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Saturday, Aug 01, 2020 - 00:35 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

General Elections 2020

Just a short round-up on the local elections, after the worst of it has cooled down (i.e. the flood of police reports towards the end). It was mostly as-foreshadowed here - largely status quo, with Chad Jamus into Parliament via a cheering Sengkang GRC, because let's be honest here: is being described as a "lite" version, actually bad in these belt-tightening days? I don't know about you, but to me, that sounds like an invitation to obtain most of the performance, for half the price (further significance later). How many wouldn't want in on that deal?

Y'all know the results, no doubt: after all the muzzling of clever high school students (who famously and accurately MAGA2016-ed), personal attacks and not-so-subtle hinting at the necessity of a strong mandate (with CCS the victim of another leak on taking advantage of another crisis like they did LKY's passing), the incumbents were confronted with one of their lowest vote shares ever (61%), with the WP entrenching themselves in Aljunied GRC, and moreover taking Sengkang GRC to boot. Not only that, they came within a whisker of losing both the West and East Coast GRCs - the former to hypebeast uncle Tan and his merry band - with the SDP continuing to crawl towards general respectability, and perhaps finally a seat.

In the aftermath, the parties that missed out have begun selling their posters and mashed potatoes to help make ends meet, while perhaps brushing up on their second-language diction (but seriously, some kudos to Charles Yeo there for daring to take the podium; was slightly taken aback when the WP skipped the Mandarin debates due to self-admitted inadequate proficiency. Yeo then got more bonus points for calling out the "158 ranked state media" for FAKE NEWS). Others, like Jamus who really shone in the debates (with some detractors), will now have to carry on from having one's heart's cockles warmed (trivia: a phrase utilized here not all that long ago), to delivering on promises.

The incumbents cannot have missed the writing on the wall, that said - blatant gerrymandering and upgrading carrot/sticks are unlikely to continue being effective, and a problem with the GRC system is that, if it allows a party to claim 90% of the seats with just over 60% of the votes, that same party could be shut out with a bare 10% of the seats with 40% of the votes. Sure, this may not happen the next election, or even the one after that, but as Dr. Catherine Lim and others have noted, the current scholar-eunuch toe-party-line culture of the PAP has become totally uncool, and let's just say that New York Times-style FAKE NEWS propaganda and spin is beginning to turn quite a lot of people off, from what I've observed.


Don't worry too much about phonetical accuracy in translating names, the semantics are probably rather more important
[N.B. Maybe an app to do this phonetic-semantic balancing one day?]
(Source: reddit.com)


On this, the incumbents appear to have conceded an olive branch of sorts, in formally designating WP chief Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition, which comes with staff support, a doubled allowance and additional parliamentary privileges (which will hopefully allow him to veto responses such as "what is the point of this question?"). Singh wasted no time in handling the subject of the allowance by pledging to donate the extra to the poor, which while not quite at the level of GEOTUS TRUMP yet, remains well worthy of applause. This act was coincidentally followed by the PM's wife pointing out that many have donated privately, and the PM adding an appeal for public officials to be paid what they're worth, to prevent them from camouflaging their compensation. Fair enough, one supposes, but as one wit figured: what about the Second Lady, then?

Anyhow, the incumbent party are left with a number of headaches, one of the largest of which must be their succession plan. This had notably never been much of a problem, because recall the circumstances of our three Prime Ministers thus far: the incomparable LKY was, of course, LKY, then we simply needed a competent fellow to keep the seat warm for awhile, before the current PM could ascend (who, as the elder Lee was wont to say, would have certainly gotten the post earlier had they not been related, a verdict definitely untainted by a father's love). This triumvirate of the Father, the Son and the Holy Goh has kept Singapore floating up till today, whatever else what one might say.

The big problem is that a clear option has not presented itself, as coffeeshop talk has it. Supposedly, Heng's nice and smart and a team player (evidenced by him taking the East Coast bullet) and all, but one can't shake the feeling that he might be eaten alive by the sharks on the international stage, without going into how he's holding a mere three-plus percent margin in his constituency (but, at least, he's got The Plan for that). CCS, the other favourite, seems to have more "seh" and be somewhat more decisive (keechiu!), but also seems to have his fair share of detractors (all those leaks!)

Amonst the dark horses, there's Tharman for a one-term bridge as always, but he has said he doesn't want it, the current DPM has said that elderly locals aren't ready for him, and he's busy carrying Jurong GRC by himself anyway (on Ivan being presented as part of the winning team, I can kind of see the logic there - as assurance that the party won't just dump its members). Going further, there's TCJ, who's been whispered to be just a little too religious maybe, and probably not enough of a party man anyhow. Lawrence Wong has been mentioned on and off, and Balakrishnan might have had a shot at going the Obama route - but being viewed as condescending doesn't play well these days. Then again, foreign affairs is probably where all the action will be at, for the forseeable future...

Because make no mistake - it might not feel so yet, but this is almost certainly the most dangerous period the nation has had to weather, since our independence in 1965. There were the Brits for a few years after that, then a hop over to the Yanks, and then coasting as the third point in a triangle with America and China afterwards. I'm not saying that it was easy - there were plenty of little nudges and shoves - but nothing that was irreconcilable, because the giants were making nice (and profits hand over fist), after all. For the first time in our history, this is likely not to apply any longer, and those that insist on clinging to old ideas of how the world should work, might find themselves re-learning many very hard truths about realpolitik and the position of tiny city-states within such, from scratch.



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