The following letter is by Mr Andy Lim. It is in reply to Dr Yik Keng Yong’s letter (see below, “It’s a sound policy”) in the Straits Times forum page to Dr Catherine Lim’s interpretation of People’s Action Party’s announcement of the 24 hour cooling-off period before Polling day.
Cooling-off period – reminder of success
Dr Yik Keng Yong’s view of the cooling-off period’s effectiveness apparently relies on the reliability of the human psyche to properly interpret and differentiate emotional argument from rational reasoning after a good night’s rest. Unfortunately the reliability of the said reflection is a combination of factors that includes the cognitive ability of the individual, personal character and convictions, and emotional states of the person in question.
This combination of factors ultimately throws the reliability linking a good night’s rest and the person’s ability to reflect on the any given issue, metaphorically out of the window. With the lack of reliability, and therefore justifiability on the basis of the policy, the next assumption is that of the motivation of the policy maker and the policy’s goal.
There was no doubt that any policy maker, especially of those with as much foresight as PAP’s leaders would allow for the providence of certain portions of the population that were still wavering in their voting decision. As Dr Yik had mentioned in his reply, undoubtedly, PAP’s contributions to Singapore’s success story is undeniably moot. This then brings about the primary motivation behind the 24 hour cooling-off period, the only reflection that would and could only bring about; that is the reminder of the incumbent’s success story and to reinforce in the wavering population’s ultimate voting decision, which is to make a repeat selection on what has been successful before as is common with most human habit and susceptibility.
The only problem with the said reminder of the success story is, what has successful before, might not continue to be just as successful again.
Yours truly,
Andy Lim
http://azmodeus.wordpress.com/
——
It’s a sound policy
DR CATHERINE Lim’s interpretation yesterday (‘Surprised by ‘cooling off’ idea’) of the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) announcement of a 24-hour cooling-off period before Polling Day is as striking in its perspicuity of human behaviour as it is jaundiced of the PAP’s intentions.
Her view goes to the heart of the problem of how governments are unexpectedly voted out of power through a concatenation of a young electorate manipulated by disingenuous oratory, just as countries are bobbing in a sea of uncertainty now and trying to recover from massive economic and natural global disasters.
No one can argue with Singapore’s success and the PAP’s pivotal role in it. It is moot whether we could have accomplished as much with as little had another political party led the nation since independence.
Yet successful governance has always been associated with an iron will to push for tough policies which frequently disenfranchise certain sections of the population.
Visionary leadership comes with a price and the PAP deserves grudging admiration and support, even as many Singaporeans are not always enamoured of it.
Calm, collected and rational voting is what all sensible citizens should seek. Yet who among us is not ruled partly by emotions, letting the heart overrule the head in the heat of the moment?
It is easier to be swayed momentarily by demagoguery and emotional argument than by rational reasoning.
Nothing remedies this better than a good night’s rest and some rational reflection, after which convictions can be firmed and action taken without room for remorse.
This is a sane policy that should be applied not only to voting practice but also in our daily routine.
Dr Lim may ascribe PAP insecurity and anxiety to this new policy, but in the final analysis, the PAP’s idea is more conducive to the election of a government that Singaporeans are less likely to regret.
Dr Yik Keng Yong
Related posts:
- Cooling-off…. into a deep freeze
- RP on Cooling-Off Period
- What price have we paid for today’s success?
- Cooling-off day open to abuse in ruling party’s favour : Sylvia Lim
- Blogger says he will not observe “cooling-off” period
Everyone knows the cooling off is for the Media to slander the opposition so that the PAP members can have a win without even promising anything…it always happen like this one.
This is called the distracting tactics.
Remember when Mr Chiam wants to contest a GRC, the Strait Times even began a commentary to tell him, it is too late, he is too old etc. If it isnt biase reporting and commenting, what it is?
The question is, why allow the Media to comment on political news when it is cooling off period. Isnt this a super double standards aimed at swing votes to undeserved people?
