The recent Singapore General Elections 2015 (GE2015) was concluded on 11 September 2015 with the ruling political party, People's Action Party (PAP), winning in a landslide with 69.86% of votes, probably the best showing since 2001. This means that PAP won 83 seats and recaptured Punggol East SMC while the Workers’ Party retained Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC with reduced margins.
More than 2 million Singaporeans voted in the country’s 12th General Election on 11 September 2015 which was declared a Public Holiday. All the seats in Parliament were contested for the first time since Singapore’s independence in 1965. There are a total of 89 seats in 29 constituencies.
This General Elections also saw the highest number of opposition political parties contesting--the Workers' Party, National Solidarity Party, Singapore Democratic Party, Reform Party, Singaporeans First, Singapore People's Party, Singapore Democratic Alliance and People's Power Party – as well as two independents.
The ruling party received more than 70 per cent of the vote share in 15 out of the 29 electoral divisions – with Jurong GRC (79.28 per cent), Ang Mo Kio GRC (78.63 per cent) and West Coast GRC (78.57 per cent) the top three performers.
The WP retained Aljunied GRC with a narrow 50.95 per cent of the votes. It also successfully defended Hougang SMC with 57.69 per cent of the votes, a dip from its 2012 by-election result of 62.1 per cent.
An Unexpected National Swing Towards PAP
Not many political watchers would have predicted such a comfortable win by the PAP. In fact, myself included, we would have guessed an improved performance from the poor showing of 60.14 per cent share of the overall votes in 2011, to perhaps an average of 5 per cent share improvement.
PAP has surprised the majority of Singaporeans with the overall 69.86 per cent share of the General Elections 2015. It was the highest popular vote garnered since the landslide victory of 75.3 per cent in 2001. However, we must not forget that only one third of the voters were eligible to cast their votes due to walkers where there was an insufficient opposition parties to contest in the constituencies.
This time round, however, it was different. All 89 seats in the Parliament was being contested. Eight opposition parties went all out to contest and field around 89 candidates, with the Workers' Party fielding the most at 28 candidates.
Yet with an increased opposition fielding of opponents, albeit with less intense party rallies across the island, the PAP saw a marked improvement over their general performance.
Why is this so? Here are my personal observation and opinions on the "landslide win" on the General Elections 2015:
1. A Change of Approach
The last General Election in 2011 saw a surprisingly weak results for the PAP, and thereafter they seemed to have changed their approach and strategy. For example, Our Singapore Conversation was introduced to hear more of the ground voices. REACH was set up in similar fashion. Ministers of Parliament, including the Prime Minister, also began to more social media-friendly with regular posts on their Facebook accounts and more screen time discussions and conversations on the national televisions.
2. A Stalemate of Dissentment
At GE2011, the general public has dissatisfied with PAP over their policies and their stubborn stance to hear from the ground. The PAP's political approach seemed to have changed for the better and hence the mood of dissentment seemed to gradually dissipate after time. Had the opposition parties like Worker's Party changed their strategy and approach, we might have seen a different outcome.
3. A Strengthened PAP
Since GE2011, the PAP seemed to have revitalized itself with more capable people on board. Old guards such as Mah Bow Tan relinquished their portfolios with Khaw Boon Wan taking over the trouble housing problems. Lui Tuck Yew took over the Transport Ministry and turned things around, though it probably would not have been felt until years later. Tan Chuan-Jin and Chan Chun Sing seemed like capable senior ministers who could lead the country, while Tharman Shanmugaratnam proved to be a very wise and admirable Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
4. A Thinly-Spread and Weakened Opposition
After the first GRC (Group Representation Constituency) win in 2011, the Aljunied GRC managed by the Worker's Party faced criticism after it had been hit with a mismanagement and misappropriation of the funds by the Town Council. This dented the public confidence in the party, though some were more gracious to show their confidence that the WP would improve with time.
However, with so many oppositions fielding candidates contesting in all 89 seats, some wondered if the candidates were carefully selected and with the appropriate qualifications and right characters. With this, the strength of the opposition seems weakened and together with their approach and strategy to win the public's votes, the general public might have preferred to stick with status quo.
After all, the oppositions failed to convince the educated public of good, sound and credible policies as an alternative to the already-proven policies set by the PAP.
