Will u Vote for PAP or Opp?
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Originally posted by 4sg:
Something for you to cool down during cooling period:-
Vote For Change 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y9TxiEYo7ww
Vote For Chnage 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p1tzIRkIFs0
Darth Vader PAP supporter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v53_cx1gC9I&feature=player_embedded
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Andrew Loh /
In the last five years or so of being involved with The Online Citizen (TOC), I have had the opportunities to meet with and work with many people. It is privilege indeed. These are people in flesh and blood who have taught me many things. Their situations, predicaments and plights have been instructive to me and those at TOC.
As I ponder on the General Election, I recall these people whom I met, the stories they told me, the looks on their faces, in their eyes, the children whom they have. The helplessness they felt, the indignity they were subjected to. How the sense of abandonment was so acute for them.
There are many policies and practices of the People’s Action Party Government which directly contribute to these. The Government is not unaware of these faulty and discriminatory policies and practices, yet it has either dismissed these out of hand or has plainly ignored them even when they were brought to their direct attention.
In
2009, I was attending a funeral at Lim Chu Kang cemetery. While the
rituals were being performed, I noticed a row of buildings at the other
end of the cemetery. A curious sight. I made a mental note to return
the next day and find out what those buildings were. As it turned out,
they were dormitories for foreign workers. I was truly shocked when I
found this out. My friend Damien and I wrote a report about this: Social isolation – left among the dead.I wondered in that report: “While one can understand the shortage of space in Singapore to provide housing for these workers, one wonders if siting their living quarters in an isolated area of Singapore and within a cemetery with little amenities and with the nearest bus stop some 5 km away, is a “humane” solution…”
While the Government insists that foreign workers are crucial to our progress, the treatment of these workers, who are paid as little as S$2.20 an hour for heavy menial work, is tantamount to the treatment of slaves. Indeed, some have called such treatment modern slavery. TOC has highlighted and reported numerous stories of the abuse of these foreign workers in Singapore, the policies which contribute to these and the lack of Government action to correct them.
Foreign workers are but one community of people for which the Government has abandoned its responsibility. Another group is homeless Singaporeans. Spread out across the major parks in Singapore in 2009 and 2010, these tented communities were made up of people who got into such predicament for various reasons. Some had lost their flats, or had run out of money, or lost their jobs. They had children with them. Some had been homeless for months, living in the only area they had, our public parks. Yet, they too faced problems with the authorities for doing so. They were shouted at, told to pack up and leave. Their appeals for rental flats were denied until we broke the story. Yet, not all of them were given these flats.
When we followed up on the issue of the availability of such flats, we found that there were indeed flats available. But because of HDB’s stringent qualification criterias, many of these did not qualify. Where else could they go? Instead, these available flats were rented out to foreigners.
What about the poor, old and sick, those on Public Assistance? PAP MP Dr Lily Neo had to fight tooth and nail for just a few dollars more from the Minister for Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) in Parliament. Even so, she was given a terse and insensitive response by the minister. From S$260 for each recipient, it is now S$400 – after five years of Dr Neo’s request for more.
And then there are the disabled. Many of them are in lowly-paid jobs. The community has been campaigning for 12 years now for the government to provide subsidies for their public transport needs. They even went to Speakers’ Corner to do this. And each time, all these years, the government has flatly refused.
Foreign domestic maids are at the mercy of their employers. There is no provision in law, for example, to give them the right to even a day off per month. Non-governmental groups have been campaigning for this to no avail. How is it that in a supposedly first-world country, a day off in a month is something which is evidently considered anathema?
You might say that these issues do not concern most Singaporeans. You would be right if our society were based on starkly demarcated lines of black and white. But it is not. What happens to another community affects all of us. Giving more allowances to the elderly and sick and poor educates our younger generation about what it means to care. Giving maids a day off is, if you need a reason, simply the humane thing to do. For which of us Singaporeans would want to be on employers’ beck and call virtually 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – and be paid peanuts for it? Giving homeless Singaporeans priority in housing is also the humane thing to do, especially when such families consist of children.
We may be proud to call ourselves “first world” but it is but only a superficial meaningless title if we do not also care for the less fortunate in substantial ways.
PAP leaders have, in the last few days, admitted shortcomings and that they are not perfect. The truth is that no one expects them to be. What one expects instead is that they are open to hearing views which they would not normally hear – views from well-meaning individuals and groups which dedicate time and effort in raising these issues.
