General Election Fever
Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a personal attack on any of the election candidates.
Tomorrow is the designated cooling off day before the General Elections on Saturday. Singaporeans must really think through who they wish to vote for on polling day. Please, stop judging candidates based on their looks when beauty pageant girls are judged based on their response to intellectual questions. Nicole Seah may be prettier than MM Lee to be able to get a higher number of 'likes' on her Facebook page, but she does not have his qualifications.
Although that has been rectified by Xiaxue's post. Actually, Xiaxue has made some very good points, albeit in a casual Singaporean tone.
One can argue that People's Action Party (PAP) candidates are flawed. So are the members of the opposition parties - and the dirt is finally coming out now in the last few days of campaigning. The chief of the Reform Party cannot recite the national pledge. Gasp!
PAP's Tin Pei Lin may seem vapid, but she has the school credentials. The National Solarity Party (NSP) candidates fighting for Marine Parade GRC have Abdul Salim Harun, who graduated from the ITE. If this is a testimony to their proclamation to have the "best of Singapore's talents"... well. I don't mean to sound discriminatory and/or braggy, but I'm in a junior college, which puts me among the top 10% of the total student cohort, yet can feel totally stupid and unqualified for the simplest things at times. You mean an ITE student who couldn't cope with the simple rigour of the overly competitive education here is qualified to make decisions for the country? Also, not impressed by his blogging skills. I can blog in perfect English, yet I'm very obviously not qualified to be a candidate (What rock has he been under these few years? Gosh, has he not heard of spellcheck?! Google Chrome can spellcheck when you're typing into browser windows!).
Not that I really approve of Miss Tin, either. But at least she has the coattails of Goh Chok Tong to ride on. Besides, Miss Seah had tweeted vulgarities before. I highly disapprove of the use of expletives.
Since we're on the subject of Miss Tin, the rumours about her Kate Spade bag is really irrelevant to the election (please, I have LV bags and I'm only 17). How about the gossip dug up on NSP's Spencer Ng? Does an appreciation for branded goods reflect on your character? Not really. At worst it shows materialism. Doesn't Mr. Ng's case say a lot about far more important things, like his moral values?
And this leads to more NSP dirt. This is not the first time NSP's boat has been rocked by such scandals. Who remembers the 2003 incident with Steve Chia?
Please vote for who you think can really be the best for Singapore, and not in a heady rush because having the opposition around is a good thing (that I can't deny. Having opposition to contest the ruling party is always a good thing). Alas I have no say in this election until the next one five years later (students' futures are at stake too!). It's always easy to pick on what people haven't done well, but to actually implement change for the better is much, much harder.
The good thing that has come out of this fierce competition, though, is proof that Singaporean youths are not politically apathetic. Attendance at rallies have been overwhelming thus far.
I really want Darren Criss to come over and promote awareness about governments and voting to youths like he does in the USA. Okay I think I just spoiled the credibility of my post with this sentence. D: And the non-smiley. And also the overuse of acronyms.