5. An Improved Performance
After the disappointing GE2011, policies were more inclusive and issues raised by the ground were addressed, such as the reduction of the ministerial salaries, housing availability and cost, transport infrastructure, a lack of hospitals, tightening of the intake of foreigners, etc.
Of course, the passing of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew also rallied the nation together and brought people back to the realization of the vulnerability we faced. The SG50 was also a feel-good factor with how the government introduced the Pioneer Generation package which recognized the contributions of the last generation.
Perhaps, a well-informed public would also recognized the instability in the region and the global economy and hence they would have preferred a stable political government.
Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts
Working Hard On Your Resolutions
2015 has began for more than a week now, and Iris and I are already struggling to keep majority of our new year resolutions intact, such as the daily routine of making our beds, or keeping things neat and tidy in the house.
Such are the struggles of people who set new year resolutions, and we hope to believe that we are not the only ones. Surely not an excuse? Yes it's not.
I've come to realize that keeping a resolution going through the year is a big challenge, and that's where in the past week I had been pondering on 90-day long resolutions instead of lengthy year-long resolutions. Why so?
Having said that, first and foremost, I find myself having to battle a few personal disciplines first:
So I am going to tackle all these and being working out my resolutions. No excuses, no more procrastination and delays.
Such are the struggles of people who set new year resolutions, and we hope to believe that we are not the only ones. Surely not an excuse? Yes it's not.
I've come to realize that keeping a resolution going through the year is a big challenge, and that's where in the past week I had been pondering on 90-day long resolutions instead of lengthy year-long resolutions. Why so?
- Some year-long goals are better replaced by progressive 90-day goals. For example, if staying fit is your goal, then you can begin by light weekly exercises for a start. Progressively over time, you can increase the frequency to twice a week run or increase the intensity of your training.
- 90-day goals make you feel accomplished and motivated. As with the previous example, your stage-one 90-day goal are more "bite-sized" for you to finish and complete them, and that will give you a big morale boost to work them out.
- 90-day goals may be better for your own health. Sometimes we have to decide if a shorter-term goal is better suited for us instead of year-long ones. For example, if you plan to do a marathon, 90-day goals will help to plan your training properly to minimize any physical injuries.
In shorter words, 90-day goals are hugely customizable and more realistic. "One size fits all" works less wonderful with a customized 90-day plan, and there are more benefits to it than in theory when worked out.
Having said that, first and foremost, I find myself having to battle a few personal disciplines first:
- Self Discipline. This is a huge personal concern, as I often opt for other 'activities' rather than to get to the real business.
- Procrastination. This is another excuse I give myself, especially when sometimes you have the luxury of time and yet chose not to do it.
- Attitude. This is something rather lacking, as with a good attitude you can get done your goals and plan in a shorter amount of time.
So I am going to tackle all these and being working out my resolutions. No excuses, no more procrastination and delays.
New Year, New Resolutions
When I was in youth ministry in my previous church, we never fail to get the youths to do up a brief reflections of the past year and doing up a resolution list for the new year. Some youths frown at the annual routine exercise of the year, while some eagerly anticipate the quiet 'stock take' opportunity of their lives in the year.
Just how good and helpful are resolutions and how do we set for ourselves a good resolution? More importantly, how do we keep our resolutions and work them out through the year? (Read an interesting article on why resolutions are so hard to follow here.)
I cannot help but insist that resolutions and goals are indefinitely helpful and essential to our personal growth and development if we set good and achievable goals.
While we set the youths to take time to reflect upon their year, we often draft up and categorize their lives into different parts, such as physical, spiritual, social and family, and studies. We find that by categorizing into these simple and brief domains of their lives, it becomes easier for them to set goals for themselves. For example, for physical they may set a goal of a weekly exercise. For spiritual, they may set a goal of reaching out to a friend, or attending church weekly. For social and family, they may want to spend more time with their parents, or more time with a socially-outcast friend. For studies, they may simply aim to get a certain grade for a struggling subject, and so on.
We often have leaders to guide them along and have them duplicate a copy of their goals to their CG leaders for accountability's sake. And together as a CG, we have the CG leader to set cell group goals as a common benchmark for the members to work together and reach their goals.
