For the past few weeks since mid-March, I resolutely refused to read too much Singapore political news. Everywhere and everything is touting the Singapore elections, the candidates and their words. Everyone and their grandmothers' opinions are coming out of the woodwork. There's so much inherent racism, so much prejudices. It's absolutely dismal.
Our last General Election was held on 10 July 2020. Workers' Party (WP) made a huge win with Sengkang GRC. This is 2025. WP kept Sengkang GRC, and Aljunied GRC. I hope the electorate has done a better job of educating ourselves, especially with the ease of internet access and right to knowledge in this city.
I refused to read the 'he said, she said, they said' thingies. I'm keeping all my opinions to myself. I don't wish to discuss them, and I don't wish to discuss people I know, or how they would be in future. I'm more interested in watching the horror that's unfolding in Trump's 'America First' policies and how the Supreme Court is finally taking him on.
How I vote, is my business. Am I voting for the candidates in my GRC? Or am I voting for the incumbent and majority party? All I know is, I don't want to vote for clowns. Clowns may come from all parties. I'm in Tanjong Pagar GRC. I look at the contesting parties and I'm like, I don't have much of a choice, do I?
The country went to the polls on May 3, 2025. The sample count was fairly accurate. The actual results were posted shortly, and to a large extent, the overseas voters' choices, while important, didn't make any dent in the percentages, even for those in a close fight at maybe two GRCs and two SMCs. (Alamak, Jalan Kayu SMC, why like this.)
PAP got a total mandate of 65.57% of a supermajority. As expected. The opposition party, namely Workers' Party (WP) put up a good fight, and secured their spots too. They retained their GRCs, but didn't manage to sway hearts and minds in the other two they were fighting for. An aye-aye to all the women standing as candidates in the elections. As for those really weird-ass candidates from the other parties, I really don't know what those morons in the smaller opposition parties are doing.
What's scary, are the people/citizens who are completely politically apathetic. They live in the country, but refuse to vote or get themselves re-registered onto the electoral rolls. Their reason — 'I can't be bothered.' That is terrifying to me. I suppose if we're younger, we might just get away with it. But as we get older and more invested in making this country home, and wanting it to be better for future generations of Singaporeans, wouldn't it be worth our time to vote? When people say 'I'm not bothered', it opens my eyes to what these people care about exactly — not politics and not how the government works, and imho, are certainly a tad shortsighted. These people figured that they get all the benefits and none of the cons anyway. Riiiiight.
If these politically apathetic people live in a GRC that's being 'fought over', then their votes would have counted for something. It would have at least spoken their wish for PAP to stay stronger, or a desire to have a counterbalance. Many of us don't wish for chaos. The PAP ought to stop their 'know it all' attitude. Stop talking to us and make us feel like we're being scolded. WTF. We're not dumb. Stop trying to say you'll 'fix the opposition'. What on earth is there to fix. Work with alternative voices, engage civil society. A paternalistic and dictatorial government isn't what we want. Haven't our leaders learnt that by now?
I'm not disappointed with the results of this General Election. I didn't have any expectations. I had hoped a little, but it didn't feel too crushing when dreams didn't come true. The statistics told me that it's a tough dream. But looking at the numbers of how WP performed in Tampines and Punggol GRCs, it tells me that people are thinking, and thinking hard. The PAP shouldn't take it for granted that the electorate will allow gerrymandering if there's a worthy and measured opposition to the incumbent.