Issues such as the discriminatory government policies such as HDB ethnic quotas for minority races, admissions to tertiary institutions for locals, employment policies for those above 40 and the elderly workers, practices such as the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system which has been perverted to serve the selfish agenda of an incumbent political party, breaking up communities at each general election and dividing Singaporeans with its threats and carrots approach in trying to win votes.
Our politics have descended to the level of gutter politics. Petty, personal and prejudicial. A distinct example of this is the fact that both our elected opposition Members of Parliament – Mr Chiam See Tong and Mr Low Thia Khiang – have had and is still having to conduct their Meet-The-People sessions with nothing more than makeshift offices – just a table and some chairs – at the void deck. Where is the respect which a government should accord to elected representatives of the people?
Yet, the PAP government garlands itself with laurels, calling it and its ministers “unique”, “special” and “extraordinary” – when justifying its multi-million salaries for each of its ministers. It has not subjected itself to scrutiny, transparency or accountability.
Instead, it has ever so flagrantly and blatantly turned the spotlight on Singaporeans – and derided them, labeling them with derogatory terms. “Mollycoddled”. “The spurs are not stuck to their hides”. “Champion grumblers”. “Complacent”. “Not productive”. “Lesser mortals”. “Whiners”. Even our less fortunate were not spared such derision. “How much do you want? Do you want to have three meals in a hawker centre, a foodcourt, or a restaurant?” one minister said in the august chambers of Parliament, when asked to provide more for them.
Catherine Lim’s 1994 article, The Great Affective Divide, rings so true at this time.
Government policies matter. They matter because they affect real people. They affect families, mothers, fathers, children. And policy-makers must not be entrenched in the ivory tower, oblivious to the cries of the common man and woman. To be so is to shield oneself from the truth of what ordinary Singaporeans face and are going through on a daily basis.
In these last five years, no other issue has made me more determined to vote for an alternative than the issue of the mandatory death penalty. Some may and will say that this issue does not affect most Singaporeans and therefore it is not something which we should care about. But such thinking belies the fact that how a government implements a law which takes away a life represents how much a government value human life. And by extension, how government policies are formulated and based.
If a government is cavalier and callous about how it snuffs out human life, then it is a government which needs to be checked, and if it continues to do so, removed.
The
mandatory death penalty is a terribly flawed practice. The provisions
in the Misuse of Drugs Act are against best practices adopted by
countries around the world. It firmly and unreasonably places the burden
of proof on the accused who many a time are young drug mules who come
from disenfranchised, poor, and illiterate backgrounds.The PAP government, through its ministers, have stoutly defended this practice – of putting to death those as young as 18 – without so much as a detailed explanation of the facts, or provided statistics or studies to back up its stance.
As a result, many have been hung.
With a system that is viewed as flawed, or at least which needs a serious re-look, can e be sure that no one has ever been hung wrongly? Why is the government so afraid of being open and provide information about such executions? Or commission independent studies to ascertain the effectiveness of the mandatory death penalty? Why does the government feel that our esteemed judges, in the High Court and the Supreme Court, unfit, unable and untrustworthy to be able to mete out alternative sentences?
The turning of the deaf ear to the views from lawyers, the Law Society, Parliamentarians, non-governmental organizations, international rights groups, activists and ordinary Singaporeans, shows that this is a government which indeed, as one minister put it, “deaf to all criticisms”. And I might add, perhaps suggestions as well.
The Prime Minister has apologized, on behalf of his government, for mistakes made. It is all well and good, although the timing of his apology leaves questions about why it is only offered now, days before Singaporeans go to the poll. Is the Prime Minister sincere? Are all his ministers truly behind the apology?
The PAP will most probably be returned as the government after the polls close on Saturday night. What it does in the next five years will determine if the PM’s apology is genuine, or just a cheap desperate stunt to win votes.
But we cannot wait another five years to see if his apology is genuine. For in those five years, the people mentioned in this article – the poor, elderly, children, maids, foreign workers, those on death row – do not have five years. Their needs are immediate.
Just like Yong Vui Kong.19-years old when he was caught for drug trafficking in 2007, he has been sitting on death row for close to four years now. In that time, he has repented, availed himself to studies, and has embraced the teachings of Buddhism. He has counseled his fellow inmates on death row, those who were sent to the chamber to be hanged. Each time one is dragged out from his cell, each one of them that he tried to console, is a terribly tortured reminder that he would be next at any moment.
PM Lee asks for another five years to correct the mistakes his ministers and government has made.