When will the Strait Times publish the wealth and income of all the politicians? So that we know how awesome rich they are and how much wealth they have amassed already? And also their properties overseas and who registered themselves as PR in another Country already? Pls report on this pls…but then, Strait Times sux
Would it be possible , technically speaking, that there be some kind of breaking news on that day?
if so, alternative media can respond or not?
alternative media is likely to not care about the restriction…. at least I hope they won’t. Maybe SDP and WP websites should not post anything new… I don’t see why technically neutral sites like TOC should stop.
my only wish… the cooling off day is a holiday. muahahaha
My dear Dr. Yik,
with all due respects, since when does the PAP introduce changes to election policies that are not self serving? This sort of pre emptive measures reflects the typical kiasuism behaviour of the incumbents.
And please don’t attached so much sentimentalism and credits of Singapore’s success to the current bunch of ministers. They did not and had not contributed as what our forefathers did.
Anyway, we should not dwell on the past. That is History!!
We should look at the Future. But if we don’t make changes, we will all be History.
Catherine Lim is right, the reality that they might be in for a shock defeat is dawning on them. The 24 hour cooling period is just a prelude to more drastic announcement. The suggestion to have smaller GRCs, more single member wards and NMPS are just baits before the sucker punch is delivered. As they say in Malay “Akan Datang”.
Anyway, I have always wondered why no one who have interviewed our MM has ever asked him the million dollar question whether the PAP would still be on power if it was all single seat constituencies”. I guess no one dares.
They are afraid, it might turn out like Japan…..an across the board change.
That would be something. If it happens.
One can never know.
Since we did not have any cooling off period in the past elections, I guess the PAP was voted in because of irrational or emotional decisions by the voters since they did not have any time to reflect on the issues at hand. Maybe all the past results were freak election results.
Realistically, there cannot be much progress if we have to rely on someone who is already 87 years old and making all the decisions.
At the next elections, Singaporeans must seriously look beyond the ‘leadership” of MM and see who among the PAP leaders fits the bill. As I see it, all PAP leaders including MM are only party leaders interested in preserving their self/party interest above national interest.
We should find among the contesting parties a leader who shows potential to be at least a National leader. Ideally he should be a Regional leader who can sway other national leaders in say the Asean countries to work for regional growth but that may come through time and experience. I think it is difficult to find a world leader who can someday work for the benefits of whole mankind in the United Nation or other World Organisations. Currently, we only have leaders who aspire to become SMs, MM or even SMM.
Change is inevitable in Singapore. I see Singaporeans breaking away from the current stage of a Caterpiller to one of a Butterfly, breaking away from the many chains that bind them over 44 years. France was liked Singapore until the revolution of 1968 liberated the country and made it what it is today. A truly first world countriy. The problems that caused the revolution are similar to what is happening here today: Restless youths looking for more freedom of expression, better jobs, hatred for authoritarian rule,etc..
The wave of change is looming. The PAP govt has to change or face extinction. The chains are breaking at the seams. History is clearly on the side of Singaporeans desiring change..
what for reply?
can makan is it?
Even if whole singapore vote for opposition, what can happen?
Got enough talents come forward yet?
No.
Case closed.
Meet your fate.
The cooling off period is to counter the growing flame of democracy.
I believe the ruling party will fail in its objective.
E-Jay
It is pretty obvious why pap decided to have this cooling-off day.. It is because of the new media…
In the past, the only voices are the msm, so no cooling-off day required, but now with internet, people can post their opinions/views… Without the internet, dissenting views will never make it to the pap controlled media..
With people becoming better educated, they are able to form their own opinions and not be taken in by the one-sided views from the msm..
Like what the son has admitted that he has to spend most of his time trying to fix the opposition, it was simply a ploy of the father to ‘win’ at the elections using whatever means and methods, however morally unethical it may be.
What is it that MPs under GRCs can do that the single MP can’t do in terms of representing the interests of minorities. Using the same argument that is often being manipulated by PAP, does it mean that single seat PAP MPs cannot and will not address any grievances that the minorities will suffer at the hands of the majority race elected Govt.
