Steffen Toh /
I cringed when I read Minister George Yeo’s words describing how the Workers’ Party is forcing the voters in Aljunied to shoulder the heavy ‘emotional burden’ of ensuring the opposition gets a substantial voice in the Parliament. Residents there feel ‘uncomfortable’, he says, that they have to choose between ‘enlightened self-interest’ and the ‘opposition’s interests’. His words make me, a Singaporean citizen, uncomfortable on many levels.
It was all so different just days before, when on Nomination Day, Minister Yeo declared the WP team that his PAP team would be coming up against as ‘worthy opponents’. Yes, I thought: finally, here was a member of the ruling party who is able to transcend party rhetoric and see the quantum leap forward of the quality and quantity of opposition candidates for what it is – a maturing of the Singaporean people and a positive development for our nation. I mistakenly believed that he was acknowledging that Singaporeans are finally stirring from a self-imposed and apathetic lethargy. He sees, I thought, that we are no longer content to just sit back and allow the government to take us where they think we should go; that we have ideas concerning what our destination should be and how to get there; that we are ready to step forward to actively help craft the future of our nation together.
Unfortunately, this admiration was short-lived, and quickly turned into disappointment with Minister Yeo’s latest words. It’s not just that the phrase ‘enlightened self-interest’ contains an apparent contradiction – if the voters of Aljunied are ‘enlightened’, their concerns would go beyond an immediate and selfish consideration of their own needs, to include a consideration of the needs of the wider community, and indeed, the nation. It is almost like Minister Yeo is trying to justify what is essentially a selfish act, to think about one’s self-interest in casting a vote, by portraying it as something noble.
Secondly, it’s also the fact that the residents are falsely presented with the picture that if they vote for the opposition, they would be damaging their own interests. Who says that the two must be mutually exclusive? In fact, the WP’s message emphasizes the opposite consistently. Vote with us, so that we can enter Parliament and protect your interests.
Finally, what really saddens me is the ‘emotional burden’ argument, because it makes me question the extent to which we have departed from the visions that originally emboldened our founding fathers to take the building of Singapore’s future into their own hands. The bottom-line is this: In a truly democratic society, every single vote that is cast MUST carry with it an ‘emotional burden’. That is the essence of a society in which its people are active players in their collective future. Each vote carries an emotional burden, each vote should make the person casting it ‘uncomfortable’, because each vote is supposed to count towards something, and not to be taken lightly.
And the truth is, for far too long, Singaporeans have had this ‘emotional burden’ removed from them, because of one, the presence of an admittedly outstanding government that takes care of all of our needs, and two, the lack of a viable alternative. For far too long, when it comes to elections and voting, Singaporeans have proceeded on auto-pilot, and have not had to grapple with the significance that each vote carries. For too long, we have abdicated from our duty to consider the importance of every vote before casting it.
And for the first time, there is the presence of a viable alternative to the ruling party. For the first time, there are able Singaporeans who care enough to leave their well-paying jobs or step out of their comfort zones to go up against the PAP juggernaut. For the first time, we have opposition candidates, spread out across different parties, that impress us with their passion, sincerity, and credentials, but none more so then at ‘hotspots’ like Aljunied GRC. That is why the Aljunied residents feel uncomfortable, because they can no longer dismiss the opposition as riff-raff. This is a positive change, a change that has finally put the burden back on Singaporeans as they consider who to vote for. And every Singaporean, whether you are in Aljunied or indeed, Tanjong Pagar, should rejoice at this.
Picture from msn news.
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mice is nice
Are you saying that one should be reactive instead of proactive? Adapting to changes with plans is very different to adapting changes without any plans at all. Period.
You say LTK is no total stranger. So? One cannot take things for granted.
Where is the sincerity and passion to serve he had once shown to his hougang residents? In contrast, while contesting in Aljunied, these admirable qualities became “vote me in first then i tell you what i will do”.
Since the news of his Bitc**** was aired and the media have reports it…George the Jungle still wants people to believe what he says is upright.
Capable man goes on international work for doing work while he enjoy the luxury within Singaporean hard earn money and sit on a good leather chair and bitc***. how can we know he is not Bitc*** about his superior or even worst the Singaporean Citizens.
Well i think he should start tyoing his resume and look for a job like us singaporean do. go to the On-The-Training CDC will help him get a job that the ruling party have told us many times… there are jobs for singaporean. No worry George.
Singaporean, 3 May 2011
well, reality is that PAP has “a few” instances of planning way ahead & refusing adapt to change accordingly.
Mr Low TK isn’t a stranger, yes. we shouldn’t take things for granted, yes also. but PAP often take past records contributed by previous individuals, isn’t that taking things for granted? what more using the credentials to promote new candidates. where’s the ethnics? people are voting representatives, alive & living, not people who are no longer with the PAP team.
where is the passion & sincerity to serve? how is anyone going to show for it if he or she isn’t given a chance to prove? if a boss is so sceptical to the point he has not hired any staff for over 1 year, do you believe him when he says no one can do the job. or makes work life so difficult that staff turnover rate is high, just so to prove his point. a self fulfilling prophecy?