Who then would give the homeless, the poor, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the domestic maids, the abused and exploited, lowly-paid foreign workers a second chance or afford them basic human decency?
Who indeed will give Yong Vui Kong a second chance?
To my mind, the only and best way to keep an all-powerful, all-controlling government from either running amok with unbridled power, or to segue back into complacency and arrogance, is to have another group of people in Parliament to truly keep it awake and on its toes.
Indeed, a first world government in a first world country requires also a first world Parliament.
And no single party can ever claim to be first world-anything all by itself, no matter how much it claims it can.
This is an opportunity for Singaporeans to claim back their power which has been lost in helplessness these last five years.
So when you vote on Saturday, do think of those who are struggling and suffering in silence.
Your vote will speak on their behalf.
And as Singaporeans, this is what we must always remember – to care for one another, especially those whom you may not see in your midst, but whose pains are nonetheless real.
Taken from
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/05/looking-back-on-five-years/
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http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2011/05/singaporeans-message-for-polling-day.html
http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2011/05/ge-2011-why-you-mustnt-believe.html
http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2011/05/marine-parade-grc-nicole-seah-vs-goh.html
Interesting is post number 2 - news a few years back about the incumbent party actually lurking around cycber space trying to influence the anti group. So scary.
Food for thought.
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in my constituency, there's the Lim Hng Kiang who is part of the MIW team.... we know how the *$&#% thinks
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EVERY $INGAPOREAN MATTERS (Heh! Heh!)
"A baby born prematurely to a young couple at a private hospital needed surgery that only KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) could provide. But KKH said it required a $60,000 deposit before it would admit the baby. As the child was considered a private patient, the couple had to guarantee they could pay the bill. Fortunately, Mount Alvernia Hospital, where the baby was born, agreed to pay the deposit."
- The nation-builder press, May 21 2002
"...I regret making the decision because, in the end, the baby continued to be in intensive care, and KKH now runs up a total bill of more than $300,000..."
- Minister of Health Lim Hng Kiang, the nation-builder press, May 21 2002.
"...no Singaporeans will be denied access into the healthcare system or turned away by the public hospitals because of the inability to pay... Patients requiring emergency or urgent surgery are always admitted immediately without any waiting..."
- Ministry of Health¨s Healthcare Philosophy found at http://app.internet.gov.sg/scripts/moh/newmoh/asp/our/our01.asp
"...In spite of the complex medical conditions and the sheer numbers of patients we treat daily, patients who come through our doors are constantly reminded that they are children or women first, and patients second.
"It's this belief in personalised patient-centred care, together with our medical expertise, that has created a tradition of medical excellence at KKH. And this fundamental principle still holds true to this day...."
- KKH's "Philosophy of Care" found at http://www.kkh.com.sg/article.cfm?id=23§ion=14-----------------------
he has added a lot of my hatred for his team... may even tip the balance towards the idiots in the opposition..
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since i'm voting on a national rather than constitutional level... it's still difficult for george yeo to garner my vote for PAP this year. sylvia lim and chen show mao on the other hand, have the potential to become credible voices in parliament.
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Singaporeans will pay a dear price after 7 May 2011
Singaporeans will pay a dear price for able to deny the PAP its traditional two-thirds majority in parliament on 7 May which will enable the opposition to serve as an effective check on its power.
PAP leaders pay lip service only to democracy. Elections are merely a once in five year ‘wayang’ for them to secure another ‘mandate’ from Singaporeans to entrench itself in power and perpetuate its political hegemony forever.
The PAP is never interested in sharing power with other alternative parties. To PAP leaders, they have the only ones who have the moral authority, mandate and capability to govern Singapore.
In an interview with PETIR in 1984, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said ashamedly:
“I made no apologies that the PAP is the Singapore government and the Singapore government is the PAP.”
After fifty years of PAP rule, the line between the party and the government has become so blurred that the state media is still addressing the PAP candidates in their ministerial posts!
The PAP believes that being a small, vulnerable island state, Singapore needs a single dominant ruling party to govern Singapore – a ’strong and effective’ government which was espoused by Lee Hsien Loong and Shanmugam in the last few months.
In the aftermath of the 2006 election, Lee Kuan Yew said:
“Please do not assume that you can change governments. Young people don’t understand this.”
The PAP has a very strong instinct of self-preservation and will do anything and everything to retain its power simply because there is an ingrained mindset among PAP leaders that Singapore will collapse without the PAP.
In 1962, the PAP government unleashed Operation Coldstore to arrest hundreds of leaders and members of the Barisan Sosialist which was split from the PAP only a year earlier.
