The Case for Fixed Election Dates and the Fallacy of “Asian Values”
January 31st, 2011 | 
Author: Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo announced in Bangkok earlier this month that “the next general election is not due till February 2012″, but “it could be in the second quarter of the year”. It can be further deduced that the general elections will not happen till after March either, as the Budget debate is scheduled on that month. Neither will the elections happen on the third quarter as the time period has to be made available for the presidential elections.
(Ref: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1106172/1/.html)
So, I must put forth this question: Why the secrecy, shiftiness and all these hints? Why can’t we set a concrete, fixed election date? Would it not make sense to get rid of this shiftiness and make it fairer for all by settling on one fixed date?
I will not bore you, dear reader with the dreary legal details and jargon, but this policy of unfixed election dates was bequeathed to us by the British and traditionally, this has remained that way for the British to this day for no other rational stated purpose but to maximize the advantage of the governing party. But ever since the new coalition government of the Tories and Liberal Democrats took office after their general elections on 2010, they have since introduced a bill to establish a fixed parliamentary term. If the bill becomes law, the next general election in the United Kingdom will be 7 May 2015, as the previous election date was 6 May 2010.
Singapore and the UK are not the only nations to have unfixed election dates. They include nations that have inherited Westminster-styled parliaments like Australia, India, Ireland and New Zealand, and other nations like Iceland, Denmark, South Africa and Turkey. Our neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia have unfixed election dates as well, but Malaysia has a quirk in keeping the month fixed to March. Their last two elections, 21 March 2004 and 8 March 2008, with the next one planned for March 2012 bucks the trend, if not just slightly.
There was a discussion on fixed election dates on PAP’s Facebook page, participated by yours truly and the defence of the pro-establishment bloc are legion. (Ref:http://www.facebook.com/pap.sg/posts/185903158098721)
Thomas Yeo: Why should the election date be known and let the opposition have a chance to prepare? No political party will be so quick in deciding when is the election.
Wayne Poh: Theres no comparison between the west and asia. Every house has their own rules. Asian values. Befittingly subordinates never belittle their superiors.
—
令时报佛腿。[To hug Buddha's leg at the last moment praying for mercy: an adage on procrastination] hope i got the characters right. Perhaps they have the same saying in canada.
Men arent born equal. We all wish for fairness but sometimes the end justify the means. In all supposed fairness. Have you wondered why you are paid more than your cleaner and why your boss got more? Were it ever proportional? the last place where i believe they tried to make it fair for everyone is in north korea. Fairness then becomes a matter of perspective.
Alfred Liew: Why opposition party members only come out during election time? Why not come out to support some community events such as fund rising for charities, etc.? Greet the people during festive holidays. Groundworks. Hard works can win people’s hearts. Election date is irrelevant if you are really working hard to serve the people.
—
A child keep asking her mother she want this, she want that. Telling her that her friend has this or that. Saying other kids from overseas are doing this or doing that.
Mummy listen but mummy never give in to all her demands. Mummy loves her child. She know what’s best for her child and working within her means.
Pity the stupid child never understand what her mother is doing.
Lynette Enoch: Why so excited, when elections come just vote for the right party lah!
These statements were in response to my proposal and elaboration of the benefits and advantages of fixed election dates:
Canada, in recent years pushed out a fixed election bill and passed it. Below are the advantages paraphrased from a Canadian politician’s webpage (http://www.robnicholsonmp.ca/3757/45680/):
Current System: Currently, it is the prerogative of the Prime Minister, having the confidence of the House of Commons, to select what he or she regards as an opportune time for an election to renew the government’s mandate and to advise the Governor General to dissolve the House in time for that election.
The New System Proposed in the Bill: Under the proposed system, general elections will be held on a fixed day. Specifically, the bill provides that general elections must be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election.
Key Advantages Of Fixed Election Dates:
Fairness: It is unfair that the governing party should be permitted to time an election to exploit conditions favourable to its re-election. Fixed election dates will level the playing field and provide greater fairness for all parties.
Transparency and Predictability: Fixed election dates will provide transparency as to when general elections will be held. Rather than decisions about election dates being made behind closed doors, general election dates will be public knowledge. Election dates will now be predictable.
