The Eve Of The 42nd National Day

A month ago in my "Xiao Ren Wu De Xin Sheng (Voices From The Heart)" entry, I touched on "IF" I were to run for politics in Singapore.

It's actually a daydream of mine to visualise what kind of MP I would become.

It would be a calling to serve the people. However, there are the people of the constituency that I represent and there are the people of the country. While there is an overlap, the perspective and motivation from these two angles are vastly different.

Singapore has seen a lot of changes over the years. We struggled initially during the 60s and 70s but we started to ascend rapidly during the 80s and 90s. Lyrics from songs like "Stand Up For Singapore", "One People, One Nation, One Singapore", "Count On Me Singapore" as well as "Five Stars Arising" were cheesy and tacky at best but yet I remembered we sung them with a lot of heart as we believed every word.

Sadly, this feeling is fast fading despite the Gahmen's consistent good marks on the report card. Quite an irony considering the fact this is the very same Gahmen that guided us safely through the Asian financial crisis and yet the discontent is outbreaking like a bad case of acne.

Why is that?

I was watching the movie "Hot Fuzz" and the answer came right up.

Everything was done and implemented in the name of the "greater good". While that may ring true, has the Gahmen ever consult the feelings and opinions of the people that pay their salary?

Everything just go ahead and do. Integrated Resort, GST, ERP just to name a few. Ever paused to check what the people have to say?

Harlow? Eat glass grow up one har? Transparent har?

Yah lah.... everything they say is for the greater good but got check at what price or not? The common people all end up like sacrificial pawns. Machiam our suffering is mere collateral damage to win the greater war.

Then came the latest buzzword. Elites. It is machiam like all these new initiatives are first and foremost for the benefits of the elites and then we get whatever's leftover from there. To top it off, we have to be eternally grateful to the Elites and promise them our corneas, kidneys, livers (unless we opt out).

OK, enough about that and coming back to my day dream. To me, running to be an MP is about the people in my constituency that I represent. Something that Low Thia Kiang and Chiam See Tong has demonstrated to great effect.

For me, I would move and live in my constituency, even if it means paying rental for the entire 5 year of my tenure. More if re-elected. That way, if your rubbish chute is choked. My rubbish chute is choked. If your car is vandalised, my car probably suffers the same fate as well. If your elevator has piss, my elevator has piss.

Ok, I think you get the picture liao.

I would want to be where my people are, drink what my people drink and breathe what my people breathe.
Perhaps I would make a very unambitious politician where I am perhaps simply contented to be a Kampung Chief, enjoying a void deck wedding, rather that climbing my way to a ministerial post. But one thing is for sure, I will refused to go via the GRC backdoor. If want to run, let's do a one-to-one showdown if need be. Not interested in riding the PM, or MM or SM or whateverM's ticket.

Whatever it may be, this is all but a daydream for I foresee my chances of entering politics as close to zero.
Too many scandals lah! =P

Image Credits: http://www.potongpasirtc.org, http://www.mptc.org.sg, http://www.moviegod.de

- Voxeros

1. Gary left...

Wednesday, 8 August 2007 8:55 pm

what worries me at the moment is the income gap.. the poor get poorer.. the rich get richer..

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 9 August 2007 2:59 pm :: 

Gary: Well, there are 2 types of poor here. One is those who have met with unfortunate circumstances and got beaten down. The other is those who just sit around whine all day about their misfortune. Instead of doing something about it, they just sit around waiting for Gahmen handouts.

I will refuse help to the latter and let them carry on to be poor.

3. sunflower left...

Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:38 am

I heart Chiam See Tong and Goh Chok Tong and our late president, Ong Teng Cheong. These are all people minister... work for ppl not themselves =)

4. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 14 August 2007 1:10 pm :: 

Sunflower: Unfortunately, they are near the twilight of their respective careers and I don't see any of the new MPs coming close to what they had achieved.