In 1987, Operation Spectrum was launched to detain 22 social activists, some of whom are members of the Workers’ Party going to participate in the election the following year.
Lee Kuan Yew even threatened to call in the army if the PAP is voted out of office at the ballot box:
“Without the elected president and if there is a freak result, within two or three years, the army would have to come in and stop it”
As history has shown, the PAP has no qualms using the powers conferred to it by its incumbency to change the rules as and when it likes in order to perpetuate its political hegemony forever and to keep the opposition weak.
After Chiam See Tong and Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam won two seats in the 1984 election, the PAP introduced the GRC system in 1988 to prevent more seats from falling to the opposition.
In response to the slide in percentage of votes to 61 percent in the 1991 general election, the PAP uses estate upgrading as a carrot to entice Singaporeans to vote for them.
And after the 2006 election, the PAP again introduce new election laws to curb the influence of the internet by designating a ‘Cooling off’ day before polling day.
Due to the prevailing unhappiness on the ground against the PAP’s policies, its percentage of votes is likely to decrease in the coming polls.
The problem is, the decrease in support does not translate into more seats of the opposition. The PAP can still win all the 82 contested seats with only 55 percent of the votes.
It is highly unlikely that the opposition will win the minimal 30 seats required to deny the PAP its two-thirds majority in parliament and only then can it check on the PAP effectively because all bills and constitution amendments will need approval from more than two-thirds of parliament in order to pass.
If the PAP gets a real scare on 7 May and still retains its two-thirds majority, it will SURELY do whatever it takes to prevent itself from being booted out from office in the subsequent elections.
Below are some of the things it can do:
1. Rampant gerry-mandering by removing GRCs with close contests from the electoral map altogether to dilute bastions of opposition support from arising like Eunos and Cheng San GRCs.
2. Changing the election laws like increasing the election deposit to $20,000, limiting the sizes of rallies, lengthening the ‘Cooling off’ period to three days etc.
3. Opening the floodgates to more immigrants and fast converting them into new citizens. As a last resort, PRs are granted the right to vote.
The above scenario is a terrifying thought, but it will happen because the PAP doesn’t care what Singaporeans think so long it can preserve its own interests and power and there is nothing Singaporeans can do about it because our civil rights as citizens have long been taken away by a series of repressive laws introduced over the years.
90,000 grateful new citizens will be voting on 7 May with another 900,000 more foreign workers coming as promised by PAP de facto leader Lee Kuan Yew.
Foreigners now make up 43 percent of Singapore’s population. Of the remaining 57 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas. The number of native Singaporeans who are born and bred here probablty constitute less than half the population and is likely to decline in the next few years as a result of our low birth rate.
The radical change in demographics over the last few years have already diluted our voices and votes. We will become a minority in five years’ time after which the PAP can count on the new citizens to keep itself in power forever.
Lee Kuan Yew has already outlined his vision for Singapore to become a cosmopolitan city which is open to immigrants from all over the world. What he didn’t say is that Singapore will become a PAP’s city forever under its control and where its citizens are only allowed to make some ‘noise’ every five year, but ultimately has no say in the running of the city.
Mr George Yeo promised in his last rally that he will transform the PAP after failing to do anything in his twenty years in office. We do not have another 5 years to gamble away.
This is our LAST CHANCE to reclaim the ownership of our beloved country. It is NOW or NEVER. The stakes have never been higher than before. Lose it and we will have no second chance to repent.
Taken from:
http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/05/06/singaporeans-will-pay-a-dear-price-after-7-may-2011/
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Don't be shocked pale if WP doesn't win aljunied tomorrow hor. 29,000 of the GRC's constituents have been cut into AMK's pie. Thanks to the elections dept. And these 29,000 could have voted for WP in 2006.
The large crowds at their rallies could have come from all over singapore.
And sgporeans being kiasee, may just swing towards PAP at the last minute.
So don't be shocked hor.
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Originally posted by Rock^Star:
Don't be shocked pale if WP doesn't win aljunied tomorrow hor. 29,000 of the GRC's constituents have been cut into AMK's pie. Thanks to the elections dept. And these 29,000 could have voted for WP in 2006.
The large crowds at their rallies could have come from all over singapore.
And sgporeans being kiasee, may just swing towards PAP at the last minute.
So don't be shocked hor.
my sentiments exactly
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Nothing new about the singaporeans being kiasi kiasu. It is this group of people that cause us to suffer under PAP. Woe to them!