And in reality speaking of representing the interests of minorities, what has the GRC MPs really done to justify that it is a necessary vital part of Parliament ?
To me, the whole GRC system is just a political scam to rob Singaporeans of a level playing field to have true and fair elections, where the real Gentleman is eventually declared the winner. I just don’t think that old man is a real Gentleman by any standards.
Cooling period or no cooling period, the ruling party will still win hands down. Most Sporeans voters are just too scared to change. Too afraid that they will lose out something even if the oppositions were to come as their MP. With so many mega GRCs, it would very very difficult for the oppositions to upseat them. Oppositions may stand a better chance if there were more single wards and smaller GRCs (maximum 3 members to ensure minority race representation).
Nevertheless, many of us still hope and pray the wind of change will come our way and that more capable oppositions candidates will come forward to contest the coming GE. With so many walkovers, many Sporeans may not even have a chance to cast their votes in their entire life time.
A little while ago, two old men were debating whether more credit should go to one who has collected (this is another story) so many honorary degrees from many universities. Even his descendent won best in shouting down other people in his ancestor university, which of course the elder has contributed much to the coffers thanks to a meritocratic and paper mad population chasing after A’s and O’s.
After listening to their silly fogey banter about an 87, these inspiring words just came out suddenly,
“One who is greedy will never have enough.”
Dr Yik Keng Yong said:
As if such a move will make the votes of the young electorate any less legitimate. is he suggesting that the votes of people who vote against PAP should not be counted?
My dear Dr.Yik, please read very carefully.The new generation of Singaporeans are well educated and well read.Please do not try to convince us with your flawed and sometimes absurd reasons to justify ridiculous policies.What is this cooling off period for?Do you really expect us to believe the reason given?Are you dealing with kindergarten kids.Dr. Yik, I think it is you who needs a cooling off period, maybe for a year.
1 day cooling off period is good, then can it be inferred from it, that a 2 day cooling off period is better than 1 day, since it gives one even more time to reflect upon that their decisions should be based solely on the reason.
Since 2 days is better, might as well make it 3 days. This will be even more productive. And in 4 days time, the average voter would have been purged from their system the rabble rousing speeches and the collective herd mentality of trying to vote for change, their decision is free from emotional input. But just in case the half life of the emotional response from all the campaigning has not run its course, we should look at a 1 week cooling off period .
So since we have decided arbitrarily that we need 1 day before polling to cool down, what is stopping the decision to make it even longer? Or if that initially it was really necessary to have a cooling off period even? Even if it were a decision made emotionally, are we making a wrong one in that instance? There is no necessary connection between the 2. You can make a right decision based on emotions just as well as making a wrong decision based on reason alone. You can make correct choices without basing them on any reasons alone too, but making sense of these choices would be the problem of a moral theorist.
Lastly, did we have a cooling off period to have considered the reason we chose 1 day for a cooling off period before polling day? Just in case it was based on pure emotive purposes.
it will be funny if the 1 day serves to remind people how lousy pap has been. and PAP ended up losing more votes…
///Her view goes to the heart of the problem of how governments are unexpectedly voted out of power through a///
is she saying that only the voting for the incumbent is deserving and is by some special & quirky divine mandate always immuned to any ” concatenation of a young electorate manipulated by disingenuous oratory” which somehow seem to apply only to all others excepting the incumbent.
do the following fit into the jacket of disingenuous oratory.
1) public housing institution making a loss.
2) cheaper better faster for lesser people but astronomical pay for ministars to be non corrupt.
3) one man assembly in the name of security.
4) cooling period.
5) kicking spur into local hide.
6) here is curiosity, it is a matter of public interest. That is not sufficient reason to disclose information.
7) for long term (get screwed early) & also for short-term (for re-balancing).
///It is easier to be swayed momentarily by demagoguery and emotional argument than by rational reasoning.///
not if you keeping on having your hand on the switch.
///Nothing remedies this better than a good night’s rest and some rational reflection, after which convictions can be firmed and action taken without room for remorse.///
you should keep this advice for your paying patients who may need it more.
