Life as we don't know it

GE 2011

Friday, April 29, 2011 @ 3:13 AM PERMALINK

I'm not interested in politics at all. I'm one of those teens who relies on the fact that almost every election, my GRC never has to vote. And my family is the same. Well, its not to be so this election.

It is not to say we've never had a problem with any of the Government policies. You'd be mistaken if you think my family is upper-middle class with a high amount disposable income.

We barely make ends meet every month. Due to various CPF and HDB rules, we have countless problems with our flat payments. Every time my mum comes back from meeting with the housing board, I am sure to engage her and my other family members in enraged conversation about how inflexible and ridiculous the policies are and how the alternatives offered do not make sense.

It would make sense to let someone else take the reins, but! this year, our GRC is being contested by the SDA. Since its been confirmed that I have to vote, I figure I should make an educated vote and not one just for the sake of it so today, instead of making process on my work, I went online and read up all I could about the SDA.

I'm less impressed than I thought I would be. Alot of the solutions to the problems the party has brought up does not make sense on a large scale. Some of the wording in the manifesto border-line offends me. For example: "Those who have been living it up and even splurged on a car may have difficulty finding the deposit to put down for their first home". Personally, I don't think its the Government's OR tax payer's problem if people who want to buy houses are too short sighted to realise that they need to make sacrifices to afford it. There are a countless number that save every last dollar to get the house they want and if some other people are not intellgent enough to do the same, its should not be the responsibilty of the Government to pamper them.

I do agree that the price of flats are increasing and that is really worrying but I am also aware that as the amount of usable land in Singapore decreases, this will ALWAYS be a problem. SDA has stated they want to make housing cheaper for young couples and that it wants to allow couples to rent a flat for 5 years before converting their rental into a permanent home after saving for that amount of time. I don't get it, they are kind of skirting the issue, how are they going to make flats cheaper? And won't I save a lot more money if I continued living with my parents for that 5 years instead?

I also don't feel like people in Pasir Ris need a LRT and I don't want it to come out of my pocket. Has anyone SEEN how small Pasir Ris is?

And I should know if I need a LRT, I stay at the furthest end of Pasir Ris, my feeder service takes 10-15 minutes to get to the interchange and behind my house is the expressway to PUNGGOL, it gets NO further. (Except maybe if you live by the beach) I also don't see why we need a MRT system joining Pasir Ris to the north (like Yishun), there's a bus that takes all of 30 minutes.

And a lot of the solutions are kinda empty, like raising salaries. Its not that easy dude, you can't just decree that all companies must pay a certain amount and expect it to take root or that it is even be feasible.

Okay, being a little nit-picky I suppose. Excuse me.

Well, the drama has just begun. Do I know who I'm going to vote for? No. Do I think I know everything? No. But I will keep reading the papers and come voting day, I'll vote not for the most favourable party or for the party that I think has the same complaints as me, but for the party with the most realistic view on things and that can give me realistic solutions and not just empty sounding words.

I'll say this though, at the end of the day, I think the very fact that all but one area has been contested shows that Singapore DOES need the opposition to be involved in its growth. I hope that not all 84 seats will be given back to PAP. I hope the opposition will win more seats then they did last time and I hope PAP realizes that the people are getting restless, change needs to happen and they cannot just rely on their past achievements anymore.

Okay, thats enough serious thinking for me. I'm going to bed and hopefully dream of frivolous girl things.

Labels: Voting