TR EMERITUS

Five ordinary Singaporeans were fined either $500 or $600 each for walking casually from Hong Lim Park to Queenstown Remand Prison on Sept 16, 2007. They are leaders and supporters of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party - SDP chairman Gandhi Ambalam, assistant secretary-general John Tan, central executive committee member Chee Siok Chin and party supporters Yap Keng Ho and Chong Kai Xiong. They were initially acquitted by District Judge John Ng last" year who said in his written judgement that he did not consider the walk a "procession" which contravened the law as it did not cause inconvenience to the public, affect traffic flow or make noise which disturbed the public peace." An associate professor of NUS Law Faculty Ms Cheah Wui Leng told the Court that she had agreed with DJ Ng’s submissions “because no disturbance occured and that the respondents were sometimes in pairs and sometimes singly, the activity could not be interpreted as a procession.” She added: “It is respectfully suggested that the Miscellaneous Offences Act Rules refer to processions that are organised and cause-based nature, based on the findings of the lower court, the respondents’ behaviour does not fall within this definition.” Ms Cheah also wrote in her submissions the right to hold and participate in processions stems from the right to assemble 'peaceably and without arms' in Singapore's constitution: "Constitutional rights should be given a 'generous interpretation' (Ong Ah Chuan [1980-1981] SLR 48). This does not mean that constitutional rights are absolute in nature. However, it does mean that the court should adopt a protective approach towards rights. Restrictions of right should not be easily assumed." The Attorney-General Chambers disputed the verdict and appealed against their acquittal which was eventually overturned by High Court Judge Choo Han Teck. It is not known how much taxpayers' monies have been spent on the case which has dragged on for almost three years. The latest ruling is likely to put the Singapore's judicial system under international scrutiny again and serve only to illustrate the repressive laws put in place by the PAP to curtail the political rights of Singaporeans and to criminalize legitimate political activities. Though Singapore is a democracy in name, its political system resembles a totalitarian one-party state like North Korea with the ruling PAP controlling all institutions of the state. International NGO Human Rights Watch described Singapore as a "textbook example of a politically repressive state" in its latest annual report this year.   Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans.  Read More →

The announcement by the Public Transport Council that public transport fares will decrease by 2.5 percent from July this year has brought much relief to long-suffering Singaporeans who are stressed out by the relentless increase in the cost of living, but not many of them may benefit from the adjustments in prices. The decrease in fares are brought about by a change in the way the fares are computed - they will be pegged fully to distance travelled. PTC expects two in three commuters to pay less or see now change in their transport fees if they take transfers between buses or between buses and trains. The remaining one third who makes the distance in one single trip will end up paying about 31 cents more per week. The Straits Times reported that the change to distance-based fares will reduce the profits of SBS Transit and SMRT by $32 million dollars this year. Public transport fares in Singapore are regulated by the Public Transport Council which adjust the fares yearly based on a formula which factors in the wage and consumer price indexes. Prices have increased in the last two years due to rising fuel prices. There are also increasing number of complaints from Singaporeans that public transport is becoming more congested, caused partly by the influx of foreigners into Singapore. A Facebook group was even started a few months ago inviting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to take the MRT with ordinary Singaporeans.   Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans.  Read More →

By Gilbert Goh Fearful fickle-minded voters According to the latest Registers of Electors in 31 March 2010, a total of 2.311 million Singaporeans are eligible for voting (elections.gov.sg). During the last elections in 2006, a total of 2.150 million Singaporeans were eligible to vote. There is thus only a mere increase of less than 200,000 new voters comprising mostly of people turning 21 years old and foreign-born citizens subtracting those who have passed away or citizens who have moved abroad and did not register as electors. Many Singaporean voters, however, will have the unique opportunity of not being able to vote because of the walk-over phenomenon. 43% (936, 279) of eligible voters, during the last 2006 election, do not have to vote as their constituencies were not contested by an opposition candidate. Many eligible voters were unhappy and pinned the blame on the feeble opposition for not fielding in enough candidates to contest the elections. Our voters are also a fearful lot. During the last elections, there was much hype about the Singaporean voters wanting to vote for the opposition but changed their mind last minute at the polling station when they saw the serial number on the poll card. The government has always assured the voters that the serial numbers are there for registration purposes but due to the many dirty tactics of the government to curb political resistance, voters still fear that there will be targeted for voting reprisal if they voted for the opposition. No one has managed to soothe the nerves of the voters and it is unknown still how much percentage of votes are affected by this fear factor. However, in a closely-contested ward such as the one in Aljunied GRC, every