///but in the final analysis, the ???? idea is more conducive to the election of a government that Singaporeans are less likely to regret.///
yeah, only with the cooling period. y didn’t they think of it and have it implemented earlier – happily then, no seemed to regret it.
Dr Yik…if your gahmen is really that good, why will you be worried?
Dr Lim’s impressions are not as much jaundiced as they are cynical, of the PAP’s intentions. She would have good reasons for cynicism.
Perhaps Dr Yik has not been paying attention to the repeated calls for answers to wide-ranging questions, despite government authorities having proffered statement after statement after statement in the media in response. Leading members of the voting public have repeated their questions precisely because they fail to get answers that resound with the ring of truth and sincerity. He should examine this phenomenon before talking about disingenuous oratory.
While at it, he should also take time to research the criticisms levelled at Singapore’s human rights issues, state of political and individual freedoms, poverty, retirement, healthcare and social welfare situation, transparency of State processes, judicial independence, and so forth, before asserting that no one will argue with Singapore’s success. Lots of people will, and do. They just use different measures of success.
Unless Dr Yik has some incredible ability in clairvoyance, which I lack, I can just as credibly make the equally unsubstantiatable claim that Singapore would have achieved much more if certain individuals had been allowed to participate in governance in what could have been a more consultative and inclusive government, rather than sit rotting for decades in jail.
Many examples could also be cited to illustrate instances of inept governance helmed by iron-willed leaders who pushed through self-serving policies to the disfranchisement of huge swaths of population. Some such governments even started out competent and benevolent.
If the assertions that “the ruling party is the best there is”, and that “Singapore is as good as it could have been” are claims that cannot be gainsaid, why hold elections to give irrationality a chance to intrude?
Much of the disenfranchisement and disapproval has been festering for years. These feelings have not been put there by some Opposition Party members distributing flyers in the streets from Changi to Jurong in defiance of laws no one else distributing flyers in the streets seem to have run afoul of. Such Opposition “riff-raffs” have always been quickly and swiftly charged and fined and jailed. Rather, much of these negative feelings stem from the difficult-to-believe public utterances, the arrogance of elitists talking down to the population, the slow out-creeping of worms from under the floorboards.
I do not know how one can label as “sane”, a policy that virtually aims to erase accumulated negativity against the ruling party – in a single day. And I assure Dr Yik – in me at least, regret for having ever helped vote this government into a new term, that regret has long already arrived.
Dr Yik,
I understand tea sessions at the Istana have been fully booked.
Perhaps you should have tea with your patients.
They need your worries many than the general electorate.
The ISP cannot be asked to shutdown right?
what’s there to cool off everyone on the street is so heated and piss off liao yet they still win
Anyone a football fan? FIFA reviews the Soccer rules once a while to benefit the game and the teams adapted to the rule. Only the weak made noise and the rest played just played the game and move on. Election rules reviews to ensure that Singaporeans give a thought and to make correct decisions to determine the fate of the Nation or constituency. What’s the fuss?
#25,
are singaporeans not the most TAMED in the world?
who would voice up in hong lim park?
given this, what is the fuss with the cooling off?
What is there to cool off when the people are so tamed ?
why not in the last 2 elections?
see, you should ask yourself the same question that you asked the readers.
singaporeans in general are Apathetic. There is no need to cool off. They will good boys and girls always.
why so over?
25) kiasu n kiasi on January 16th, 2010 5.46 pm
FIFA does not play in the games itself.
For our election rules reviews, the setters of the rules happen to be the players themselves. Do you still see where the fuss come from – not only in our election rules reviews but also in the fallacy of your flawed examples.
We all know that the PAP does not need a day of cooling period to win a General Election. In the past, there was no cooling period and yet the PAP demolished the Opposition candidates without difficulties.
However, the ruling party also recognised the fact that there is a small percentage of voters who need help in seeing through the lies made up by the opposition parties.
The cooling period can be used to educate these people on the severe consequences of voting against the PAP.
