The Four Tans.

Politics again!!!  Do quickly close this tab or browser if you heck care about the upcoming Singapore Presidential Election.  If you are really interested in my opinion, go ahead. :)

 

I'm writing this piece because a lot of my friends are asking for my opinion and again, I hate repeating myself so I post here and ask you all to read my blog instead :P.  Its a big event this time as there will be four contestants, not just 2.  If 2, it will be easy lah.  You guys/gals will know I anti-establishment (especially PAP gahment) so generally I would vote for the "other" one that is not endorsed by PAP.

Well, it really depends.  As the President is supposes to be independant.  And the late Mr Ong Teng Cheong has proven to us that although he was a former PAP and strongly endorsed by the PAP ghament, he still stood up for us and had a good brief "encounter" with the PAP gahment last time.  So to be fair, I don't just brush off Dr Tony Tan yet :).  I need to research a bit first ,and thats what I think all of us as a responsible citizen of Singapore should do.

If the candidate is truly independant.  Then its a non-issue at all if he has been a PAP member.  And actually, out of the 4 of them, only Tan Jee Say (TJS) is not a former PAP member.  But TJS also joined SDP during our latest election leh... so oso not that independant.  The major concern here is partisan politics should not be brought into the PE.  Its a different thing totally.  So if you start off from this point by understanding the underlying concept that PE is supposed to be non partisan, then it will be easier for you to choose.

From recent reports from TOC, TR, FB postings and even the main stream media.  We could already see that although PE is a non-partisan election, it has turned out to be Anti-PAP versus the Pro PAP camp again.  Not that healthy and smart actually and this is quite bad for our political awakening as an apathetic Singaporean.

So here's my breakdown of the current situations and see if you guys could guess who I am voting for :P

Dr Tony Tan
From what I gathered, he's a bit too close to the PAP and has the most number of "Unions" supporting him.  One of my friend and I chuckled when he mentioned that its the first time he realised we have so many "Unions" in Singapore.  From his past acheivements, I would say frankly that while he was the Minister of Defence, he did brought in a lot of good changes to the military and NS benefits.  But that was just the past, we need to look at his future post and frankly, I would say he's suitable for the job (for his stylo milo hairstyle and looks) rather than substance.  If our President is a figurehead with no absolute power, I actually dun mind him being our President.  But that is not the case actually, our President do have some limited powers ands o definitely, I won't be voting for him :P

So one out,  3 more to go and this is the tricky part.  All 3 of them to me are credible and much more independant then the former.  So I would vote any of the 3.  But I am not going to tell you which one I picked :P  hehehe

A lot of people say because of so many choices, the opposition votes are diluted and the above mentioned DR TT would win.  Maybe so but I sincerely believe we should choose on our own beliefs rather than being irrational and think that we have to have anyone beside Dr TT as our President.  That means asking around and see who people might vote and ask them to change allegiance.  Or worst still, asking 2 of the candidates to withdraw from the race.  (Luckily no one did!)  This is in my view, a bit shallow and not that good for politics to flourish in Singapore.  This is partisan politics and we should avoid it at all cost.  

People have their own minds and we need to repect their choices.  That is true democracy.  Althought sometimes I bad mouth those 60% who voted for the PAP in the last election in my blog of FB.  I sincerely don't blame them as it's their vote and choice.  I just do that for my own amusements and fun (rather unlike Thailand where they march the streets and stage military coups).  I also take my benefit of doubt that they had made their decisions through rational and informed choice rather fear and plain ignorance.  I sincerely hope the next 5 years will be better and there are some positive changes I see in recent events.  Maybe we just give them more time? 

So 3 Tans for me to choose.  Maybe I should take out my D&D dice to do some rolling.. :P