The Singapore General Election has finally ended! During the GE period, it had created a great hoo-ha in the country. This year, we can also see a greater push for more changes from the PAP governent and there was a significant rise in the number of GE participation from the younger Singaporeans.
Before the voting day, fiery rally speeches were heard and seen all around from TV, radios, newspaper and even social mass media like facebook and twitter. During this time, I also tried to keep myself updated about the GE news from yahoo news and fb. Moreover, there was also political discussion in my family too! Haha and as expected, I was mainly the listener and learner in this politics discussion.
From the things I see and hear, there are many Singaporeans, especially the younger ones who are more pro-opposition while the older generation remains pro-PAP. It is no doubt that the older ones are pro-PAP because they had went through the difficult times during the Singapore's nation building period. They saw how MM Lee Kuan Yew had painstakingly built up the nation and set up a fundamental foundation for the country to become what it is today. On the other hand, the younger generation today, also known as the Y Generation, did not go through the difficult times as the older ones did. This generation mainly enjoyed the fruit of labour and better standard of living brought about by their ancestors and MM Lee's team. As such, there was a controversy that the younger ones are ignorant about the importance of PAP and was ungrateful to what the party has done over all these years. I do agree this to a certain extent.
From my perspective, I feel that most of the younger Singaporeans have stayed in their comfort zone for too long and they never experienced the kind of pain that the older ones had went through. This has instilled "things are going to be okay anyways" mindset in many of them. As such, when they are faced with higher living cost or difficulty in finding jobs, they will put the blame mainly on the government and I think that it is rather ridiculous. Firstly, if they are faced with higher living cost, why do they (I am targeting at the riches) still want to buy cars and dine and shop @ expensive places? I find this ironic and this shows the humans' greed and desire to show off their status when they do not have the capacity to do so. Dont wear the big hat when your head is small. Dont blame others when you cant wear this big hat because the root of the problem is the size of your head. get it? For this, I am relieved that the government didnt introduce welfare state system in Singapore because the consequences will be dire if they were to do so. Secondly, Singaporeans also complained about their difficulties in finding jobs. But the truth is, there are jobs but they rejected them due to higher expectations. Due to the rising affluence, these people do not want to accept 3D (Dirty, Dangerous,demeaning) jobs and jobs which offer lower salary pay that they expected. Moreover, most of these people likes to "chao keng" during work too! So I think that it is mainly the attitudes of the people that impede them from finding jobs.
Singaporeans are like kites, when the government pulled the string tightly, the people struggled and want more freedom. The government did not realise the impact of this until the recent GE election. More Singporeans want to see more changes and they hope that there will be more opposition parties inside the parliament to air their views. I understand that this is important because a country should not have a one party in a parliament and I do agree that there should be a number of opposition members present inside the parliament to give different views and provide better suggestions which PAP did not foresee. However, it will be dangerous if there is more opposition parties than PAP because it will be politically unstable like Thailand and Indonesia. Singapore cannot afford such a big gamble.
During the GE rally, we can see that the opposition parties had sifted out the loopholes that PAP had failed to resolve. The most debatable ones include the competition of jobs between the migrant workers, the rising house prices and medical costs, rising minsters salary pay and the escape of Mas Selamat. In my opinion, I think that it is impossible to ban all the migrant workers from coming into Singapore. Firstly, the locals are lacking of skills needed by the industries. Hence, it is inevitable to import expertise and foreign talents to train the local Singaporeans and boost Singapore's economy. In addition, since no Singaporean is willing to work i 3Ds jobs like the construction industries and domestics work, there is a need to import migrant workers to fill up the labour shortages in these areas too. However, there is a great concern being raised by the public about the competition of the migrant workers about their jobs. After listening to my bro about how the local companies is trying to poach "foreign talents" to their companies, I felt irritated upon hearing this. I was like "Huh? I thought the government already promised to place the locals as a priority to those PMETs jobs?"