Improved Governance: Fixed election dates will allow for better policy planning. For example, members of parliamentary committees will be able to set out their agendas well in advance, which will make the work of committees, and Parliament as a whole, more efficient.
I challenge anyone, really; anyone to step forward and tell me that it’s only the domain of the West to want to pursue such things like fairness, transparency and predictability, and improved governance. These are not high-minded, high-handed ideals that the common man does not have to care about – it is in the interest and everyone’s advantage to benefit from such ideals. It is not as if I’m telling everyone to contemplate Søren Kierkegaard’s idea of Absurdism and his notion of the “leap of faith”. That belongs to the realm of theology and philosophy and not electoral policy which affects every citizen of this democratic society.
Trying to oppose these ideals based on the oft-cited and ill-defined ideology, “Asian values” is dubious at best. The ideology of trying to promote harmony with one’s community, mutual (and bilateral) consensus and focus on the family are high-minded, valuable and admirable ideals. Abuse of these ideals in the name of tyranny and hegemony however, is hardly admirable.
The case for “Asian values” is made consistently when Burma (I refuse to recognize it as “Myanmar”) and China oppress their people when they decide to take part in civil society, when censorship and detainment of people without trial in the name of “harmony” is done… there are a myriad examples and I shall not bore you, the reader with any further examples. What is most galling is when pro-establishment individuals tell us that we are having it good when it comes to authoritarian personalities who put dissident behind bars indefinitely. (Ref: http://www.facebook.com/pap.sg/posts/123947947675895)
George Wong: You got to compare with the other leaders to find out if Singaporean really got a raw deal. Also If Chia Thye Poh, Tan Wah Piow, Francis Seow or for that matter CSJ would get better treatment under those consider favourite leader in their respective country.
Singapore – Lee Kuan Yew
Malaysia – Mahathir Mohamad
Indonesia – Suharto? Abdul Wahid is nice though.
Philippine – C Aquino? can’t be Marcos
Korea – Park Chung Hee
Taiwan – Chiang Ching Kuo? Senior Chiang… haha!
Japan – Yasuhiro Nakasone
China – Don’t need to mention.
Comforting ourselves that there’re other people worse than us and resting our laurels, because we refuse to admit that we can’t be better than that. How admirable.
Just because we get punched in the face while being mugged does not mean that we should be happy about being mugged. While it’s reasonable to be thankful that we did not get stabbed, shot or raped in the process, mugging is still ethically and morally wrong, whether in the East or West, and we should make every effort to stomp it out.
However, as honorable and beneficial as fixed election dates may be, a law is law as long as people abide by the law and is adequately enforced. Unfortunately, the fixed election law was broken by the very man, Prime Minister Stephen Harper who enacted it – the Canadian courts say that fixed election date legislation is so vague, the Prime Minister could drive a campaign bus through the loopholes. Around a year after the bill was passed, the Harper government called for an election which it went on to win. Breaking this very new law was justified by the Prime Minister himself, who argued that the Conservatives (Harper’s party) needed “a fresh mandate to deal with a deepening recession”.
Even though a Canadian federal watchdog group, Democracy Watch started legal action against the Harper government, the courts had to throw out the appeal as the loopholes were too great to adequately enforce the fixed election law. A veteran political scientist, Peter Russel (not the Indian-Canadian comedian) observed that,
Conceding to the prime minister an untrammelled power to order up an election whenever he pleases is bound to contribute to public cynicism and withdrawal from the democratic process.
Legislation has its pitfalls: it may introduce fresh new reforms that are indeed beneficial as long as the rule of law is enforced. This is a valuable lesson that we Singaporeans should have learnt in the first place, but alas, not many of us know of it.
.
Davin Ng
Posted in 
Look out for the carrots that is due to be handed in the Budget. Now the gahmen must unload more carrots for the Malay vote.
Like or Dislike:
69 
0
I support the writer. YES TO FIXED ELECTION DATES!
Like or Dislike:
61 
2
We pay these supposed elites million-dollar salaries and they can’t even decide on a fixed election date? How difficult is that?
