people busy packing
Look what's inside the boxes
Hmm, not really work-related stuff.
Time to seal up the boxes.
But obviously, not everyone's helping out..
Well, as you can see, chao keng is not exclusive to the SAF =P
And.. there are some people who do not know how to pack.
"oh gosh.. I have too much stuff.. how to pack sia?"
Some were just stunned.
"huh? 要pack meh?"
Another skill learnt.. act busy!
junwei mai fake la haha
everyone's doing it -- zai crite!!
Well, there's still time to celebrate my birthday.. Thanks guys!!
死人脸
Junwei, Me Blaise, Chiu Yun
Bye Bye my desk!
Bye bye old office!
the printers used to be so near la.. just beside me only
the 'international' clocks that never fails to be 15mins late
Bye bye IBM building!
Paiseh Paiseh really too lag liao.. there are a lot of things i wanna blog about, but I'm simply too lazy to blog after work..
Hope I recover my lost mojo soon..
Watch this space.
expectedly, filled seats
and the first half of the pitch from the stage was already occuppied by the attendees. Surprisingly, there are some open spaces at the left side of the stage (further from the entrance), and we made our way there.
admist the crowd
Soon after, more people came in, and the left side was rather filled as well... the crowd spilled to the tracks!
seated on the tracks
After the Indian and Malay candidates spoke (rather unconvincing speeches there), I only managed to take the picture of one speaker, who is a WP veteran and not a candidate in the elections. He spoke hokkien.
the hokkien speaker
Well not much memorable speeches at this rally, and I think it was done on purpose. WP did not really want to stir up issues at its last rallyand wanted to play the 'gentleman's game'.. by reminding people to be united as Singaporeans regardless of their political preference. It wanted to contrast the 'no mercy to opponents' approach of the PAP, and trying to get a moral high-ground.. something like "Su Lang Boh Su Seh"
It was of course, the most boring WP rally this time round.
Nevertheless, Mr Low Thia Kiang came up with a verbal masterpiece once again.. His concluding speech after these days of rallying in mandarin was fanstastic, and yet it was different from his previous speeches. I couldn't remember the exact things he said, but what was firmly entrenched in my memory was that it gave the crowd a deep sense of reflection, and it let people really pondered upon what kind of Singapore do Singaporeans want to give their future generations. Sylvia Lim gave a good speech in English, but it was nowhere near Mr Low's thought-provoking level. Mr Low then repeated his mandarin speech in English.
Lastly, Sylvia Lim led the crowd in reciting the pledge in English,
followed by Mr Low Thia Kiang in Mandarin.
Of course, it can be dubbed as 'wayang', but in me, it had a positive impact.
For the first time in several years, I get to recite the pledge.. suddenly it felt like National Day, and I felt so proud to be Singaporean again... And to recite the pledge in such an electrifying atmosphere, the feeling was pure... magic. I'm sure the people around me feel the same too.
WE LOVE SYLVIA
But well, look at the crowd! Not just the seats, field, surrounding tracks were filled, the OUTSIDE of the stadium were filled as well! Obviously, these people couldn't get in the stadium chose to get a clearer view outside the fence.. just look at these pictures and u get my point..
(last two pictures kop-ed from the internet)
Madness.
But I like it.
(pictures courtesy of sgrally.blogspot.com)
the corridors of the surrounding flats were filled with people
The candidates for AMK GRC then took turns to speak..
Needless to say, the loudest cheers were reserved for MISS GLENDA HAN!.. wolf whistles were heard everywhere.
pretty glenda
"She's very pretty" I heard a lady say, behind me.
But still, despite the tender touch she provided in this passionate, heated and emotion-stirring rally, the loudest cheers of the night were still reserved for the leader of the Workers' Party, Mr Low Thia Kiang.
the hero
Everyone had immense respect for him, and when he asked Miss Irene Ng (PAP's candidate for Tampines GRC) to clarify what trouble has he made as an opposition MP and demanded an apology if she can't substantiate her accusations, the crowd erupted into loud cheers.
Also, the crowd laughed and cheered loudly when Low Thia Kiang, Sylvia Lim and James Gomez keep emphasising on the fact on PM Lee's speech of needing to 'fix' the opposition MPs and 'buy' over the voters if too many oppositions are elected.. The PM got a good slamming from the trio. I think the crowd love it.
After the rally, the crowd stayed back to cheer for the party.. the sheer size and passion of the crowd was madness. Sheer madness.
another picture from sgrally.blogspot.com
along the fence...
along the slope behind them
more on the slope
See for yourself
Finally, after the finantic cheering among the crowd.. people started to go, and so did we.
Walking into the carpark, we saw this.
What a rally!
initial crowd
hokkien speaker -- dunno who lah, some ah pek haha
left side of the stadium
right side of the stadium
the final crowd - nothing comparable to WP's megamegacrowd
the lineup of candidates and Mr Wong Kan Seng
The whole rally was centred around how good the PAP was and is, and why we should continue to support them, to give the new PM a strong mandate *yaWnZ* blah blah blah.