Native Singaporean,
dun worry, George Yeo got enough money & IQ. i suggest he open a private school to teach students how to “cocktail talk”, make “beautiful agreement” & “sway emotions”.
hmmm, sounds like a course single men should learn. especially the sway emotions. women will cling to these men like bees to the honey pot!
:P
mice is nice,
Not given a chance to prove? How many times do I have to go back to the example of how he won his first hougang seat twenty years ago. LTK was given his first chance because voters then could sense his sincerity and passion to serve. But now he may not get the chance because he has not shown the same for the Aljunied residents. Like i said before, many older generation voters do not share marco views, many a time, they vote simply based on the candidate’s sincerity and servitude.
NO JOKE VOTERS.Tell your friends through emails
Please put your VOTE to parties to represent us if not PM Lee long term for you and his famiLEE is a NECLEAR Plant.
In the TODAY paper dated 5 April page 12
” A FUTURE IN NUCLEAR-POWER OFFSHORE PARKS?By: Dr Kua Harn Wei
PM LEE long term plan for your GRAVE yard beside us a NECLEAR Power.
We want parties power to VETO our interest.
GEORGE YEO AND JOANNE PEH..
(APPOINTMENT IN HIS OFFICE)
http://joannepeh.com/2009/07/25/tea-at-ministry-of-foreign-affairs/
Singaporean, 4 May 2011
you are confusing 20 years ago Hougang & Aljunied of 2011. Mr Low surely couldn’t prove his servitude if people had not voted for him 20 years back.
people can tell the servitude of PAP. not just consitutuency level, but national level. the level of SIN-cerity.
must be lucky to be born in S’pore, went through the world class education & becoming daft as a result. how did that happen?
Don’t talk so much George, what is the result for the Romania case?
Steffen Toh, well said. very well written article.
The PAP has become an elite class all unto themselves. They have become deaf to the people who have put them in power. They assume that they know what is best for us. It is often said that the PAP transformed Singapore into a overly kiasu and kiasi paternalistic society. Very much like what our old-fashioned fathers did to their children, “I know what is best for you more than what you know yourself”.
George Yeo’s disingenuous emotional non-to-subtle message is this: “We the PAP have already brainwashed you so thoroughly that you don’t have to think who to vote for. Now all of a sudden the WP comes along to spoil this charade that we have set up for you. Damn it, damn LTK”.
@mice is nice,
Lol..becoming daft? Why stoop so low to personal attack now?
Finally, LTK informed voters of his plans for Aljunied GRC during his rally on 4 May. See, he now knows the importance of showing his “servitude” to the Aljunied residents.
So “mice is nice”, whatever arguments you had made to defend LTK appear “daft” now because he now has “plans” and is trying hard to show his “sincerity and and servitude” to the Aljunied residents.
So, I have only one last word for you – “Ha!”
Enough said, my choice is clear.
Are we sure that BG Yeo is not able to be replace?
No one is indespensible in these world. Either you lost it and new people will eventually fills the gap. If I am wrong, Bg Yeo will be the rare few immortal that cannot even afford to have the opportunity to die than Singapore will be safe forever.
Singaporean,
learn from MM wan ley. he a “humble” civil servant right? or should i say learn from Mentor?
you are confusing Mr Low TK’s plan for servitude…
after 2 days then you come harp like a champion. might as well rejoice if he gets voted in to serve Aljunied…
typical S’porean, very competitive, hope the pace of life slows a little. move too fast & you may miss the finer things in life.
As a proud Singaporean, I glady accept the burden to vote the right people into our government. I gladly sacrifice my self-interests for the greater good.
Mah Bow Tan will not get my vote, I’ll vote for NSP. I accept that PAP will bully us by withholding upgrading and support.
They must be stopped. All this insanity of 6.5 million must be stopped. The PAP machinery must be stopped. My fellow Singaporeans must not continue to be cannon fodder for the greedy, power hungry, insensitive PAP.
emotional burden or blackmail?
i would be torn between giving cold hard cash of a few hundred dollars to a little kid who’s parent or parents would most likely grab the cash & gamble it all away, leaving nothing for the kid, no pocket money, no EZ-link top-up, no money to buy school uniform.
& that little kid is like GY, should i have gotten the child fostered from such parents? but is GY a kid?
@ californian 3 May 2011
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness….”
This should sound great and enlightening at that time, but “men” then did not include the blacks, women and others. So they were actually a declaration by a group of special men for themselves only. Is this correct?
Yes, the US has done very well in the 20th century, but in the 21st century, the actual workings of the US system has evolved a lot since the Declaration of Independence, and the competition is different from that those in the previous century. So despite the huge advantage the US has already had over them, the competition is catching up very fast. Since the Americans love their system and way of life so much, they could not contemplate radical changes to them to meet the challenges of the 21st century. So they have to hold their competition’s successful development models as unfair, illegitimate or even evil. Is this correct?
Why did George Yeo make such a shameful comment? He is thick skinned!
I do not mind bearing the emtional burden of getting the opposition into the parliment, as I well know that PAP will not bear mine in parliment.