Singapore Presidential Elections : Even if …
Singapore votes today for it’s next President. Speaking to several friends, I sense uncertainty and trepidation. This arises from the fact that there is a choice of four candidates which span the breadth of the political spectrum, and no certainty as to which candidate will get ahead because of vote cannibalisation between those candidates which are similar in political outlook.
Friends have even expressed that the election of candidates as President will result in the collapse of the country, whether from economic failure or a neglect of the underprivileged.
While reflecting on whether the future would be as bleak as some of my friends would make it out to be, if our preferred candidate(s) is not elected, I find consolation in the "even if" passage of Habakkuk 3.
Habakkuk’s country at that time face a very real prospect of invasion by the Babylonians (the Babylonians eventually did), and he questioned God why events were unfolding this way. The book ends with his resolution to put his faith in God, even if things did not go the way he wanted it to, and even though he did not understand why this was so.
It reminds me that God is larger than the political situation, and that joy may be found in God, even if things do not turn out the way I wish or expect it to.
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my SaviorThe Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.- Habakkuk 3 : 17 - 19
August 29th, 2011 at 9:15 am
Superbrand Cheesepie says:-
PAP saw its margin of survival plummet from 20% in the recent GE (60% ayes less 40% nays = 20% margin) to a razor-thin 0.34% (being the lead DTT had over TCB). 65% of Singaporeans also voted against DTT.
Had the PM done the following before PE2011:-
(i) reduced ministerial pay by 65%
(ii) reduced Presidential pay by 60%
(iii) pledged to solve flooding by 2015
(iv) relieve the congestion on MRT & buses
(v) made a quantative pledge on imposing a quota on foreign influx
(vi) produced HARD EVIDENCE PROOF of what DTT’s kids really did during NS to rebut all the malicious smears circulating on internet blogs and chatrooms
(vii) promised all Singaporeans that they would be able to withdraw their CPF special a/c and medisave during their lifetimes and not after
then DTT’s votes may rise to 90% and storm into Istana as a clear victor. As it is, DTT’s pathetic 0.34% margin of victory (if you could call it that!) is now a clear indictment of the collapsing moral authority of the PAPists. Less than one-third of a percentage point LESS, and DTT might have lost. 65% of Singaporeans have also repudiated DTT as their president.
DTT – should be aware of this:- If Your Excellency walk into a hall of Singaporeans you can expect 65% of them not to stand up for you. You better avoid uncontrolled public gatherings for awhile. Stick to PAPists-controlled occasions with all seats and bleaches stuffed with die die diehard PAPist loyalists.
If I were the PM, I would take this very very seriously and hold a huge PAPist corporate retreat to have a proper honest soul-searching to see why this is so. There are lost opportunities aplenty.