As polling day draws near, I pondered my duty as a citizen and although I had a fairly good idea which party I would be voting for, I felt a need to give myself a chance to hear out the incumbent PAP candidates one more time before going to the ballot box. It would also give me a chance to get a sense of the ground at my constituency (not that this has a bearing on how I will vote but more out of curiosity), the newly formed electoral division of Marsiling-Yew Tee.
So on Saturday, 5 September 2015, after dinner, I headed to the PAP rally at Choa Chu Kang Secondary School with my wife and two sons. A fairly decent crowd gathered with several rows of chairs set up right at the front of the stage all already occupied by the early birds.
As I listened to the rousing speeches of the PAP candidates, in particular Mr Alex Yam and Mr Lawrence Wong, my thoughts drifted back to my personal encounters with them. Mr Alex Yam is the MP for my ward, Yew Tee. He has a calm demeanour, his face always wearing a warm, welcoming smile. He has a kind heart and a willingness to listen and help the sick and the disadvantaged in his ward. He always has a warm greeting for my wife and son whenever he meets them at community functions, calling them by their names. Under his leadership, Yew Tee is being slowly transformed into a humane and compassionate community.
Just citing 2 examples of this, which he recounted during his rally speech – The first, about how his grassroots people tried to help a girl, suffering from kidney failure, to get a kidney transplant was especially heart-warming. When a kidney with a right match was finally found, the hospital said that it required a kidney to be donated in return which the girl’s mother readily agreed to. Unfortunately, her mother grew very ill and was not able to donate her kidney, thus scuppering the girl’s hopes of a kidney transplant. Mr Yam went on to state that he will be launching a scholarship under the girl’s name (I assume she has passed on), to be given to 30 students with no bonds to serve other than to commit to 30 hours of community service.
The other example Mr Yam cited was that of a girl who is suffering from a disease, which results in severe fits, bone fragility, anaemia and enlargement of the liver and spleen. She requires a special milk powder which is very expensive and once again Mr Yam went to his constituents for help (see video below).
Video credit: People’s Action Party Facebook
Besides his compassion for the unfortunate, Mr Yam showed courage in 2013 when he spoke about his conviction to flush out loans sharks and runners from his constituency. Then he had posted on his Facebook page, “You threaten my residents, means you threaten me and my 500 volunteers. I don’t like threats and we certainly don’t take them lying down.”
My encounter with Mr Lawrence Wong was a very brief one, during a youth film awards event by SCAPE, last month. However, even in that brief time, he struck me as a friendly, sensible, open man who showed a genuine interest in the people he was speaking to and what they had to say.
Before the skeptics reading this post conclude that I am just another feeble minded voter with an irrational fear of supporting the opposition even if they are responsible and have the heart to serve the people, let me just say this. I do have a lot of empathy for what some opposition party candidates say they want for the people of Singapore. Several members of the Workers Party, SDP and DPP, have put forth some very compelling ideas on how to improve our health, transport, social, immigration and foreign labour policies even if they may lack the financial wherewithal of implementing those policies.
Nonetheless, these are policy ideas that, I believe, will make even the PAP sit up and take notice. But isn’t that what the elections are about and should be? Political gladiators battling each other in the arena of ideas seeking to outwit their opponents by exercising their art of persuasion and thereby drawing the greatest applause from the spectators (the people). This is one election, where I can say we Singaporeans can be proud of because our country has matured enough to have a system that allows such a contest of ideas with both the PAP and opposition candidates not taking each other for granted but engaging each other on substantive issues.
But besides the core, substantive issues being debated during this elections, we also see several opposition candidates calling for a more humane and compassionate society where we look out for each other, where we seek to progress together. One example of this is SDP’s Dr Chee Soon Juan when he highlighted the collective pursuit of happiness in our society is possible through a story about African children involved in an anthropological study.
And then there is SPP’s Mr Benjamin Pwee (DPP Sec-Gen running under the SPP banner), who said that in the final analysis what people yearn for is to have an MP who will listen, who has empathy and with whom they can connect with.
Video credit: Inconvenient Questions – http://inconvenientquestions.sg
So then I pondered again – isn’t it interesting that when we strip away all the political posturing, loud theatrics of animated speeches at rallies and the colourful use of allegorical language to represent ideas and/or to denounce opponents – when we strip all that away – what people deep down, really want is to connect with their MP in a way that they feel they are being listened to and that their MP possesses compassion and values of humanity that they hope to get comfort from not just individually but as a society. And if you managed to experience that with The Worker’s Party candidate or a Singapore Democratic Party candidate and after much thought you want to vote for him or her, then I say so be it and I trust that you have done right by yourself and your dependents.
Well, there is one more day of electioneering to go and more chances for us all to get a measure of the PAP and all the other opposition parties. Even if that maybe the case, based on my personal experiences with the incumbent MP in my GRC, Mr Alex Yam, I see very little reason for a change in who I want representing me in Parliament. You see, like most people, I sense a connection with my MP and I know that he has the people’s welfare at heart. No prizes for guessing which party I will be voting for come 11 September 2015.
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