To help everyone along, we instructed them to set SMART goals, which essentially stands for:
- Specific: it mustn't be too general, and often asking yourselves the 6 'W's (Who, Where, What, When, Which, and Why) will help to streamline your goals to a more specific one. For example, to get into shape would be a general goal, whereas to join a gym and workout two times a week would be a specific goal.
- Measurable: your goals must be measurable, or in other words have a basic criteria of measurement. This will help you break up your goals to small bits so as to help you work towards your end goal. For example, if the goal is to run a full marathon, it will be helpful to break it up into bite-size, such as to attempt first a 6km run, and subsequently a 12km, a 18km, and so on.
- Achievable: your goals must also be within reach and realistic. For example, one can be ambitious and set a goal to reach the moon. But while doing so he or she might have forgotten to ask if the required attitudes, abilities, skills and financial capacity to accomplish the goal is within the required reach.
- Relevant: goals must be personal and relevant to your self. For example, it would be meaningless to set a goal of walking the dog if we fail to realize that it is a need for the dog and not for ourselves, and neither is it relevant to set a goal to be closer to your own dog when it does not achieve a certain purpose.
- Time-bound: usually we set yearly goals, which inadvertently determines a year-long time frame to accomplish the goal. A common misconception is that goals are to be limited to a year, however that need not to be the case. For example, for a youth to get into shape it may not require a full year but six months instead. Hence, our goals can be a 6-month goal, or a 90-days goal, which can be more achievable and realistic.
Recently there was an article on why 90-day goals are better than year-long ones. Read more on the article here.
This sums up how and what kind of goals we encourage our youths to set up for themselves, and you can likewise do the same.
So, what new year resolutions and goals have you set for yourselves in 2015?
Just how good and helpful are resolutions and how do we set for ourselves a good resolution? More importantly, how do we keep our resolutions and work them out through the year? (Read an interesting article on why resolutions are so hard to follow here.)
I cannot help but insist that resolutions and goals are indefinitely helpful and essential to our personal growth and development if we set good and achievable goals.
While we set the youths to take time to reflect upon their year, we often draft up and categorize their lives into different parts, such as physical, spiritual, social and family, and studies. We find that by categorizing into these simple and brief domains of their lives, it becomes easier for them to set goals for themselves. For example, for physical they may set a goal of a weekly exercise. For spiritual, they may set a goal of reaching out to a friend, or attending church weekly. For social and family, they may want to spend more time with their parents, or more time with a socially-outcast friend. For studies, they may simply aim to get a certain grade for a struggling subject, and so on.
We often have leaders to guide them along and have them duplicate a copy of their goals to their CG leaders for accountability's sake. And together as a CG, we have the CG leader to set cell group goals as a common benchmark for the members to work together and reach their goals.
To help everyone along, we instructed them to set SMART goals, which essentially stands for:
- Specific: it mustn't be too general, and often asking yourselves the 6 'W's (Who, Where, What, When, Which, and Why) will help to streamline your goals to a more specific one. For example, to get into shape would be a general goal, whereas to join a gym and workout two times a week would be a specific goal.
- Measurable: your goals must be measurable, or in other words have a basic criteria of measurement. This will help you break up your goals to small bits so as to help you work towards your end goal. For example, if the goal is to run a full marathon, it will be helpful to break it up into bite-size, such as to attempt first a 6km run, and subsequently a 12km, a 18km, and so on.
- Achievable: your goals must also be within reach and realistic. For example, one can be ambitious and set a goal to reach the moon. But while doing so he or she might have forgotten to ask if the required attitudes, abilities, skills and financial capacity to accomplish the goal is within the required reach.
- Relevant: goals must be personal and relevant to your self. For example, it would be meaningless to set a goal of walking the dog if we fail to realize that it is a need for the dog and not for ourselves, and neither is it relevant to set a goal to be closer to your own dog when it does not achieve a certain purpose.
- Time-bound: usually we set yearly goals, which inadvertently determines a year-long time frame to accomplish the goal. A common misconception is that goals are to be limited to a year, however that need not to be the case. For example, for a youth to get into shape it may not require a full year but six months instead. Hence, our goals can be a 6-month goal, or a 90-days goal, which can be more achievable and realistic.
Recently there was an article on why 90-day goals are better than year-long ones. Read more on the article here.
This sums up how and what kind of goals we encourage our youths to set up for themselves, and you can likewise do the same.
So, what new year resolutions and goals have you set for yourselves in 2015?
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