Polling Day

Today is polling day. And this time round, it's not just any usual General Election which is just basically a series of walkovers. This time, it's a watershed election where every constituency except for Mr Lee's Tanjong Pagar GRC is being contested. This is a full-scale nation-wide battle and the opposition is seeing their biggest opportunity to gain more grounds for the first time ever.

The current ground sentiment seems to be a brewing cauldron of discontent and it seems that the voices speaking out have gotten much much more braver and vocal as lots of folks are hurling comments of discontent and anger (and to some extent, even hatred) against a certain party.

I actually find that to be quite shocking, especially the no-holds barred comments sections of political articles on the big bad Net. It seems like the shackles of silent fears of reprisals, real or imagined, which have existed for generations since our independence are being broken. In the past, voices of discontent were hushed and kept at a low profile within cautious whispering circles and behind closed doors. This time though, it's like a sudden massive jailbreak.

And the head honcho of the ruling party actually issued threats to the people of Aljunied GRC which quickly got turned into jokes regarding repentance and brought out defiance from the Aljunied folks instead of submission. Quite a mess but an inevitable one, me thinks; something born out of the new media; a defiant yearning for changes to the status quo and more concrete and audible say against the current policies.

And new 'heroes' like Nicole Rebecca Seah from the NSP and Chen Show Mao from The Workers' Party are winning the hearts & minds of the people with their humility and down-to-earth perspectives (though some may not agree of course, but that's alright).

People are pissed about the seemingly uncontrolled influx of foreign workers caused by seemingly too-loose open-door and labour policies that allow for any Tom, Dick & Harry to come in willy-nilly and some local folks are saying their rice bowls have been taken away from them and given to the foreigners.

And on that note, I just want to mention here that I have nothing against the foreigners, since given an opportunity for better living and earnings, anyone would be attracted to carve a better life for oneself in more promising pastures. If anything is to be blamed for this which has also given rise to overcrowding on this island-state, it's the policies, in my humble opinion.

Afterall, if the gatekeepers didn't open the gates so damn wide, it's not like the foreigners would batter their way in.

There are also other factors like the mega losses of taxpayers' monies by TH, the CPF issue as well as the obscenely inflated prices of HDB flats which are supposed to provide affordable housing for the true-blue citizens. So lots of folks are expecting the opposition parties to gain more grounds this GE.

So I have up till 1900pm to cast my vote at the polling station assigned to my block, which is just a minute's walk away at this multi-purpose hall area.

Even though it's the weekend, the absolutely worst time to go to the polling station is during the morning, since majority of the people here seem to be inflicted with the societal disease to must be first in every fucking thing they do, even if it doesn't give them any discernible or concrete advantage (my Lioness and her mum had to go in the morning and she confirmed with me regarding the huge crowd and long queue).

What, cast your vote in the afternoon and it will automatically become void?

Disclaimer: The statements above are only directed at the inconsiderate folks who don't have to work today and have no reason to rush but do so anyway for no other reason than to be the first in line, causing people who have to rush to work more time inconveniences.

So I took my own sweet time and got up in the afternoon, had a nice cup of coffee and a shower before heading to the polling station at past 1600pm. And when I got there, there was no crowd; I got to the ballot box less than a minute or so upon arrival and there was only a woman ahead of me in the queue I was in.

The Polling Station with the red-tiled roof

That night, the polling results were finalized live on national TV and the ruling party garnered 60.1% of the votes - their all-time historical low. Lots of comments were posted on Facebook as each constituency's result was announced and most of the posted comments were frustrated and cynical. I posted pieces of my mind all over the place too. And oh, they lost a GRC to the opposition for the very first time - Aljunied GRC. I wonder why.

Can I take my tongue out of my cheek now?

So who did I vote for? No telling, our votes are secret. Whoever you have voted for, irregardless if it was the ruling party or the opposition, I hope you are happy about it. If not, blame either your misjudgment or your cowardice, whichever is the case.

Correction: if you think you have casted your vote wrongly based on misjudgment, don't blame yourself too much. Just be more informed and exercise more prudence during the next election in 2016.

And open your eyes wide and look around you while you're at it.

If you have voted out of cowardice because you were too afraid to follow what you thought was right for the nation as a collective whole, rather than just your constituency, you have the next 5 years to repent.

And go grow a fucking spine while you're at it.


- De Lion Speaks