controlled wards and build needless state-of-the-art offices and 'touristic' structures, why can't they just provide some decent mantainence and improvement to the opposition wards?
Are those people living in those estates Singaporeans as well? Aren't they the ones who pay taxes as well? Aren't they the ones who serve NS as well?
The discrimination against them is totally unjustified, especially after what I see first-hand.
If Mr Eric Low really care for the people who live in this estate, he will lobby for more funds to improve this place instead of first waiting to be the MP before doing anything.
Frankly, I don't think anyone will like to shift into this estate, and the house owners will have a damn hard time selling their houses. The values of the houses must have dropped so much as compared to the other estates.
Facing this dangling carrot (the promise of the PAP to upgrade their estates), will the residents of Hougang and Potong Pasir succumb to the bribes and threats and betray their MPs who have long slogged hard for their cause?
It would be tough choice for the residents there.
But if Singaporeans really forsake their principles to cater to their practical needs, GE 2006 would be a sad day for Singapore's political history.
Will we, Singaporeans, show support to those idealists who want to keep democracy in Singapore alive, or will we be a practical bunch and leave the monopolistic powers unchecked?
Only GE 2006 will tell.
Some websites if you're interested
1.
Singapore Review2.
Sammyboy's Coffee Shop Talk3.
Petition - Upgrading should be a separate issue from the General Election
lowtide blogged @
11:29 am