Need to feel the ground before you decide on the date? Why do you need to feel the ground when you should be confident what you had done for the past 5 years was for the good of the citizens? Or maybe what you had done wasn’t so good, so you need time to “fix” the citizens with “goodies” first?
Or you don’t want to fix a date because you want to catch the oppositions off-guard with last minute election announcements?
Like or Dislike:
92 
0
PAP is PING AND PONG.
NO WAY! LIAR KIAH SUE another 20 years, I don’t think so.
One day you PING another day you PONG.
PAP, you maybe be PING and PONG for 50 years, you are no god.
Your PING and PONG ball is going to break soon.
It’s aging and soon will be replaced by a new ballot box and not from (PAP) PING and PONG.
The Chinese says TING TONG.
The Malay says TOLONG.
The Tamil says KOSONG.
Thw Hindu says BOHONG.
The English says SO LONG.
The Eurasian says SOTONG.
The Jew says GO HOME.
All LIAR KIAH SUE Dictators will fall and end up into the wilderness.
Like or Dislike:
33 
0
Davin,
There is a typo error, please change it….
“the next general election is not due till February 2011″
… it should be Feb 2012 not Feb 2011…
KR
Like or Dislike:
15 
0
PAP will do anything and I mean anything to have an unfair advantage over opposition parties. Eg. Electoral boundaries, cooling period, unfixed election dates and so on. PAP will only hold election when the ground is “sweet” for them. Malaysians tend to have it at around March. TIME FOR SINGAPORE TO LEARN FROM MALAYSIA AND FIX IT ON A MONTH! MALAYSIA BOLEH!
Like or Dislike:
43 
0
What carrots? It’s bribery to secure votes. Fucking corrupted PAP
Like or Dislike:
62 
0
not only we want fixed date for elections but also reduce to current 5 year term to 4 years
Like or Dislike:
36 
0
fixed election dates usually go with some sort of term limit (in both US and Taiwan, a person can only be president twice; in Russia one cannot run for a third term after two consecutive terms, but can come back after a break, as Putin might do next year), but this requires a presidential system; it is hard to see a term limit on political parties (you can just disband and then form a new party); after a party wins, it elects the PM, so imposing term limits is more complex than in a presidential system
Like or Dislike:
22 
0
I think the General Election and the Presidential Election should be held on the same date would save a lot of time, public money , manpower and resources . If paper voting is still the choice method for voting, then just use the same paper to tick for presidential election as well as the General Election . Save paper usage to help the environment , isn’t it ? Why need to held on two different dates ? Isn’t the government always want us to be prudent ? Setting the dates for two different days to hold each individual election doesn’t suggest a prudent government but a wastage government , isn’t it ?
Like or Dislike:
20 
0
I am all for Singapore to change to a Presidential system like Taiwan. Our legislator and law makers (MPs) cannot wear two hats and become the executor (Minister) as well. Where is the check and balance?
Like or Dislike:
30 
0
But a fixed date could mean a longer wait until 2012, right? No, I want to vote them out NOW!
Like or Dislike:
29 
0
associating fairness to communism is stupidity.
One existed way before the other.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
@KR
Whoops, my bad. I can’t edit from my end though.. it’s a Wordpress limited access account.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Update:
Oh, looks like someone (not me) changed it already. Hooray!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
They know they cannot bring Singapore forward but still want to hang on to power and salary
Like or Dislike:
6 
0
I was wondering how many of you who complained in here would really vote against the PAP when the time comes, or you are just ‘big talker’?
Like or Dislike:
8 
3
All this noise created by the PAPaya is to test market.
Opp should not over react to the situation resulting in using up all the Ammo.
Our PAPaya Govt is very good at manupilating it people, even their at their own young Papayas, to acheive their goals.
One word discribe them best….. Dispicable.