vote counts and this fear factor should have benefit the ruling party considerably. As some voters also work in government-linked companies and others conducting business dealings with the government, this fear factor should be discounted flippantly. This fear factor, I believe, affects the older voters more as they grew up with the PAP and have witnessed how political dissidents have suffered during the past few decades when the ruling party is in power. The fear factor may not affect the younger voters much though and they will vote for the opposition without any deliberation. The government has also all along used estate upgrading to coerce the electors to vote for them. However, voters in the Potong Pasir and Hougang constituency did not waver and forfeited almost $100 million worth of upgrading goodies when they voted for the opposition parties. Nevertheless, such tactics may have worked well in other constituencies with older married voters who cared much for their prized assets. Who does not want a covered walk way and a better transport system in their estates?   Economic Factors – feel good effect The latest GDP figures are out and the economy grows by an astounding 32% during the last quarter. Economic growth has being revised upwards (7-9%) and re-employment has improved considerably. HDB and private home sales have also shot through the roof and prices have nowhere to go but up. Those who buy properties only a year ago can actually sell out now for a decent profit. The good old years are back again. Most governments know that when you hold an election during any booming economic period, the feel-good effect will naturally bring in lots of extra votes. The favourable economic factors will only directly benefit the ruling party when they call for an election now. The government has a weighted advantage here as they can claim credit for the rejuvenated economy though this may not be all true just as it could not be entirely blamed for a economic recession raging beyond it’s control last year. A economic recovery will only fan up the optimism of the people to vote for the same government that helps bring the feel-good sentiments now. The government has everything to benefit from a set of recently-announced prosperous economic factors when they call for an election. Singaporeans are a very pragmatic lot and they will vote for the party that have help them fatten their bank account even though it is for a season. A controlled press has also benefit the government much. A lot of propaganda is published in the official newspapers and this has helped the population to believe that the country is doing well. The government will naturally uses the press as its mouthpiece to trumpet the many achievements that it want the people to believe. For many Singaporeans, freedom of speech and other democratic values seem to be issues that are secondary when compared to more pragmatic pursuits such as a good job and decent salary. However, has our economy really emerge from the last recession unscathed? With growing frustration at the low salary executives are getting these days and under employment a real concern among professional workers, there is every reason to believe that there is a sizeable group out there who are not satisfied with the performance of the current regime even when the country is bathed in a set of rosy economic figures.   Political Candidates – familiarity helps The ruling party has managed to convince the voters that they have carried out laborious stringent selection processes when it comes to putting up the right political candidate for election. Many tea sessions were held before the right candidate is chosen and placed on the pedestal. Man for man, the opposition candidates will not be able to compete with that of the ruling party’s as bright capable people will prefer to join the PAP. Their selection pool will be obviously larger. The intimidating tactics used by the PAP to thumb down opposition candidates previously have also deter many people from joining opposition politics considerably shrinking the pool for selection. We are also unsure how the selection criterion of the opposition party is and only see them weeks before the elections. Constant chopping and changing of candidates also do not help in the familiarity factor here. Most of the MPs from the ruling party are there for at least two to three terms and voters know them very much through walk-about sessions and meet-the-people session (MPS). To voters, familiarity is important and when they see a trusted sincere face, they will vote for the candidate regardless of the party that he is affiliated with. However, we have seen from parliamentary debates, that the performance of the recent lot of new MPs remained sublime at best. Not only are they not well connected with the ground but they could not really think independently and tend to flow along with the views of the majority. Only one or two MPs managed to stand out from the mediocre lot notably Mr Inderjit Singh, MP for Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chun Kang GRC. He not only could speak eloquently but also did it for the welfare of the people and is not afraid to express his views though they were contrary to the ruling party’s stance. For example, he was the only MP who questioned the government’s continued dependence on foreign workers during the last parliamentary sitting when many other MPs supported the move. He reminded me of the popular MP Mr Tan Cheng Bock who never failed to speak his mind even if what he said was against the ruling party stand. Many voters actually patronized the opposition election rallies to see how the candidates fared. If he could speak eloquently and hold himself well, chances are people will vote for him especially when the voter has not pledge any allegiance to any party yet. Many people have told me that they wanted to vote in an opposition party candidate but after attending the rallies, they changed their mind. The opposition parties need to dig deep to search for capable matured candidates and not to take in anyone who want to stand for elections. Singaporeans who are abled and well educated also need to stand up and be counted. Singapore will be a better nation if we have a solid well-grounded opposition force in Parliament to check the current regime.   