So I’ve kinda been neglecting this Tumblr for a while now because there have been an Exciting Development in my life that I will expound on in the near future once the concrete starts to set, but the funnest topic that’s on my mind right now is the Singaporean General Election results.
I’m a pretty apolitical person tbh, but man, I am deriving an inordinate amount of pleasure from reading the comments written pre-result-announcement about how certain some people were that the PAP was going to be knocked out of power. I’m no expert, but I’ve been reassuring my mom and bro these past few weeks that despite the Opposition’s impressive results last GE, there was no need to fear a PAP loss (my mom’s v much for the PAP and was super determined to vote for them this time round since she couldn’t do so last GE).
The post-result analysis is already starting up, and for what it’s worth, imo, those who predicted the Opposition to do well failed to take into account the impact of the relentless pro-PAP propaganda that has been SG50, the effect of LKY’s death, the apathy of not-politically minded individuals, and the effect of the Opposition’s success last GE.
I saw an anon commentator state that more people would be moved to vote for the Opposition out of fear of a PAP victory, but really, what I saw happening was more people voting for PAP out of fear of an Opposition victory. A lot of pro-PAP people who would not have given a damn about voting before were given a rude awakening by the Opposition’s great results last GE and ended up voting this year and that prob helped the PAP in the polls. The political fever that swept the nation also made voting seem cool and brought a lot of new voters into the pool of electors, but these voting-cuz-it’s-cool types prob just defaulted into voting for the PAP because most Singaporeans are a mindless bunch of sheep, the vocal and mindlessly pro-Opposition section notwithstanding.
I guess those who care would say I’m just saying this all after the fact, but hey, you can ask my family. I predicted this result weeks ago.
If the Opposition wants to do better, the next GE will be the one to do it because I'm p sure the PAP will disappoint us in a number of ways over the next 5 years and drive voters towards the Opposition again. But will the Opposition sweep into power and knock the PAP out to become the ruling party? No. That won’t happen, not by the next GE anyway, not unless the PAP truly fucks up, which they probably won’t. This party has been in power for the last 50 years; something needs to go very, very wrong for them to mess up badly enough to suddenly fall from grace. An Opposition party may rule Singapore one day, but it will be a slow, hard-earned victory. They will never get it in a single election.
Again, not an expert, but that’s what I’m guessing for GE2020 and beyond. Let’s see if I’m right.