Like or Dislike:
8 
0
You can put in fair electoral conditions, fixed date for elections, no more GRCs, longer period for campaigning, no bullying, no bribing of voters, no bankruptcy suits BUT if the intention is to retain power as long as possible by whatever means, then nothing will work. LKY puts it nicely “why should I help those who want to unseat me?” He even threatens to call in the army in the event of a “freak” election result. You simply cannot expect fair play from the PAP. You have better luck to get a loan shark to forgive your loan or a robber to give you his knife. Davin, you are absolutely right but you are not a realist. Asking the PAP to do something because it is done by other countries, because it is a fair, good and honest thing is just a hopeless exercise. They make all the rules, they hold all the cards, they’ve got all the referees in their pockets and they even change their own rules after they have made them. They have got too much to lose and they cannot have an incoming government gain access to all their dirty little secrets. Frankly, I am not confident that the PAP will bow out gracefully and be content to go into opposition. You draw your own conclusions but be prepared for some HARD TIMES and that is the HARD TRUTH.
Like or Dislike:
9 
0
Called themselves cream of the crop but got no Lan Hood to take on the oppositions gentlemanly. If they’re the best which they claimed themselves to be, why so many of them still need their ‘big brothers’ to hold their hands to walk into Parliament?
Credible candidates need not to play cheat!
If you’re really good, you’ll get the Parliament seat.
Strong oppositions are of course not easy to beat,
Only fake talent will feel the heat.
Offer carrots, candies and goodies are their usual tricks,
But voters are already so damn sick!
Out they go, they deserve our kick.
Come this GE, we’ll definitely make the right pick!
Never mind if election date they dare not fix. Because voters’ mind which matters most, has long been fixed.
Like or Dislike:
11 
0
A STAR IS BORN.
SEE, SINGAPORE HAS TALENT !
WHO THE BODOH SAYS SINGAPORE HAS NO TALENT.
SUE HIM SUE HIM SUE THE BIG BODOH.
Like or Dislike:
5 
0
THOMAS FRIEDMAN FEATURED IN “THE STRAITS TIMES” today said the usa govt should adopt “asian values”.
believe he said this under the influence of some powerful golden triangle drugs supplied to him by some asians.
“….the oft-cited and ill-defined ideology, “Asian values” is dubious at best.
The ideology of trying to promote harmony with one’s community, mutual (and bilateral) consensus and focus on the family are high-minded, valuable and admirable ideals.
Abuse of these ideals in the name of tyranny and hegemony however, is hardly admirable.
The case for “Asian values” is made consistently when Burma (I refuse to recognize it as “Myanmar”) and China oppress their people when they decide to take part in civil society, when censorship and detainment of people without trial in the name of “harmony” is done… there are a myriad examples and I shall not bore you, the reader with any further examples.
What is most galling is when pro-establishment individuals tell us that we are having it good when it comes to authoritarian personalities who put dissident behind bars indefinitely. (Ref: http://www.facebook.com/pap.sg/posts/123947947675895)”
this “asian value” rhetoric has no precise term of reference nor any basis for its claim.
the greatest danger of this “asian value” claim is its arbitrariness when used by any very dubious government with very dubious goals.
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
Just because we get punched in the face while being mugged does not mean that we should be happy about being mugged. While it’s reasonable to be thankful that we did not get stabbed, shot or raped in the process, mugging is still ethically and morally wrong, whether in the East or West, and we should make every effort to stomp it out.
======================================
another simple example comes pre-law lesson #1:
a huge fire is raging in town.
ignoring all traffic lights, the fire engine rushes to the scene of the fire leaving behind a trail of accidents and people it killed on the way.
where is the moral and ethics of the fire engine driver?
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Alfred Liew: Why opposition party members only come out during election time? Why not come out to support some community events such as fund rising for charities, etc.? Greet the people during festive holidays. Groundworks. Hard works can win people’s hearts. Election date is irrelevant if you are really working hard to serve the people.
—
read about the 72 old man who admires lky a lot who lives in sengkang and never saw him or any of his 82 ministers and thousands of cronies once here in TR.
perhaps he will this election given the shaky grounds of the pap cronies today.
perhaps, the pap cronies will “hunt” him down today and present him a
huge free hamper of goodies and an exra large angpow and have a special media-blitz on him when the freebies are handed over to him this chinese new year.
perhaps the ACS young pap LSE graduate will stalk him and find out where he lives and threaten him for his presence for the pap sponsored media-bliz.
who knows?
