General Election 2011 - Personal thoughts

Here're my personal thoughts on this GE.

Right to vote:
For the first time, I'm able to vote, and I'm in the Marine Parade GRC. It has helmed by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and it was considered suicidal for any opposition party to go against the PAP. Due to heightened political awareness, most of the seats (82 out of 87) were contested and the majority of Singaporeans are able to vote. (2.2million eligible voters!)

Nicole Seah versus Tin Pei Ling
Tin 'Kate Spade' Pei Ling is perhaps the most famous topic in this election other than Workers' Party win in Aljunied GRC. I don't subscribe to slamming her like many netizens did. Standing out as a candidate takes courage, even if it's tagging onto SM / PAP, or 'connected husband', or a dangling $15k/mth paycheck. It's a lesson for everyone (including Pei Ling) and quitting now or over the next 5 years will be a mistake on her part. If she does fail in the duties, I'm sure PAP will drop her anyway. In the 'pink' corner, we have a 24 year old Nicole Seah of the NSP, who speaks and presents herself well and has won over the hearts of many netizens. Overall I'd say TPL's appearance is a good overall event for Singapore in general, as it brings out what a percentage of the public wants to hear, and PAP as well as everyone else will learn a lot from this, that a politician's background needs to be squeaky clean (one can't been seen with branded products). TPL in government is a good thing, to see if the young can lead, and this will further make PAP thing deeper and create better policies in future. Nicole is the example of what other Singaporeans can do, that we do need people (especially the young) to step forward to take the lead, instead of simply venting off online. Nicole is a fine example Charisma, (Lacking in Pei Ling). This point is not brought up, but rather her string of materialistic persona which was constantly under attack. Charisma, heart to lead, squeaky clean backgrounds are the key factors in to be a successful politician. Ivy league certs, generals from Government and a ton of PSC scholars might not guarantee the Singapore's future

Future of Singapore
Can Singapore take a two-party/coalition government like the US/UK? Can people seriously imagine that the WP wins say 20 seats in 2016? Will Singapore be seriously a 'better' place? Personally I doubt it. I do agree that the many policies (such as liberal immigration policies especially to attract foreigners to take up tertiary education) are over-zealous and needs to be re-looked. Change is happening too fast and I doubt that Singaporeans can adapt fast enough in terms of to the policies on the ground as well as the changes in government. Hence the verdict is out, that Singaporeans want a slower rate of growth with feet more firmly planted to the ground.

Majulah Singapore!