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Originally posted by shanfan:
Nothing new about the singaporeans being kiasi kiasu. It is this group of people that cause us to suffer under PAP. Woe to them!
woah. so now cooling off day already, you have nobody to target, now you target PAP supporters? just one single day you don't spout something negative or nonsensical, you'll die , is it?
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tml voting...I'm still looking around online..and have a final vote tml..
PAP leh ~ Yea , cos they already part of the goverment liao. Protect the singapore and so on. But the % of of raising the $ is getting high,yet no increase of salary for those civil servant who is no where top nor low.
Seeing pple who has super high post in goverment sector doing nothing but take huge amount of $ home is abit piss lor. And what about those middle class pple, who also neither rich or poor. Like the maid issue ba..subsidise for married couple to take of of elderly.. 0.0 But single how. Pay full amount because you r not married 0.0 .
and some other stuff..my sis say. LOL. Cos my sister is like supporting herself so hard yet nothing much helps her. She is single btw. So i assume alot of single too having issue for not getting enough help si bo?
WP leh - Yea, They talk alot on how to make things well for us . Sound ok lo. But, if they win ~ do they have enough support to maintain for us for 5 years so that PAP can eat their words?
Aiya...sianz..PAP, WP..WP..PAP.
Actually, i would like
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Its alright, we can meet at block 23 for chicken rice, and discuss your options.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
Its alright, we can meet at block 23 for chicken rice, and discuss your options.
did someone say chicken rice!?
aiya tomorrow voting already, go and sleep lah! later sleepy, then mark at the wrong box, how?
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Originally posted by killtheink:
did someone say chicken rice!?
aiya tomorrow voting already, go and sleep lah!
You see, her and me we both live in aljunied grc.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
You see, her and me we both live in aljunied grc.
wahhh so far. i'm all the way at amk >.<
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wa how you know im from aljunied 0.0 did i secretly leave any infor out *lol*
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Originally posted by funniegal:
wa how you know im from aljunied 0.0 did i secretly leave any infor out *lol*
Because I know one of your favourite chicken rice is at block 23.
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just listern to all parties rally on radio 95.8 in Chinese mainly speaking to the 70% Chinese voters as follows
P8P to score in reliability/effeciency/experiences/world economic threats/affordable housing n medical cares..
but nothing mentioned on FT threats(apparently no threats to MIW drawing S$5,000/day salary) or how is it consider affordable for the majority SingaPOOReans ie with S$1k > S$3k a month
So indeed how u want yr life to be in the next 5 yrs ..U DECIDE tomorrow..or u may hv Plan B ie: follow yr heart to find a greener pasture outside this difficult land that kena bully day in day out... -
Originally posted by 570:just listern to all parties rally on radio 95.8 in Chinese mainly speaking to the 70% Chinese voters as follows
P8P to score in reliability/effeciency/experiences/world economic threats/affordable housing n medical cares..
but nothing mentioned on FT threats(apparently no threats to MIW drawing S$5,000/day salary) or how is it consider affordable for the majority SingaPOOReans ie with S$1k > S$3k a month
So indeed how u want yr life to be in the next 5 yrs ..U DECIDE tomorrow..or u may hv Plan B ie: follow yr heart to find a greener pasture outside this difficult land that kena bully day in day out... <!--IBF.ATTACHMENT_3752215--><!-- THE POST -->
Thanks for the reminder.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
Because I know one of your favourite chicken rice is at block 23.
aiyo. remember so well *blush* hehe_____________________________________
Hm..If PAP can give salary raise, can lower medical cares, can lower in some charges
i think all of us, are willigly to buy tons of stuffs and raise the economy. Okok i think i THINK TOO MUCH.
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Originally posted by funniegal:aiyo. remember so well *blush* hehe
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Hm..If PAP can give salary raise, can lower medical cares, can lower in some charges
i think all of us, are willigly to buy tons
of stuffs and raise the economy. Okok i think i THINK TOO
MUCH.Lets meet for chicken rice tomorrow, and discuss your options.
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the chix rice stall may be "interrogated"....lol....please save them the trouble...hehe
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lol
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oh yes, he also metioned (like Santa X giving away presents) like it or not, u will see 9 NMPs(PETs or toothless puppies)elected or non-elected in the coming Parliment..(so no need to vote opp la..)
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Cooling off day makes you more kiasi and the tendency to vote for PAP increases. nice tactic by PAP.
But i stand firm to vote for NSP. I wont be intimidated by threats.