Election' 06 - My First Rally

I went to my first rally.


Workers' Party - You have a choice.
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Traffic was heavy, and the heavy downpour earlier created more chaos. There were policemen everywhere, probably to direct traffic, though I won't be surprised if they were there, uhm, just in case.....

the field was muddy. Neofik dirtied his leather shoes, and I sunk into the mud several times, in my canvas shoes......

to quote one speaker (as accurate as I remember),

thank you all for coming! Even in this heavy rain, you have gathered. Even when the PAP government gave us such a lousy site!! (Loud applause)

Another speaker:

I'm very touched today, when I look around, i can't see the end of the crowd. And all of you came willingly, we do not have buses to ferry you people here!! (in an apparent mock to the buses ferrying PAP supporters to boast numbers; Loud applause.)

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picture taken from sammyboy coffeeshop, by a WP supporter

The rally was fairly interesting, the different candidates speak on different issues to reach out to all sectors of the public. One candidate spoke abt corporate governing, and corporate scandals, how it applies to PAP, something that only the educated and the young can understand.

Another memorable quote:

They give you money every time there's election. Don't you wish every year is election year? (Loud Applause). 钱照拿！票照投！！(Take the money, Vote for us anyway!) (Loud Applause)

Actually most of the candidate brought out many important points, although I have to admit, they are definitely not the fiercy sort. I was really looking forward to fiercy issues and huge waves of protests and chantings.

I mean, let's not disappoint the policemen, right?
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I waited till this morning to blog about this because I wanted to see how much coverage the WP received in the newspaper. Barely.
Grossly unfair.

1 Rally can reach out to, at most, a few thousand people.

The power of the media is simply not available to the opposition.
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1 of the points the opposition brought out was a mere simple fact.
That they are singaporeans and they love singapore.

Its probably to address the fact that the opposition has been condemned by the PAP, as if they hated singapore and would do anything to ruin it.
Many of them have a great future, why would they risk everything to go against the ruling party?

JBJ was a prestigous lawyer. He gave up his career for to become a bankrupt.
Dr Chee Soon Juan holds a PhD, and a cushy job at NUS. Why bother doing all this?

Another speaker:

I am glad for my supporters. There was this supporter, he earns only abt $1000 a mth. And once the election started, he donated $5000 to the Workers' Party. Its just $5000, not $50,000, NOT ONE PEANUT. But its a huge amount of money to him.....

I can't remember the details, but there was this guy who, at the last minute, pulled out of the election'06 because of his 69yo mother objected seriously to him being an opposition politician.
and his family was against it because they don't want his brother's career to be affected by him being an opposition.

Yah, "there is no fear in singapore".
yaaaaaaaaah right.
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I'm going to another rally today. Another WP Rally.
I will try visit other rallies, esp of the PAP when I can find another friend to go with me.
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Remember, You have a choice.