Make up your mind

(finally, there is some campaigning going on in town; here you see an open truck of the oppositional workers party..the main vehicle for campaigning as it seems)

THERE IS AN ELECTION? WHERE?

It has been a long way since the first rumors about an upcoming election in Singapore. On May 6, the first election since 2001 will be take place to decide who is going to be a member in the 84-person strong parliament. Currently, the ruling PAP (People Action Party) holds 82 of the seats, the remaining two belong to the opposition parties (two supposedly defiant constituencies are spearheading the oppostion…Putong Pasir and another one I forgot). By the way, voting is compulsory in Singapore. It is a civil duty and non-compliance is usually subject to punishment and fines..Therefore, an impressive voting turnout is guaranteed.

Singapore is nominally a multiparty nation. However, the PAP has been dominant since the country’s independence from Malaysia in 1965. During most of the time since then, Lee Kuan Yew has been the ‘father’ (Prime Minister) of this small country, shaping it and turning this former swampy village into a high-tech beacon in Asia.


A FEW WORDS ON OPPOSING...

Opposition Parties do not really stand a chance here. A few facts to support this (don’t sue me, I’m just a student ;-))

- Campaigning is only allowed during the last week before the election. Since the PAP has announced the election only a few weeks ago, there was probably not that much time to prepare an elaborate campaign anyway.

- Many constituencies do not even have an opposition candidate, which means that the seat goes to the PAP in an uncontested way. One reason is that most Singaporeans seem to live pretty well with the current situation. Since everybody knows the strength, power and influence of the ruling PAP, nobody really wants to cause trouble in the own constituency by electing a member of opposition. This might eventually fire back, because opposition will of course not get the same support. This could interfere with lifestyle or even financial budget..therefore, the normal Singaporan would probably not take any risk and sees no reason to vote for anything else but the PAP (if nothing really serious goes wrong). This 'vicious circle' will not break in the near future.

(The Workers Party, opposion party bulletin close to my place)

- Singaporeans are understandably quite happy with the current arrangement. The country’s economy is booming; it is a safe, beautiful and clean place. The educational system and infrastructure is exceptional in Asia and Singapore ranks second only to the USA when it comes to the question where big high-tech companies want to spend their investment. Most people do not really see need for change, since their lives continue to improve so rapidly.

Well, punishment practices (canings and death penalty….Singapore has way more executed capital punishments per capita than the State of Texas in the US) are still highly questionable for me. I certainly would not agree on the government basically owning all the media (Singapore’s ranking is even worse then Russia on the United Nations Freedom of the Press Index). You will not find criticism on the government in any available magazine or newspaper in town, which is not really conducive to achieving a lively and controversial debate during the election campaign. Currently, I would like to use an expression I learned during my studies to voice my impression: ‘Benevolent Dictatorship’ ...a society where a determined and undefeatable rulership indeed does what it considers best for its people. I leave it at that and hope that this will not stir something up. This is by no means a derogative article about Singapore...just an observation from a European point of view!

Greetings from New Zealand!

Maik