my maiden trip to a rally - i mean like for real, not those stay for 10 mins and get irritated kind. i was really listening and stayed for THREE hours listening to speeches. haha. i think everyone has to go to a rally at least once. soak in the atmosphere. the opposition ones to really feel it (apparently more so for WP) and if the crowds today are anything to go by, i believe WP has a high chance of winning.

but, as the papers put it, we cannot ignore the often "silent pap supporters" who will end up making the more than 50% that puts the pap team in parliament. this entire elections i guess has been filled with a couple of incidents that dominated the headlines of the papers and immersing myself in the sights and sounds of the entire wp rally at serangoon stadium, i must say i nv expected the crowd to b this huge (my dad's fren - a police chief estimated the crowd to be 30000 in a venue meant for 12500) and the support was just WOW. I would put up pictures, cept i m too tired to upload them. and technically this entry i think is illegal. so putting pictures would make it more illegal as well. But u hear them speak, i must say they have the power to communicate. few of them, but i suppose that is all the matters. gomez esp was very sharp in pointing out the neglecting of the needs of the young adults, goh mengseng on the need to not fear votes being traced, sylvia & low thiakiang gave a good summary of the entire campaign, the issues played out and i believe they did a rather good job in tugging the heartstrings of people in the audience.

one day, i hope to be able to address a crowd like this. with responses so cohesive. with so much support. i mean people in the audience were going around praising the candidates and convincing me to vote wp though i told them i wasnt of age!

which means if those people at the rally have their way, george and his team may very well not get into power in this elections. which is a pity then really, cos yes i agree with hl about the capabilities of his team. no doubt about that. but given the strength of the opposition team (not necessarily stronger, but strong nonetheless), and the many mistakes made by the pap team, based on those mistakes the wp deserves the 5 seats if they win it.

it is true that the gomez issue may be a big thing. but even if the wp decided to make it a wayang, strategised to do so, then i must say the pap committed serious mistakes in falling into their trap. a baseless assumption though this is. Whether the gomez incident was intended or not, in making a huge outcry out of the entire incident, the pap has definitely caused themselves an uphill battle against the wp.

1. many people relate to the gomez issue. at one point of time, we have made an innocent mistake like this. on blogs, you read and hear about analogies - not shoftlifing but more of a simple misunderstanding between perhaps a salesman and his customer or even a student and a teacher. in being able to relate to the incident, the people will feel that (a) they themselves are being told that having committed similar kinds of errors before, they lack integrity and credibility. and (b) obviously believe that the pap is overdoing it.

2. Even if the people do not relate to it and believe he lacks the credibility. these people are often the ones who follow politics and sincerely want to find out what lies ahead in the future. in spending too much time on the gomez issue, and therefore encouraging the media to play it up, the media and the pap cannot focus on real issues that will affect the lives of the people in the next 5 years. From the engaging of the young adults, as interestingly, gomez himself pointed today, to questions about policies implemented. questions about transport fees and gst. they failed to engage in this issues. In so doing, it will irritate the people even if they question the integrity of gomez.

This will inherently irritate the people and will lose them the votes they need and this is further exacerbated by:

3. The kind of politics that they have used. name calling, poor usage of analogies, "politics of distraction" as wp puts it. It is ok if the opposition wants to use it. As the underdogs, people don't quite mind them, laugh along and cheer with them. But when you compare others to animals and thieves and consistently insult the parties / candidates' characters. You will be seen as complacent, which really puts the heartlanders off. And wp was a good opposition in being able to point it out and not commit the same mistake. and to harp on chiam's age consistently? is that an issue too? too many times has the pap tried to do it, francis seow and tang liang hong. cheesoonjuan. This time round, people are more educated i suppose and they know how it works.

4. In addition, using the same carrot approach. it just pisses people off as well. And once again, the opposition managed to ride on nationalistic pride to denounce such a selfish move. 80 million in potong pasir, about the same in hougang? where do they get the money? If the opposition is not contesting in my grc, is this y i hear no plans of my grc being upgraded. starting from my house, sheltered walkways? and my school? how many students have to walk in the sweltering heat or pouring rain to get to the nearest mrt?

the opposition has been smart this time round. undoubtedly more prepared, they know the ground better and has had strong arguments. They can connect. But the pap must be able to move away from all they have been used to in the past and be prepared to share real plans and policies. Make real, tangible promises.

Undoubtedly, the pap has good candidates and it will be a pity to see george and his team leave just like that. a bunch of good people they really are. based on their great track record, i say keep them. i dont necessarily agree with all the wp has said as well. but based on these unforgivable mistakes?

Mr Lee says: "What is the opposition's job? It's not to help the PAP do a better job ... because if they help the PAP do a better job, you're going to vote for me again and they're going to be out of a job for a long time. So their job is to make life miserable for me.

"Right now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong, Steve Chia. We can deal with them. Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I'm going to spend all my time thinking what's the right way to fix them, to buy my supporters votes, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?"

Gosh. This comment on fixing the opposition was totally off.

Ultimately it is up to the people to decide i suppose.

This proved to be a really interesting trip to the rally and it is rather cool to see people actually interested. though no real issues were brought up since it was the last night and the leaders were more of summing up the issues of the entire campaigning. haha.

"I saw a bunch of people in rjc uniform sitting at the side taking notes. Wah maybe they taking note of the points they need to address if they want to become a minister next time." overheard from a member of the public. lol. WASNT ME. i was in the thick of action. haha.

junyi! posted at 1:02 am.