2 down. Just left 2 to choose.....

This post is about politics in Singapore so again, if you are not interested, please redirect to somwhere else :)  

 

I loved political forums and I am so happy TOC managed to rope in all the 4 Tans for a good face to face debate.  If you, as a voting Singaporean have not watch the videos, I implore you to take some time to watch these 2 parts of the forum to have a better understanding of our 4 candidates.

 

Part 1

Part 2

In my previous post, I mentioned that all 3 candidates besides Tony Tan are credible and are much much better options as an elected, independant President.  This was a pre-conceived idea from the information I have gathered from online readings of their blogs and other writings by their respective supporters.  

But there are some very fundamental answers to certain particular principles and beliefs I have that I wished the other 3 candidates would answer before I could make a sound decision.  And all thanks to the TOC forum, I have more or less reduce the 3 Tans to become 2 Tans (actually more or less have decided on mine but I still want to know more of the 2 left. :)

As I have known all along, Dr TT was the usual PAP puppet, he beats around the bush on certain tricky questions and his views are the exact same copy of our ruling gahment.  

The one that surprises me most in this forum was Dr Tan Cheng Bock.  I actually like that guy (so was my sister).  I do have some reserves at first as he was still a bit tad too close to the ruling party but hey, so is the later Mr Ong Teng Cheong.

He did an amazing job in the 1st part of the video.  Such as seperation of PMO from Istana,  removing the election department to be under the PMO and directly under the President and etc.  It was really good stuff and his composure and the way he carrys himself was flawless.  I was truly impressed!

Then part 2 came yesterday and I found myself totally in shock.  This joker just shot himself with a handgun (and a bazooka later :P ) and that's it, he's out of my list.

He made 2 points that gave me the decision not to choose him.

Firstly, the death penalty.  He beats around the bush a bit but finally gave his final thought that he accepts it as a form of punishment and he would not even consider it to table a change in our harsh mandatory death penalty law in Singapore.  This is totally against my belief so I was a bit dissapointed.  If he did mentioned that he plans to bring it up to the PMO on looking into tweaking this issue or like TKL's smarter answer (totally forgoing the President's role in who is going to the gallows) then I might still give him some chance.  But the way he answers tells me he is just not going to rock the boat on this issue.  As I have once said, no human being has the morale judgement to end another person's life.  

The 2nd one is the killer.  At 1:00 hr where a lady asked about women involving in politics (especially in higher decision making roles)  Even Tony Tan did a wonderful job in handling this question.  But Dr Tan Cheng Bock has to shoot himself with a bloody Bazooka!  What did he say?

 He said:"Well, I think its a difficult area for women in Singapore, it's because the commitment is really heavy, so you need to get your permission from your husband."   

Then the crowd goes... Whoooaaaaaaaa.. I had to rewind the tape a few times to confirm what I heard.  This old joker is a classic male chauvanist in the new age!  Which independant and strong modern woman would vote for such a person???  My sister defintely won't after she heard this and she express shock and disbelief.

What's even more funny is that he knew he screwed up big time and while Dr Tony Tan quickly added a point (to save him from total embarresment I guess) that he's confident that one day there will definitely be a women PM or President in Singapore.  Dr Tan CB quickly agreed to this.  This is uber sad.  This is so low..  This is so PAP like...

Then it dawned on me, he's just another President who will not rock the boat enough.  He will try to persuade and inform but once he gets shot down.  He would either keep quiet or quit (as in he mentioned he will quit if has a great disagreement with the gahment) .  In short, my feeling is that he will not try hard enough to do something about it.  This is my reading and understanding of this man from the results of this forum.

Again, these are all my personal views and judgment call.  Although Dr TCB is out of my list but I still think he is still much better then choosing Dr TT.   So vote wisely my fellow Singaporeans.  Choose a President that could represent your beliefs and principles rather than who can really win Dr TT.