Q

General Elections of the 2011? Wait for me.

the whole general elections thing is starting to piss me off. this is why i’m better off being politically apathetic: because Singaporean voters make me lose faith in humanity. personally, i’m for the PAP. but that’s just me. i wouldn’t fault anyone for leaning towards the opposition or having serious issues against PAP. what i can’t stand is firstly, the rationale behind how many choose their political preference, and secondly, the way they go about expressing it.

some context: i like PAP because after bouts of irrational loyalty, angsty tween doubting and general nihilistic apathy, i’ve reached a point – at 18 – where i can safely say i like the PAP objectively based on both instincts and observation. there was a whole tweenhood era where to rebel against the mainstream was yknw, the thing (a state many unfortunately do not emerge from) where i carefully nitpicked all the faults of our government and lived in a bell jar of dramatic, self-induced fear that our entire society is unconsciously subservient to the brainwashing by the government.

through the years, i found myself able to justify every one of PAP’s actions/decisions. and yeah, i do admit that there were certain questionable policies that bordered on neurotic, but on the whole, i honestly think they did the best they could in any given circumstance, and if there were faults, they’re probably a compromise in prevention of a more severe issue (that none of us, in our micro-view as civilians, can foresee).

also, i started questioning the truth of (what i now think as highly exaggerated) claims that Singapore censors almost all dissent. yes, i HAVE heard horror stories about the villas and all like y’all did – but think about it. don’t you seem to be reading/watching/listening to more dissent than propaganda these days? or maybe it’s just me listening to my hardcore underground subversive communist radio stations, but i can offer more examples of issues raised challenging the PAP (usually unsubstantiated and narrow) than actual propaganda. frankly, i don’t mind a little propaganda to fuel patriotism as long as i ain’t living a delusion of luxury while eating dirt cookies (read: Haiti) or singing worship to a balding demi-god (read: Kim Jong Il).

that said, one of the reasons why Singaporeans piss me off is because they fail to realise they aren’t brainwashed. they are sometimes just purely brainless. this is the whole rationale thing, where people – in their very laughable struggle against authority so they can be subversive and hipster or whatever you call rebel kids nowadays (hippies, goths, punks, hipsters, sk8erb0is, they are all the same to me – just in different eras and with alternating tightness of pants. yes i know i sound old and jaded) – hate on the incumbent power just because. and being very triumphant about it.

‘oh, why i support opposition? because i hate PAP to the max! lohr. why i hate PAP? dunno leh.. cuz everyone like them mah. i like be different. i also got always listen to indie music example the regina specster. actually by the way, the opposition team name is what arh?’

i mean, really? the stupidity and pretentiousness of it all just blows me away. that is why i sometimes cannot stand it when people bitch about PAP without proper justifications. i have total respect for you if you can offer me a proper explanation why you support (insert opposition party here) or why you’ve never pledged allegiance to PAP, but if your reason is that you wanna be all pUnkstar_559 and ‘h8 on the aUthority, mAN!!11’ then please, just.. never mind. there’s nothing you can do if you’re born brainless.

also, if you hate on PAP because Singapore is ‘too Singaporeany for you’ and you want a party that can magically provide you with winter and legalize drugs so you can make snow angels while smoking weed like the white kid you wish you were, then why don’t you just migrate kthnxbye.

the second part of this story makes me really really sad. )-‘: i can’t really get mad over this, because Singaporeans are just like that. we love cheesy, irrational drama and getting riled up over things. we just love it, i’m telling you that Singaporeans thrive on anger. we are vultures ravaged by hunger and the hint of vulnerability drives us crazy. we are also incredibly jealous people. so any form of privilege in Singapore transforms into a point of vulnerability too. i don’t know how we do it, but we’re just very magical like that.

a classic example would be Tin Pei Ling. i know that in every country, stupid stuff happens in politics. childish things that you hate to love but have to admit keeps you interested. that includes parliament punching, Freudian speech-slips and young emerging leaders posing with designer bags. it’s the kind of thing we SHOULD be ashamed of even caring about, but we do. like i said, jealousy. i mean yeah i was all like – bitch please i’m not gonna vote for someone with a Kate Spade when i want one myself – and that’s exactly what SHOULDN’T be affecting our votes. what does having a kate spade have to do with Tin’s legitimacy as a political leader? i won’t deny that it did change my perception of her, but it shouldn’t be this way.

