TR EMERITUS

By Bhaskaran Kunju

After concluding his attendance for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago early last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a surprise announcement regarding the next general elections.

PM Lee proposed a change to the pre-electoral proceedings by including an extra day of non-campaigning just before the polling day. As it stands campaign proceedings are carried out all the way till the polling day itself when no campaign activity is allowed.

One of the reasons, cited by PM Lee for the change was for voters to take time out to think rationally before making their decision on whom to vote for after an emotionally charged campaign period.

He said,” I think 24 hours after the last excitement of the election campaign period, the rallies, the door-to-door campaigning, the adrenaline flowing, the clash in the mass media as well as in person, perambulating vans blaring away loud speakers, it’s good to have 24 hours to just calm down, think about it – tomorrow we vote.”

The brief campaign period during General Elections is easily the most active period in Singapore politics and it wouldn’t be wrong to state it as being emotionally charged as well. So while there is some truth in that, it would be quite off the mark to conclude that the voters are just as emotionally affected to the point where they are judgement is clouded and rationality impaired.

The last two elections have seen it’s fair share of emotional highs from Dr Chee Soon Juan’s public tangle with then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 2001 and the highly charged battle with Worker’s Party candidate James Gomez in 2006.

While these events were widely carried and reported in the mainstream media and in cyberspace there was very little emotional spillover into the electorate. If anything the only resultant from the latter, was a largely negative turnover for the PAP for their role in the James Gomez saga with the public mostly being put off by the constant taunting by the incumbent party while the Worker’s Party carried on with their duties.

It was a miscalculated strategy that very nearly backfired. But most importantly it showed how discerning the voters were in setting aside emotions and logic.

Nevertheless the worry over emotional spillovers is something that has been present for the PAP quite sometime especially given the relatively large turnouts the opposition rallies command as opposed to that of the PAP. Just one day before polling day in 2006 PM Lee acknowledged this phenomenon but brushed it aside as nothing more than mere curiosity.

He said, “”Coming back from Pasir Ris-Punggol last night, I saw my son at the dinner table and asked him ‘where have you been?’ ‘Ang Mo Kio Workers’ Party rally.’ ‘What were you doing there?’ ‘Wanted to know, brought friends, 20 of them from school in uniform and went to hear.’ I asked him ‘what did you hear?’ Don’t know what they were talking about but every time they said something, they cheered – he said that. I said ‘why don’t you come to the PAP rally?’ He said ’so boring and logical’. So I think it’s okay. Many more (are) like that, want to hear but when it comes to the moment to vote and decide, I think they know what’s in their interest.”

However even within the realm of curiosity it will be difficult to discern between emotions and rationality and that’s something that the PAP has been able to catch on to.

In a P65 Blog entry one of the writers, Fredric Fanthome, criticised those who had found fault with PM Lee’s proposal. He suggests, that “opposition mouthpieces” who cry foul at the new proposal, since political broadcasts and news reports during the cooling off day will be in favour of the government as the media is “in the hands of the government”, are insinuating that voters are not aware of the media ‘misuse’ and in the process belittling voter intelligence.

Firstly, his drawing of conclusion is one that is clearly lacking in understanding of the socio-political scene of Singapore, as seen in his rudimentary argumentation process. However he is always free to choose to write whatever he wants in his blog.

But notably, going by that run of conclusion, then low ‘voter intelligence’ is also being insinuated by the PAP since there is now apparently a need to ‘cool off’24 hours before polling day lest they be so irrational that they get taken in by emotions and theatrics and not vote lucidly.

The actual truth could be much more mundane, that is that no one, neither the opposition nor the incumbent party, really has anything tangible to benefit from it. The opposition parties on one hand have always favoured the internet as the medium of choice, something that will be difficult to regulate outside of official party broadcasts.

Even PM Lee acknowledged it, “On the Internet, it’s grey and also the policing is not so straight-forward but even then, in principle we should say today is a quiet day. I cannot control several million videos on youtube but your website, what you’re putting up in your own name, I think that should end the day before the cooling-off day,”

But the possibility that state owned media, which will be fully functional regardless of the election period, still holds the upper hand in the dissemination of information, tilts discourse in favour of the establishment. How effective this will be however will only be seen in practice. A 24-hour period may ultimately not even be enough for a cooling-off period should the concerns of emotional highs be in fact real.

The only telling sign of this new arrangement is that the PAP is indeed playing safe over the possibility of emotional envelopment of issues by the opposition. Especially given the fact that, relatively enough leeway is being given in the next elections as opposed to the last when podcasts were disallowed and the Internet treated with much dread.

With the changes in the electoral system as proposed earlier this year coupled with the domestic worries over immigration and financial woes, there is every likelihood that the next elections could be quite unpredictable all the way till polling day.

Copyright © The Temasek Review, 2009

Other articles by Bhaskaran Kunju:

>> The saga of (dethroned) beauty queen Ris Low

>> Is there room for more foreigners in Singapore?

>> Why social cohesion is at the forefront of the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally

>> Changes in political system to allow more alternative voices

>> The untimely departure of Chip Goodyear

>> Should universities be re-politicized?

About Author:

Bhaskaran Kunju is a political science undergraduate in a local varsity. He is a regular contributor to the Straits Times Forum and TODAY Voices.

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