Miss Irene Ng's speech was only the one with a slightly different tone. When I mean different, I mean it was different from the rest of the speakers, but never too far off the usual PAP rheotoric. She slammed the her opponents of the SDA, saying that instead of helping to solve the residents' problems, they will be their problems instead. The way she presented her views was simply logic-less, as she just assumed the SDA people to be crooks and will create trouble without any justification. And her speech included the part which she said that opposition members are just to create trouble in the Parliament which resulted in Mr Low Thia Kiang demanding an apology from her on next day's WP rally. (more on that on the next post) Particularly irritating was her hokkien, who said her hokkien sounded strange because she hailed from Ipoh.
Huh? Another ex-Malaysian in the parliament?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against Malaysians per se, and I got a lot of Malaysian friends. But the patriotic side of me do not want too many Malaysians in parliament, more so in the Cabinet! (Think of a certain Mr Khaw who still speaks a Malaysian-accented mandarin when interviewed)
I know I will get hated for this but nevermind.. I am patriotic and I know you guys will understand where I'm coming from.
I just sat there at the stadium seats and tried to listen while I read 'the Hammer' (buay kia si) and some newspapers.. at 9.20pm, we left.
One word to summarise the whole rally?
BORING.
The atmosphere in my first WP rally was great, and it was really addictive.. Bearing in mind that I only managed to catch only about 30+ minutes of the rally on Labour Day, I was quite interested to catch the full rally the next day (02/05/06).. and I went. Alone.
This time, I managed to get there earlier, around 7.40pm. As always, the crowd was already quite large by the time I reached.
But the field was a swarm. It makes us wonder why the police allowed so few places to be used for rallies. Breathing in deeply, in a typical Scout Basher manner, I bashed towards the stage, against the huge crowd and I waddled on the muddy ground. I was not alone.
waddling thru the mud
It was no fun walking through the muddy field, and with the mud-squashing sound under your soles... in office attire.
Finally, I made my way to the front of the rally, and finally I can see them in person clearly.
As usual, Henry Ho led the charge with his excellent hokkien persuasive powers. He told the people about the process on Polling Day, and people need not fear to vote for the opposition.
The candidates for the East Coast GRC went up to speak. Chia Ti Lik is the leader of the WP team, he spoke first. While he looks a decent man, and clearly eloquent, he was unable to make the crowd connect to him with the way he speaks. The lethargy in the crowd was clearly there when he spoke. However, he made a good point though, when he said that 'no upgrading' in opposition wards were against 'one of the stars on our national flag' - equality. He incited the crowd when he said, "They pay taxes too..! They serve NS too!" in hokkien.
Then, the rest of the team went up to speak. Brandon Siow is another guy who looks decent, but his mandarin sucks! I wondered why he chose to speak mandarin in the rally.. he impressed me though, when he said he was the ex-President of the NUS' Student Union. Eric Tan spoke too, he was eloquent, and spoke with an attractive accent, much like Tan Wui-Hua's. I didn't hear Abdul Rahim speak. Did he speak before I reach? I have yet hear him talk in public. Perry Tong, to me, was the most impressive. He did not really speak those accented English you hear from other candidates, but he spoke a 'heartlander' English even as he pronouces each word perfectly. He also spoke Hokkien and Malay, despite being educated in the USA. What's most impressive though, were his solid proposals on healthcare, as mentioned on the previous night.
As usual, the highlight of the show came when Mr Low Thia Kiang spoke. Again he spoke mandarin, and again pressing the issues on the means-testing issue on healthcare.
Again, last was Sylvia Lim, who spoke against who rounded up the rally with her powerful and emotional tone of English. "We love you, Sylvia!!" was again the cheers from the crowd.
i like women with beauty and brains - glenda han is one of them!
After the speeches, the Workers' Party candidates gave a one last wave and made their way down. The people were still standing there cheering "Workers' Party! Workers' Party! Workers' Party!" with raising their party flags and blowing their whistles.
hardcore
The support was really overwhelming.
It was hard to make my way back to the bustop, and I hope the pictures below will self-explain.
the crowd making the way back
police directing the traffic
kaypoh bloggers like me but with better equipment =(
Despite the mud and the 'total madness' crowd, it was a fun time attending the WP rallies. The shouts of "Workers' Party, Workers' Party!" are still ringing in my ears.
When I was reaching home, I saw a neighbour. As I saw his muddy shoes, I asked, "You also went rally ah?, he nodded. I said, " But I can't vote, wasted. Cos I haven 21 yet."
"Anyway, our block is under Marine Parade GRC. It has been redrawn. Across the road then is East Coast GRC." he replied.
I checked and it was true. Damn!
I don't wanna be under Mr Peanuts.
:~~~(