which is why i found it incredulous that people.. and i mean a crowd of ADULTS, would actually gather at rallies to shout ‘KATE! SPADE! KATE! SPADE!’ when Tin makes her speech. and these are the productive, cultured people of our era whinging about mounting taxes. what’s WRONG with you, Singaporeans? it’s funny. i laughed. i did. but what did Tin do to warrant that? and what mother born you to even have the heart to act in such an insensitive and juvenile manner? Singaporean adults, you make me laugh. your suagu-ness makes me laugh. your habit of eagerly sinking your claws into every remote and irrelevant fault like untrained, needy puppies make me laugh.

it gets a little too far, however, people get unnecessarily nasty to significant people like Lee Kuan Yew or Goh Chok Tong. my take is that people are DESPERATE for power. Goh, one of the most powerful people in Singapore, addressing you, and you have the power to OFFEND him, to upset him, to affect his demeanour. what would most bitter Singaporeans do? Jeer of course. do you know what i hear behind your jeers? senselessness – you have no idea what you’re jeering for. desperation – you just want a sense of control over someone hundred times your importance.

at the end of the day, there is one thing PAP has failed to do. that is to raise us into mature citizens. we’re an entire nation of spoilt, squealing babies, pink-faced with perspiration, unable to comprehend a larger world beyond the confines of our minds. we’re too sheltered, too spoilt, too untrustworthy to be given the task of voting. it’s like a vicious cycle. PAP don’t trust us -> don’t let us learn to grow up -> we are untrustworthy -> PAP don’t trust us.

i can get why LKY’s so upset and agitated recently. all the PAP hating.. he’s human after all, and it’s bound to hurt if you’ve spent your entire life being paternalistic and insanely stressed out GOVERNING AN ENTIRE NATION of whiners (albeit being super duper rich, i can’t get over that), and then hear your children bitching out against you. if we use a micro-allegory, that would be your slightly neurotic mom who isn’t perfect, but gives her all to provide you with the best. and then your dad has recently passed away. your mom asks you ‘do you love me?’ you slap her in the face and calls her ‘a dumb bitch who ruined your miserable life’. and right around mother’s day too. you naughty kids. (granted, the mom in this case is paid. a lot. to raise you. but still.)

it shakes me to see people so blatant, so unhesitating in lashing out at our government. it’s not because i’m PAP-loving and therefore annoyed to see them getting dissed. if it were any other party, any other political leader who had shown to be genuinely concerned and contributed to society in any way, it would hurt me equally to see Singaporeans behave this way.

this is why the General Elections leave me so disheartened.. :-(

along this thread, i’ve conceived a theory that since Singaporeans want someone who can ‘represent them’, and who wouldn’t poke at their volatile feelings of envy, nor come off as contrived or pretentious, who they inherently and subconsciously want as their leader is an Ah Lian. They don’t want a well-educated, pretentious leader with connections and obnoxious brands. they just want one of them. A LIAN. THAT IS WHERE I STEP IN. i can totally take over the world. they can undermine me by unearthing photos of me camwhoring with my bugis street bags but that will just enhance my Lian street cred and bring me to a whole new political arena of awesomeness.

i will truly be the watershed mother of all political watersheds that’s ever been semantically abused as a watershed when it is not a watershed. and it is midnight which explains why i sound slightly derailed now.. but really, i think i’ll be great in politics. i’ll just talk about pokemon and promise to open more awesome bubble tea shops. i feel like eating some yogurt now.

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qing t

Responses

  1. a message. « hello, merry dreamer

    […] http://rictusempraa.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/general-elections-of-the-2011-wait-for-me/ […]

    Reply
  2. justsaying Avatar
    justsaying

    haha i get your judgement and stuff but srsly,PAP may have done us good but they could have done a whole lot better. perhaps all your needs are provided for and you don’t exactly have you worry about anything because your parents can provide them for you.this argument may sound invalid and stuff,because i lost your flow of thoughts halfway. but in my opinion,not listening to someone else’s views and sticking to your own-kind of makes you hungry for power too doesn’t it?

    the reason why i dont support the PAP is not because i just hate them,but because of their inability to simply relate to people. they may say sorry and stuff,but the opposition is full of educated people,like the PAP,but they have analyse what went wrong and actually have policies that make sense. they are two types of opposition supporters-those who can relate and UNDERSTAND and those who simply hate the PAP. I see myself as someone who understands the whole elections.

    The opposition is full of people who are really passionate about serving “spoilt babies” like us. They don’t have to you know. They could have just carried on with their Oxford Grad salaries.

    I’m sort of beating about the bush because I don’t really know what to say but all in all,i urge you to read up and actually think about who this is going to affect. This election is very crucial. It will affect the NEXT generation. its either policies change,to cater to the hidden aspects and people who have been neglected for the past 52 years or things are going to stay the same for another 52 years. You may be able to migrate and live happily in a holiday house on some country or whatever but srsly,people are SUFFERING HERE.