My Views
post #28 on January 18th, 2010 3.05 am
////The cooling period can be used to educate these people on the severe consequences of voting against the PAP.////
what are the severe consequences? care 2 share?
also please define educate? if its to educate, then its not a cooling off day.
who you 1 2 con? :P
There are actually mixed reaction to the proposed cooling off period. But as one practical person pointed out to me, the opposition cannot do anything about it and must accept that the no ruling party is going to make it easy for its opponents to win. I believe the next change will be to the election deposit or even the minimum number of votes to retain your deposit. However I do accept that it can be used to the advantage if we put our efforts together.
One suggestion is to give out a mailer on everything the ruling paty has promised and never delivered on the last campaigning day and request voters to think about it and discuss it at home or online.
Another would be to highlight the ever rising cost of living, lower wages, the influx of foriegners, the government lack of concern for the citizens and the amount of money the ministers are making, the GIC & Temasek losses and let the people think about it overnight.
These suggestions might seem crude at the moment but it can be fine tuned.
perhaps we should all cool off for 1 day before posting anything?
21) A&E on January 15th, 2010 10.33 pm
Unless Dr Yik has some incredible ability in clairvoyance, which I lack, I can just as credibly make the equally unsubstantiatable claim that Singapore would have achieved much more if certain individuals had been allowed to participate in governance in what could have been a more consultative and inclusive government, rather than sit rotting for decades in jail.
I tot it is a moot point because what has happened has already happened? Thinking of ‘what ifs’ will not change history, hence it is moot.
In any case, I was thinking if there could be a thread on brainstorming for ideas to change the “cooling day for reflecting PAP successes” to “cooling day to compare PAST PAP success and RECENT failures”…
For example, when opposition hold rallies or post stuff in their websites, they should constantly ask people to reflect on the recent failures of PAP specifically on the ‘cooling day’.
I agree with the points raised by Dr Lim and consider Dr Yik as the one with a jaundiced view of the PAP’s intentions and of Dr Lim’s comments, and the one making comments that appear unrepresentative of the situation at ground level.
First, a 24 hr cooling period before Polling Day is an idea that only a political party such as the PAP is capable of. If Dr Yik thinks that such a policy is sound and should be applied not only to voting practice but also in our daily routine, has it ever occurred to him to ascertain why it was not introduced in prior elections which have been held every 4 years for the last 50 years? Why only now? Having been voted into power in the past – in the absence of a cooling period – is the PAP now afraid that it will be voted out, on emotional grounds, if a cooling period is not introduced? If so, it cannot be considered as rational thinking.
A cooling period will make no difference if people have already decided which candidate/party they want in. Moreover, it can be argued that it is not a question of having a day of calm reflections to help one think rationally before casting one’s vote. Whether the government has performed to people’s expectations is a far more important criterion, and one does not need a cooling period of 24 hrs to know or decide whether the government has performed to expectations or not.
With support from people like Dr Yik, the PAP should have no fear of being knocked out of the competition. It may lose its shirt but not its pants.
To quote Dr Yik’s opening line: “Dr Catherine Lim’s interpretation yesterday [“Surprised by ‘cooling off’ idea”] of the People’s Action Party’s [PAP] announcement of a 24-hr cooling-off period before Polling Day is as striking in its perspicuity as it is jaundiced of the PAP’s intentions.”
If Dr Lim is perspicuous with her interpretation, then it would be contradictory or inconsistent to accuse her of having a jaundiced view of others.
Sorry, Dr Yik, you are the one who is jaundiced, not Dr Lim. And my advice to you is, you need to see a physician, and the sooner the better.
if i’m going to vote for party A,
i’m not going to wake up the next morning and vote for party B.
But if people really vote like that, election results will almost be like lottery.
It depends on whether voting day is on an odd or even day.
In that case, what is the point in even voting?
///the fact that there is a small percentage of voters who need help in seeing through the lies made up by the opposition parties.///
Maybe you would like to elaborate about the help you have mentioned. A Self-discovery “help” or active help from another party during the cooling-period day.
How about you also elaborating more on the lies.