(p.s. perhaps, during the media-blitz of this event on the “forced ” presence of this old sengkang , the crowd will be so overwhelming and media=-corp photographers and video specialists are under staffed, they may engage the other young pap panties specialist leader to help them and LSE cheo to make it a fulfilling field day right, who knows?).
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
令时报佛腿。[To hug Buddha's leg at the last moment praying for mercy: an adage on procrastination] hope i got the characters right. Perhaps they have the same saying in canada.
Men arent born equal. We all wish for fairness but sometimes the end justify the means. In all supposed fairness. Have you wondered why you are paid more than your cleaner and why your boss got more? Were it ever proportional? the last place where i believe they tried to make it fair for everyone is in north korea. Fairness then becomes a matter of perspective.
………….
you’re are refugee from north korea in singapore and selected to be a new singapore by no-human, computer selection process by the immigration department ?
if not, as a singaporean who has never lived in korea, why are you comparing north korea with singapore here?
ever notice how glorious and well attended all north korean festivals are, if your source of information on all things north korean is the media and nothing else?
well, any big difference/s with singapore?
ever notice how rosy north koreans cheeks are normally compared to the cold and shrivelled up looks on the faces of the despereate poor and hungry faces of singaporeans?
guess you are just a bootlicker for the pap regime and a very good one at that.
guess also this election year, your pap angpow for you must be going to get an extra large one for you, huh?
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
TR admin. Please reduce USER NAME to 20 spaces.
Like or Dislike:
4 
1
now, this is one talk -show singaporeans will not get tired of.
excellent ! more please please please !.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Asian values” is dubious at best bilateral) consensus and focus on the family are high-minded, valuable and admirable ideals. Abuse of these ideals in the name of tyranny and hegemony however, is hardly admirable. The case for “Asian values” is m:
January 31, 2011 at 11:09 am
Kinda think of it, I glance through an article in SHP Singapore Striat Times about the topics is
(how Chinese raise their children is different from how Western raise their childern)
~Chinese spot what is the NEXT skills required for the NEXT trend that will be useful for her/his children to study. If necessary FORCE will be apply.
~Western asked what their children want to be, then surround them with the necessary skills required to successed.
They author brags that Chinese Way, of educating the kids had been proven inffective. (Malay and Indian kids should consider it too)
This lead to 1 question (all the Hard Subject or Hard Modules will be taken up) just like MM Lee told her daughter to take up medicine.
Today, he realised “it was wrong call” there is an “over-supply” of doctors, the animals doctors vet make more returns and profits
Then we had another question, how do Chinese Parents knows the Market Forces, they had the Crsytal Ball??? What if they spot, but the trends is only short-lived??? then how???
The next question is, everyone going for doctors, there will be an oversupply, your become too common, too competitive, price wars.
I know Lawyers become Insurance Salesman, Economics Graduates become Car Salesman, China Phd working in Singapore Research in Defense, after he was ask to live become taxi driver. In Korea, there are so many adults took Hard Subjects, end up road sweeper. Everyone had the same qualification, same professional, price wars lor.
I concluded, both Chinese Parents and Western Parents model had weakness and strenght (see making a good life is your objective)
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Need not care when they want to fix the date. As long as one has make up thy mind who to vote. Doesn’t matter.
Make sure get rid of them and the new government set the date henceforth.
We did not ask for the date, CBKs need us to give them a date in future.
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
most 1st world Leaders announce way in advance right?
Can someone comfom on this?
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Wonderful and insightful article my man. Hopefully people who have half a brain and who still possess the ability to think for themselves (unlike the braindead PAP lackies who will do,believe and think whatever their elite leaders tell them to)will read it and exercise some descretion, and more importantly, show some balls in the upcoming election. I’ll most likely be away studying in sydney during that time but let it be known…be it the SDP, WP, or even Ah Meng camapigning in my district, my vote will be for the opposition.
Like or Dislike:
5 
0
I support “Cockeyed”’s proposal:
“TR admin. Please reduce USER NAME to 20 spaces.”.
Some people are abusing the current free system.