    Reply
    1. rictusempraa Avatar
      rictusempraa

      you have some valid points there.

      if i haven’t explicitly mentioned this, the post is addressed to those people who are ‘for the opposition’ without justification – not targeted at those who made a lucid choice of going against the PAP. like i said, i have no problem with that. my problem is with people who make the choice based on irrational need to fuel a sense of rebellion and/or show their resentment in a barbaric way.

      i would say that i am provided for – but just barely; i’ve seen and experienced my fair share of life on the lower totem of society. at least, enough for me to make the judgement that while the PAP haven’t been extensively capable of handling income gaps, i feel that they have been trying their best.

      again, i will not shove my opinion down other’s throats – so take it or leave it; my stand is that the opposition will not be able to either, at least not in the short term.

      i also understand that ‘people are SUFFERING HERE’. but if you had also taken the advice to ‘read up and actually think’, you would realize that what we have in Singapore is mostly relative deprivation (Google it). Yes, there are severe cases of poverty in Singapore (i watch TV, dig around on the net, and walk around god forsaken places) – can you name in a country that doesn’t? let me know if you do.

      overall, i understand your take on this matter and respect it. one thing, however. i have to contend with your ease at assuming that i have the ability to ‘migrate and live happily in a holiday house’. i think you’ve misperceived my social stratum, which i find strange because i’ve already established that i’m a lian.

      the truth:

      i come from a lower-middle class family. i am right now stewing in the cesspits of hougang. my parents struggle to make ends meet, and we’ve gone through rough patches with finance. but i’m fine with it, i’m safe, i get food, i have the chance to learn. if i were in any other country were meritocracy wasn’t as highly valued, i would right now be slut dancing in the ghettos trading my body for cheeseburgers (Google it, is hilarious). of course, that was just a hyperbole – but my point is this:

      don’t be so quick in your judgement. of me, of the PAP, of the Opposition. i will take up your advice to read up on it more than i already do (and you should too – borrow books on economics and you’ll realise their policies DO make sense), but i also urge you (and everyone else) to think for yourself and vote for yourself.

      i think the PAP’s my choice, people should respect that. i have friends who think Opposition has what it takes, i respect that a lot too. people who don’t think – even if they’re for the PAP, those are the ones i’m basing my post on.

      but still, thank you for your input. :-) never say things to ‘just say’. say it and mean it. i’m glad you took the time to think about it, Singaporeans aren’t all hopeless.

      Reply
  3. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    Hey, to justsaying, said owner of this blog is my close friend, but I’m not taking sides. I grew up a PAP lover. I truly appreciate all that they’ve done for us, and I personally agree with rictusempraa that they do have a rationale for all their policies and the things they do although some might not be quite as justifiable as others, but that’s really besides the point.

    On the whole, I think that Singaporeans are really still very immature, and although, I admit I probably am one of the more sheltered privileged bitches who, like the PAP is increasingly turning into, doesn’t understand the situation of the people who are truly suffering, I honestly don’t think we are a nation ready to take on democracy or any abrupt change. I mean, what has been happening at the rallies have really opened up my eyes to something else altogether.

    I understood that there are thousands in Singapore who are hungry everyday while I try to diet cause i think I’m fat and all, but other than being people who are unhappy, these people are also immature. I mean, the shouting at Tin Peiling abt the Kate Spade thing, was really really unnecessary. And jeering. Srsly. It’s very impolite to do something like that, poor or not, don’t jeer, it’s basic courtesy when someone else is speaking, at least hear him out you know? And on this note, the PAP should really have learnt not to stoop down and argue head-on with the opposition because it has made both parties look just as bad, and almost quite as immature as well.

    Opposition says LOOK AT THE PAP THEY ARE TERRIBLE and the PAP retorts with a OPPOSITION ONLY KNOW HOW TO TALK, THEY ARE WORSE, VOTE US OR REPENT and it never ends. And at the end of it, I think if the PAP had not bothered to retaliate, but merely reiterated their credentials and ensured the people that they are willing to help them, they would still have won by a landslide as always. That might have been a slight mistake of the PAP.

    Another thing i think the PAP could have looked at doing differently would have been the thing that many first world countries around the world are criticizing us about. Basically that we are running our country as Singapore Inc. and not as a home where we live and grow together. This I guess, is definitely true to an extent in terms of how Singapore has very openly been emphasizing on growth rates and GDP to the extent that sometimes we don’t realise the ones who are benefitting are largely the ones who are already well off.

