A lack of Brevity

Note to self: It'd be pretty ironic if I were to ever be involved in a Public Service Announcement about self-medication

Been feeling sick the whole weekend, I've been sleeping much of the day and have the bed hair to prove it. Productivity's minimal as I can't concentrate through this cloudiness in my head.

Poor me. Now that I'm done with the self-pity, let's move on to less trivial issues, shall we?

The early hours of 8th May 2011, a wide-awake nation listened with bated breathe as the ever-so-implacable Returning Officer read out in his deadening monotone the results for the final constituency. It was a close fight, a difference of little more than a hundred votes. And it marked the end of the most hotly contested General Elections in recent Singapore history.

Dubbed a watershed election, the results did not fail to disappoint, as the opposition finally managed to wrest control of a GRC away from the ruling party. The swing of votes towards the opposition, in response to the sympathetic, honeyed voices of their candidates seem to echo the nation's desire for a change in Singapore's political scene, and have given the party in power much to reflect upon.

A new era is upon us, or so it would seem. The obvious ramifications of this on the future of our nation aside, what really excites me is the hitherto unseen levels of citizen participation and involvement during these elections. Online discussion was rife, perhaps in part due to the influx of young voters, who made up one fifth the electorate. The rally turnouts have been nothing short of impressive, and as you stand there on the field, listening to the roar of the crowd, and occasionally overhearing the comments of individuals, you just know that no longer can we Singaporeans be said to be a bunch of politically apathetic folks. (Well at least now all us GP students have one more point to use in those essays)On a personal level, those canteen discussions we've been having the past few weeks have been really exciting, and I've never been so motivated to read the papers in my whole life, eager to keep up to date with the latest happenings. At home, the debate was furious, as some of the staunch PAP supporters amongst us suddenly found ourselves having to deal with an opposition advocate in our midst.

Much has been said about the crediility of this year's candidates, quite possibly epitomized by the WP's 'A' team which succesfully snatched Aljunied GRC by a sizeable margin, ousting Foreign Minister George Yeo from Parliament. The GRC system is an uniquely odd one, satirized most aptly, perhaps by a post on MM Lee's (presumably false) Twitter feed: "There should be one GRC with 87 seats." A system with the supposed intention of encouraging campaigning on multiracial platforms but also one which everyone knows was meant to ensure the continuity of PAP rule. But this time round, it has cost the PAP dearly. To be populist about it, was getting the likes of one Ms Tin Pei Ling into Parliament worth the sacrifice of a highly competent Minister who has served both loyally and well for so long?

I earnestly hope that this is a question the PAP ponders upon when the time comes for the next round of elections in 5 years time, rather than accusing the opposition of giving residents an emotional dilemma by fielding all their most competent candidates in the same GRC. Furthermore, victory margins are narrowing, I'm pretty sure the PAP doesn't want to lose more of its capable Ministers; which regardless how you slice it, IS a significant loss to our country.

All things said and done, life goes on. Our newly triumphant opposition MPs will have to prove that they can not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk as we embark upon a new chapter in Singapore politics, lest MM Lee's prophetic sounding Doomsday condemnation on the residents of Aljunied GRC were to really come true X) I dread to think what that particular outcome might herald for opposition politics in the future.

We shall see. And by then, I'll be of voting age, and will judge their success (or failure) for myself ;)