I am particularly concerned about the rising minsiter salary pay also. Like most Singapoeans, I am not happy about the significant rise in minister's pay. There are quite a number of poor families out there who needed financial help but yet the ministers' pay is increased tremendously. According to New York Times, there is a 60% pay raise for Singapore's ministers to an average of 1.9 million Singapore dollars in 2007. OMG. This is a lot! So our money used to pay the GST and other taxes go to them as But when I asked my bro why the minister's pay is not cut despite so much anger from the public, he replied that the govt said that it is needed to attract talents to in politics. HUH?? Use money to lure talents? In my opinion, I feel that if the minister truly wants to work for the people's welfare in the country, they will not care much about the hight salary pay. This shows the greed of Singapore rulers. You can read this website http://www.yeocheowtong.com/Salaries.html. So like most Singaporeans, I would like to see a cut in Minister's pay instead. In view of this, I agree with what Nicole Seah had said: if I just want glory and money, I will join PAP instead.
Moreover, I was also concerned about the issue of the escape of Mas Selamat. I a wondering why Minister Wong Kan Seng was not punished AT ALL for this grave matter? Instead, all the blame was being shifted to the junior officers, guards and the toilet windows instead? I understand that he should not be totally blamed on because it was the guards who are guarding the criminal. However, he is the leader and should be accounted for this matter but yet he didn't provide a convincing explanation to this matter.
Although I am glad that the opposition parties are able to bring out the Singaporeans' concern, it is a pity that most of them could not provide constructive and feasible suggestions to reolve the problems. As such, most Singaporeans would still choose PAP in GE because PAP had a good historical track record and success for the past few decades.
It was a tough fight between PAP and WP for Aljunied GRC and the people of Aljunied has created history in Sigapore politics. Although I feel honoured to have WP A team in Aljunied GRC, I was sad that Minsiter George Yeo is no longer in Aljunied :/ Although Minister George Yeo was the one who took care of the Aljunied people for the past 23 years. I still remembered the time when he came door to door to ask the visit the fellow residents. And yea he also did come my house, talking to my family. We even took picture together with him too. His cordial smile and easy-going personality had left a deep impression in me.
Not only the people in Aljunied, every Singaporean has lost a good minister. Minister George Yeo is an excellent foreign minister who had forged and tightened close relationship between Singapore and other countries. I am really grateful to what he had done for the country over the past few decades.
All in all, Minister George Yeo did not lose Aljunied because although he lost his votes, he had won the hearts and minds of the people. Rather, it is the people of Aljunied who had lost such as good Minister. Through this GE, we can that there is a change in political tide in Singapore. There are also more young being interested in politics. As such, for the next 5 years, not only should the PAP government change their strategies and approaches, they should also reach out to more younger Singaporeans to garner their support.
Before the voting day, fiery rally speeches were heard and seen all around from TV, radios, newspaper and even social mass media like facebook and twitter. During this time, I also tried to keep myself updated about the GE news from yahoo news and fb. Moreover, there was also political discussion in my family too! Haha and as expected, I was mainly the listener and learner in this politics discussion.
From the things I see and hear, there are many Singaporeans, especially the younger ones who are more pro-opposition while the older generation remains pro-PAP. It is no doubt that the older ones are pro-PAP because they had went through the difficult times during the Singapore's nation building period. They saw how MM Lee Kuan Yew had painstakingly built up the nation and set up a fundamental foundation for the country to become what it is today. On the other hand, the younger generation today, also known as the Y Generation, did not go through the difficult times as the older ones did. This generation mainly enjoyed the fruit of labour and better standard of living brought about by their ancestors and MM Lee's team. As such, there was a controversy that the younger ones are ignorant about the importance of PAP and was ungrateful to what the party has done over all these years. I do agree this to a certain extent.
From my perspective, I feel that most of the younger Singaporeans have stayed in their comfort zone for too long and they never experienced the kind of pain that the older ones had went through. This has instilled "things are going to be okay anyways" mindset in many of them. As such, when they are faced with higher living cost or difficulty in finding jobs, they will put the blame mainly on the government and I think that it is rather ridiculous. Firstly, if they are faced with higher living cost, why do they (I am targeting at the riches) still want to buy cars and dine and shop @ expensive places? I find this ironic and this shows the humans' greed and desire to show off their status when they do not have the capacity to do so. Dont wear the big hat when your head is small. Dont blame others when you cant wear this big hat because the root of the problem is the size of your head. get it? For this, I am relieved that the government didnt introduce welfare state system in Singapore because the consequences will be dire if they were to do so. Secondly, Singaporeans also complained about their difficulties in finding jobs. But the truth is, there are jobs but they rejected them due to higher expectations. Due to the rising affluence, these people do not want to accept 3D (Dirty, Dangerous,demeaning) jobs and jobs which offer lower salary pay that they expected. Moreover, most of these people likes to "chao keng" during work too! So I think that it is mainly the attitudes of the people that impede them from finding jobs.