    In the teaching profession I was told, the pay increase the teachers get biannually, is less than the inflation rate which translates directly actually to lower real disposable income and thus purchasing power. Basically, the value of their income is even lower than before.

    The poor among us are also largely ignored and that is admittedly a big mistake, a problem that a lot of us who live more comfortably do overlook. There are poor people around us, with tens of thousands of school children going to school every day without pocket money and to those of us who don’t see this phenomena, we don’t believe it and at the end of the day don’t do anything about it. The PAP is becoming a bit like us, slowly losing touch with the poor people and overlooking their rights and their needs. We are a country, not a firm, and while productivity and efficiency are good for the country, and what got us to where we are today, they should not be of the highest priority. With our huge budget surpluses, I am affirmative a little more government expenditure on benefits for the disadvantaged among us wouldn’t wipe us off the face of the Earth.

    In all due respect for MM Lee (I really do love and respect him a lot btw) he has done so much for this nation and every Singaporean to an extent, recognizes that for sure. But ultimately, we see that the this generation of leaders is taking over, and if (there are some to say the least) the opposition is able to field strong candidates who are capable and passionate about serving our nation, I say why not? A little bit of dissent is good if it helps to keep the ruling party in check, and at the same time provides more views and ideas to improving our policies and our nation as a whole. It is of course quite lame to vote opposition simply because you don’t like the PAP because your favourite hokkien mee that used to be $2 now costs $3.50.

    I know I’ve been rambling on, but yeah I think ultimately i just want to say, if opposition can come up with a viable alternative, good for them. PAP is doing a great job but if anything, they could look into the welfare of the disadvantaged more actively, and not conveniently focus on those who are already well off.

    And to Tin Peiling, no offence, but about her comment saying that there is no PAP policy she would change? Srsly. Her grassroots work obviously hasn’t brought her to the poorest of the poor. That’s what I would have suggested for the MPs to do, except Tin has proven to us that her grassroots work has not done her any good. At all. Sigh.

    Reply
    1. rictusempraa Avatar
      rictusempraa

      why do you refer to me as rictusempraa!?!?

      Reply
    2. rictusempraa Avatar
      rictusempraa

      and i like this! i like the way you think, ness <3

      Reply
  4. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    And yes Qing, I do agree with what you’re saying :P ‘Cept that PAP can do more for the poor people la, really quite sad to see that even in such a developed and wealthy country like Singapore there are still people suffering ):

    Reply
  5. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    LOL because your real name is nowhere to be found on your blog. And your blog title is rictusempraa so to the person who posted as justsaying he wouldn’t know who WEIQING is right? XD

    Reply
  6. justsaying(again) Avatar
    justsaying(again)

    k let’s keep this peaceful. i just wanted to discuss something else.

    you’re probably aware of all the corruption that has been done…..?

    Reply
    1. rictusempraa Avatar
      rictusempraa

      hi, yes yes I’m always open to contention- am practically in zen mode now sorry if I gave off false vibes of hostility.

      from what I know, there’s corruption everywhere. by that I mean in every country, every state, every district. i also believe that Singapore has a relatively low rate of corruption. of course if you can give me examples or statistics to prove otherwise I’ll be grateful.

      Reply
  7. justsaying(again) Avatar
    justsaying(again)

    haha that’s great. actually,i hate to say this,but some people really are sick in the head. what we see of them,is a really thick mask. they are mean people. the way they treat people at meet the people sessions-bullshit. they’re cowards. they visited homes in aljunied three times. they are scared. they’re really mean people. i don’t have proof,but i wouldn’t say this if i didn’t know. i just don’t want another generation to vote for the wrong person.

    Reply
    1. rictusempraa Avatar
      rictusempraa

      from your diction you’re speaking from personal experience, perhaps? still, you’ve left the actions that made you think them as ‘mean’ vague. if possible, can you elaborate on why you think they’re cowardly or mean?

      i swear i have no political agenda, neither will this land you in jail, i would like to know for purely political curiosity.

      while i will consider your opinion, it affects my (and many other’s) stand minimally. anyone can easily tell me the demerits of the PAP, and if i allow my choice the privilege of ambivalence, anyone might warn me that the opposition are also mean people the very next day, how then do I maintain a stand

      I would never reshape my beliefs without more explicit details or conjectures. if you feel strongly for this, and would like to influence others for the good of society, I’d urge you to express yourself.

      if you feel that your views are valid and definite truths, then do not fear repercussions. I’m not encouraging slander, just hoping that you will take up the responsibility to enlighten others, clearly.

      Reply

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