Civil Servants and foreign citizens – bonus votes The government has a 100,000-strong civil service base and most will certainly pledge alliance to the ruling party. Who will not vote in the one that feeds them especially when there are unfounded rumors that your vote could be traced? It will take the most die-hard fearless anti-PAP civil servant to vote for the opposition. So, the ruling party has a solid headstart it seems. More significantly, during the past four years immediately after the 2008 elections, the ruling party has aggressively brought in hundreds of thousands of foreigners with the main aim of converting them into citizens. As many as 100,000 foreigners were granted citizenship during the past few years, negating the effects of the new voting rights of the mostly anti-PAP overseas Singaporeans. Non-professional foreigners working in coffee shops, factories and cafes were granted citizenships with many first given permanent residences like “toilet paper”. The lax easy way in which foreigners were given permanent residences and then citizenships caused many people to suspect that it was a plot politically conjured by the government to gain votes. Moreover, not many overseas Singaporeans, numbering almost 100,000 or more, have registered to vote as the polling stations are too far for them to travel. The opposition parties must be disappointed to know that the ooverseas Singaporeans as a source of votes for them. The traditionally- strong civil service base and new foreigner citizens will critically improve the votes of the ruling party even though there is still the hot-button controversial foreigner factor. This issue will be a double-edged sword and will remain so until the last vote is cast. Will local Singaporeans used the foreigner issue to vote against the PAP or will foreign-citizen votes sufficient to help them retain power and improve on the GE 2006 performance? Your guess is good as mine.   Conclusion Many Singaporeans will, no doubt, be looking forward to the next general elections with glee. It is the first time that there is a serious enough issue to ensure that voters will want to use their votes to decide their own destiny. All along, previous general elections have used the more-opposition slogan to check the government in parliament. The situation is more dicey now as the general population’s rice bowl is severely affected by the influx of foreigners. Many Singaporean, displaced by cheaper younger foreigners in the work place, will not hesitate to cast their votes for the opposition given the opportunity. Starting salaries of those who found new jobs have also being much lower than in their previous jobs and under employment is also a serious issue. When the pocket is hurt, pragmatic Singaporeans will want to show their displeasure by voting for the opposition. Tens of thousands of new younger voters have also come into the picture now and they may not show kind of the fear that older voters have when it comes to voting for the opposition. A majority of them will want to see more democratic reforms in the country given their exposure to Western-styled values through the media and internet. Major online socio-political blogs such as The Online Citizen and Temasek Review have gained much readership recently and fearlessly talked about political reforms undeterred. Though the opposition may realistically win one or even two GRCs, my fear is that it will not change the status quo very much. The ruling party will as usual comes into power even before a vote is cast and they will rule for another five years with its hybrid oppressive democratic system unless the other main player – the opposition – decides to change tactics and do something drastically different from previous elections.     Other articles by Gilbert Goh: >> Five reasons why it is difficult to dislodge the PAP from power (Part 1) >> Upgrading out of employment: Is it possible? >> Eight reasons why foreign workers will be preferred over local ones   About the Author: Gilbert Goh blogs at transitioning.org, a support site for the unemployed and retrenched in Singapore. It is a non-profit registered societyproviding counselling and group activities free of charge to Singaporeans who need them. The above article was sent to us for publication and was initially published on Gilbert’s site.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans.   Copyright © 2009 – 2010 The Temasek Review (If you are going to reproduce this article on your blog or forum, please provide a link back to ours)   Related articles: >> The scourge of personality-driven politics within the Singapore opposition >> Triggering the Singapore political tsunami with a highly motivated minority >> Singaporeans think highly of opposition’s chances in next general election >> What will happen to Singapore if the opposition wins the next general election >> Dr Ng Eng Hen welcomes greater contest from opposition >> Chee slammed again for introducing confrontational politics in Singapore >> Lim Hwee Hua: opposition “trying” to work the ground for next GE >> Let the next GE be a primer for Singapore’s own political tsunami >> Are opposition MPs becoming redundant in Singapore ? >> Why do we need so many strawberry PAP MPs in Parliament? >> PAP MPs complain of fast-pace of parliamentary debates >> Why PAP MPs are no more but a “wayang” >> A disaster in the making: PAP’s “instant tree” mentality >> Yes-men PAP MPs embarrassed themselves by saying instinctively “yes” to wrongly reduce budget  Read More →