chapter 4-When the dust have settled

Yesterday marked the end of Singapore general election 2006. For me, this year general election is very special in the sense that it could possibly be the first and last time that I get to vote. In a way, I am thankful to the WP for giving me this rare chance to vote as my constituency- Ang Mo Kio GRC has never been contested till this year. Although already a regular follower of news, the thrill of being able to vote had caused me to follow news of rallies and the speeches given by the various parties even more religiously. In this year election, I am particularly interested to find out the results of Potong Pasir and my own consituency. Potong Pasir interest me because I am curious as to whether the residents in Potong Pasir will be able to resist all the temptations rolled out by the PAP government and also will the residents continue to support their 'old' MP Mr Chiam See Tong who have been with his residents through thick and thin for a staggering 22 years! The result released yesterday however has once again reaffirmed Mr Chiam position in the hearts of the residents there as he won about 55% of the vote(even more than the last election!) showing that "heartware" is certainly more important than "hardware" for the residents in Potong Pasir even with the support from SM Goh for the PAP candidate Mr Sitoh. As for my own constituency Ang Mo Kio GRC, I personally feel that the young team of candidates from the WP are least already worth crediting them for the fact that they as a first timers actually "dared" to challenge the PM, Mr Lee Hsien Loong team who prior to this election has never been challenge before. Whatever the reasons given by the WP for fielding this young team, I think the residents here are just grateful for the chance to finally being able to vote. The chance to vote however has prompted me to think of issues that I would never have thought of before such as whether I would want to give the opposition a chance to manage our estate. To me, although the PAP have the fund to upgrade the facilities in the neighbourhood, it is still nonetheless important to have oppositions in the parliment to keep the government in check. What is more important is the fact that how many of us would want to(or should I say are willing to)sacrifice facilities upgrading just for the sack of sending a opposition or a team of opposition to the parliment? I think that in this aspect, I could be quite selfish in the sense that although I really want at least an opposition in the parliment, I would be very hesistant to vote for them if they really come to contest in my constituency as in this year scenario. In another word, although I want opposition to be present in the parliment, I would very much rather prefer other people in other areas to send them into the parliment while I can continue to enjoy the "privilege" of being in the dominant party ward. YES, this is indeed a selfish and even self-centred notion that I haboured and I am definitely ashamed to admit it.Therefore, in a way, I really admired the courage and decisiveness of the residents in both Hougang and Potong Pasir who have repeatly"sacrifice"themselves for the benefits of Singaporeans although the credits of their MPs should also not be neglected.

Having said that, you could imagined how difficult it is for me to make up my mind who to vote over the past few days and to be honest, a decision was made only on the polling day itself.On one hand, I would want to acknowledge the contributions made by the PAP in my ward over the past few years but yet on the other hand being a fervent supporter of giving people chance, I also want to give the WP a chance to prove themselves and also to laud their effort of daring to fail. As to you guys wondering where my vote goes to, let's just say that it went to the party whom I certainly think deserved more!