Singaporeans are like kites, when the government pulled the string tightly, the people struggled and want more freedom. The government did not realise the impact of this until the recent GE election. More Singporeans want to see more changes and they hope that there will be more opposition parties inside the parliament to air their views. I understand that this is important because a country should not have a one party in a parliament and I do agree that there should be a number of opposition members present inside the parliament to give different views and provide better suggestions which PAP did not foresee. However, it will be dangerous if there is more opposition parties than PAP because it will be politically unstable like Thailand and Indonesia. Singapore cannot afford such a big gamble.
During the GE rally, we can see that the opposition parties had sifted out the loopholes that PAP had failed to resolve. The most debatable ones include the competition of jobs between the migrant workers, the rising house prices and medical costs, rising minsters salary pay and the escape of Mas Selamat. In my opinion, I think that it is impossible to ban all the migrant workers from coming into Singapore. Firstly, the locals are lacking of skills needed by the industries. Hence, it is inevitable to import expertise and foreign talents to train the local Singaporeans and boost Singapore's economy. In addition, since no Singaporean is willing to work i 3Ds jobs like the construction industries and domestics work, there is a need to import migrant workers to fill up the labour shortages in these areas too. However, there is a great concern being raised by the public about the competition of the migrant workers about their jobs. After listening to my bro about how the local companies is trying to poach "foreign talents" to their companies, I felt irritated upon hearing this. I was like "Huh? I thought the government already promised to place the locals as a priority to those PMETs jobs?"
I am particularly concerned about the rising minsiter salary pay also. Like most Singapoeans, I am not happy about the significant rise in minister's pay. There are quite a number of poor families out there who needed financial help but yet the ministers' pay is increased tremendously. According to New York Times, there is a 60% pay raise for Singapore's ministers to an average of 1.9 million Singapore dollars in 2007. OMG. This is a lot! So our money used to pay the GST and other taxes go to them as But when I asked my bro why the minister's pay is not cut despite so much anger from the public, he replied that the govt said that it is needed to attract talents to in politics. HUH?? Use money to lure talents? In my opinion, I feel that if the minister truly wants to work for the people's welfare in the country, they will not care much about the hight salary pay. This shows the greed of Singapore rulers. You can read this website http://www.yeocheowtong.com/Salaries.html. So like most Singaporeans, I would like to see a cut in Minister's pay instead. In view of this, I agree with what Nicole Seah had said: if I just want glory and money, I will join PAP instead.
Moreover, I was also concerned about the issue of the escape of Mas Selamat. I a wondering why Minister Wong Kan Seng was not punished AT ALL for this grave matter? Instead, all the blame was being shifted to the junior officers, guards and the toilet windows instead? I understand that he should not be totally blamed on because it was the guards who are guarding the criminal. However, he is the leader and should be accounted for this matter but yet he didn't provide a convincing explanation to this matter.
Although I am glad that the opposition parties are able to bring out the Singaporeans' concern, it is a pity that most of them could not provide constructive and feasible suggestions to reolve the problems. As such, most Singaporeans would still choose PAP in GE because PAP had a good historical track record and success for the past few decades.
It was a tough fight between PAP and WP for Aljunied GRC and the people of Aljunied has created history in Sigapore politics. Although I feel honoured to have WP A team in Aljunied GRC, I was sad that Minsiter George Yeo is no longer in Aljunied :/ Although Minister George Yeo was the one who took care of the Aljunied people for the past 23 years. I still remembered the time when he came door to door to ask the visit the fellow residents. And yea he also did come my house, talking to my family. We even took picture together with him too. His cordial smile and easy-going personality had left a deep impression in me.
Not only the people in Aljunied, every Singaporean has lost a good minister. Minister George Yeo is an excellent foreign minister who had forged and tightened close relationship between Singapore and other countries. I am really grateful to what he had done for the country over the past few decades.
All in all, Minister George Yeo did not lose Aljunied because although he lost his votes, he had won the hearts and minds of the people. Rather, it is the people of Aljunied who had lost such as good Minister. Through this GE, we can that there is a change in political tide in Singapore. There are also more young being interested in politics. As such, for the next 5 years, not only should the PAP government change their strategies and approaches, they should also reach out to more younger Singaporeans to garner their support.
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