What a surprise, what a surprise, I don’t think for a minute everyone including all Singaporeans and PAP expected such a huge winning margin, and then again, why not?
Since the embarrassing results for PAP back in 2011, it truly was a wake up call for PAP and woke up they did. The national average of 69.86% (near 70%) compared to 60.14% in 2011 is a strong affirmation from Singaporeans that they recognized the good work done in the past 4 years by PAP. In 2011, PAP was caught with one shoe off, when they realized that grassroots, RCs and Town Councils were not feeding back the concerns of Singaporeans in the respective constituencies. Thank goodness, after 2011, PAP took concrete steps to rectify the lack of communication.
What has been significant in the past 4 years is the strong communication channels built up between Singaporeans and PAP, be it social media, internet websites, twitter, emails, today, we can reach our MPs and Ministers via IT. In the old days, it was IMPOSSIBLE. Think about it, today, we can even twitter our PM, Lee Hsien Loong, could we have done that with his father, No. What this is saying is times are changing and have changed; the way the government interacts with its electorate and how Singaporeans communicate with our government, we are coming closer.
What I also like about the approach that our government has taken is, they now have a better SOP with regards to implementing policies. PAP now takes more time to debate in Parliament, takes more time to explain the new policies, takes more time to disseminate the policies to Singaporeans, takes more time to help Singaporeans benefit from the policies by literally engaging them personally and to make sure they do secure the benefit. An example of this is the pioneer package and I do congratulate PAP and our government for doing a great job of it.
More importantly, PAP has demonstrated when they have made a mistake, they would readily and expeditiously rectify the mistake. Take for example, the immigration policy that allowed foreigners to come into Singapore to take up junior and middle level management positions and squeezing out Singaporeans from a job and career. I am glad to see how quick PAP was in dealing with the matter, of course, we will see how PAP will continue to refine the immigration policies going forward to protect Singaporeans first. Singapore should implement a policy to govern MNCs and corporates to consider hiring Singaporeans FIRST in junior and middle level positions before looking outside, otherwise, penalties will be enforced. I appreciate that certain senior level positions still require it to be filled by foreigners because they have more global exposure than Singaporeans, however, as more and more Singaporeans take on regional jobs, global jobs, their experience will also accumulate through time.
A near 70% national average win is a strong acknowledgement by Singaporeans of the good work done by PAP in the past 4 years. More importantly, it also means that Singaporeans have higher expectations of PAP to deliver more to the people in the next 5 years.
Some of the social media is saying that Singaporeans decided to be ‘kiasu’ because of many uncertainties; our economy, global economy and changing times, that is why they decided to go with the safer bet, that is, PAP. There is also internet talk that new citizens have voted for PAP. There are always two sides to a coin, whatever, the motivation of these kiasu Singaporeans to default back to PAP, proves that they believe that PAP is the stronger party and the more competent government to take Singapore through the impending uncertain times.
As we all now know, it’s the elderly and the younger generation that voted more for PAP. It suggests that the elderly Singaporeans have renewed their faith in PAP. As for the younger Gen Y of Singapore, I believe a significant number of the young have had positive experiences dealing with various government departments and entities. My friend’s son who graduated from Temasek Polytechnic in IT, started up a company with a few friends and they were able to secure various funding from Spring Singapore. I believe the fact that PAP is more engaging in social media and the internet also helped to foster a positive relationship with the younger electorate.
2015 is a lesson for the Opposition(s). It’s nice to see more educated people making the decision to join the Opposition(s), however, a handful does not make a strong team and does not make a government. My suggestion to the Opposition is that all of you should consider very seriously to come together as a coalition; capitalize on your joint strengths and minimize your common weaknesses, then and only then, will you be able to make a credible fight against PAP. What is amazing is that virtually all the Opposition parties were banging away at the same topics; education, healthcare, old age and retirement, cost of living, wealth gap, etc. So why couldn’t the Opposition parties come together? The answer is simple; stupidity, ignorance, arrogance, lack of leadership and the lack of vision. Looks like we will have 8 voices from the Opposition in Parliament for the next 5 years, let’s hope that they are more credible than in the past 4 years. I have yet to see an Opposition propose a new policy or bill in Parliament, they always wait for PAP to come up with the policy and then they criticize, but never counter proposing with a better solution. The fact that WP won Hougang with a lower percentage at 57.7% compared to 2011’s 64.1% is an enlightening moment! Opposition, you are starting to lose credibility and if you don’t do something about it within the next 5 years, don’t blame anyone else except yourselves if you continue to lose percentages.
Let us all look forward to a better next 5 years, it is going to be difficult because of a number of strong headwinds; weak first world economies, weak China, weak emerging Asian markets, aging population and lower productivity. We need to dig deep within ourselves and embrace the ‘iron’ resolve that Singaporeans are known for and defend our position as a successful first world country and economy.
The Panthenon Investment Group 