We went to the polls on Friday 1 September 2023 to elect a new President. The electoral made our intentions clear. Of the three Presidential candidates, 70.4% of us eligible voters elected Tharman Shanmugaratnam as the ninth President of the Republic of Singapore.
Erm, hurrah? The 'campaigning' is such a non-event, and the period is too short for us to even evaluate the candidates. The candidates can't 'politicize' their campaigns!? (What an oxymoron.) Voting is such a personal thing, yet the power play to favour the majority party is so entrenched in the system. It's not a farce here in Singapore (yet), and whatever little power the electorate has, we must be sure to use it.
I have no illusions of change. The President is a figurehead without executive or legislative power. Well, he can ask all the questions he wants. But...... I just wanted to a human who wouldn't embarrass us on the international stage, someone who knows what he's talking about without utilizing toilet humor and given to misogynistic statements and trying to defend those.
My President can be a pineapple. Just don't be a clown. Remember this famous reply uttered by Heng Swee Kiat in 2019, one of the most cheena Ministers ever — 'that the older generation of Singaporeans isn't ready for non-Chinese PM' ? That made me so angry. I wanted my President-elect to be the Prime Minister. Alas it was not, and being a President isn't a consolation. IMHO, it's quite a waste of his considerable talents.
If I could have voted for a First Lady that comes with the President, without a doubt, Jane Ittogi would have my vote. She's a great communicator, involved in our independent arts scene, and comes across as very genuine, relatable and warm. She's a woman of our times; I really admire the relationship between her and her husband, our ninth President. Of course 8days already promptly penned lines and a pretty substantial article about the new First Lady's style and quickly published it once the elections results were firm.
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