Like or Dislike:
1 
1
immediately seize their assets after voting pap out.
Like or Dislike:
1 
1
asian values is a fallacy to blind you into believing that oppression is good for you.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Can the admin review the layout of temasek reiew. seems it is getting more popular. Can posts be made real time. If anything goes out of control, admin can monitor and delete those posts. Thx, example is cna forum would be nice.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
‘ACTION’ ‘SPEAKS’ ‘LOUDER’ ‘THAN’ ‘WORDS’
5 words for all you guys who wanted to vote PAP out.
What’s the point of complaining in here all day & night long?
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
‘ACTION’ ‘SPEAKS’ ‘LOUDER’ ‘THAN’ ‘WORDS’
5 words for all you guys who wanted to vote PAP out.
Come on! What’s the point of complaining in here all day and night long? Complain able to solve the problem?
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Wow, Hurray !!!! TR is the number one online champion site for singaporeans and worldwide news!!!
I love TR. TR please carry on your mission until those pappies is being pulled down and totally stripe off from all their power and corruption in singapore !!!
All true blue singaporeans, irregardless of race, language, sex , we stand united as one true blue singaporeans to come against this corrupted garhment!
Finish all of them once and for all! Singapore belongs to singaporeans only ! And not pappies!!!
Hunt them all down and make them kowtow to all of us singaporeans and put them to shame in front of international news, television , inluding their families, relatives, cronies, ball-carriers and so forth and so forth!!! Make them pay for their sins that they have done to us singaporeans!!!
Like or Dislike:
6 
1
I would not election result without international watchdog.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
HEARD RUMOURS THAT G.E IS LIKELY TO BE SCHEDULED NEXT YEAR FEB. PAPIES DARE NOT HOLD G.E NOW AS THEY NOTICE THE GROUND LEVEL SENTIMENT ARE FRUSTRATED, MORE AND MORE UNHAPPINESS VOICES ARE BEING HEARD. IF THEY HOLD THE G.E NOW, HIGHLY CHANCES OF LOSING SEATS ARE UNAVOIDABLE, IT’S SUICIDE. SO THEY INTEND TO HOLD G.E NEXT 2012 FEB AS THEY CAN HAVE MORE TIME TO RECTIFY THE CURRENT SITUATION.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Soccerbetting:
January 31, 2011 at 2:27 am (Quote)
I think the General Election and the Presidential Election should be held on the same date would save a lot of time, public money , manpower and resources . If paper voting is still the choice method for voting, then just use the same paper to tick for presidential election as well as the General Election . Save paper usage to help the environment , isn’t it ? Why need to held on two different dates ? Isn’t the government always want us to be prudent ? Setting the dates for two different days to hold each individual election doesn’t suggest a prudent government but a wastage government , isn’t it ?
—————-
Wah lau,2 times means 2 PH mah….shiok man!
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
There are no fixed election dates because the PAP are a bunch of cowards. That’s all there is to it.
Don’t even need to compare to the west and bring up “Asian Values” which only exist in the sick and twisted mind of some old hag in Singapore.
Let’s just take sports for example, isn’t it ridiculous that the champions of the last tournament get to decide when the next one will be, and be able to announce even 1 week before the tournament? They would have had all their preparations ready, while every other team will be scampering at the last minute even though they’ve been practicing hard.
That is completely unacceptable and will never guarantee that a competition was as fair as it could be, just like the PAP’s control and manipulation of the election system and dates in Singapore.
Like or Dislike:
3 
1
This election should not be regarded by opposition supporters as just another election.
Reasons:
1. singapore HAS changed, no need to say there is no change – population Xploded. more new citizens.
This means, the last 33.3% is no longer valid.
New citizens has a permanent effect on population size. They cannot come and go overnight like PRs can. From NOW till the end. They are now part of the Game.
2. As if point 1 is not eNuff, when population grows to 6.5 million, which I suspect can easily be reached after this election, if they continue to win, then this extra population of new citizens could mean the end of Opposition.
Thus, I hope all is in sync. This is not just another election. This is the Definitive Election in our history.
Its make or break.
oh god, are u listening?
Like or Dislike:
1 
0