What is a General Election about?
01 Feb 2010 sgpolitics.net
Mr Mah Bow Tan, the Minster for National Development, certainly
confuses me. All along I thought a general election is the time
when the country and its people take stock of the past and signal
what they want of the future. It is also the time when the voters
of a constituency assess the candidates offered to them and give
their verdict. If there is an incumbent, it is also a report card
on their past performance.
It is, therefore, very strange that Mr Mah should come out and
declare that a general election is “not about me, an individual
minister or an individual MP. It’s really about the residents
themselves …”
Where in the world has an election been about the residents and
not the candidates?
I believe this slip from the Minster of National Development is
the result of undue pressure since it has been reported that his
constituency is the target of a few opposition parties, including
the National Solidarity Party, the Worker’s Party, the Singapore
Democratic Party and the Reform Party. With such huge interest in
Tampines, Mr Mah cannot be faulted if he should suddenly feel
vulnerable.
However, whatever he says about elections being about residents
themselves, the National Development Minister will be judged for
his work as a Member of Parliament and a Minister. The Minister
Mentor understands this. That is why he said, “If Mr Mah is unable
to defend himself, he deserves to lose.”
So a General Election is not about the residents. It is about
the candidates. Mr. Mah should know this. When he contested his
first General Election in Potong Pasir, his excellent Senior
Cambridge examinations results were compared to that of Mr Chiam
See Tong’s relatively mediocre results. This was to try and show he
was the more qualified candidate.
Similarly, in a recent Singapore Perspective Forum, Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong also touched on the importance of judging
a candidate in a General Election. Referring to the trend of
scholars joining the opposition parties, he said that “we hope
Singaporeans will judge individuals like that as rigorously as they
would judge individuals who join the PAP side.”
“Let’s look at the person, not what degrees he has, but what he
is able to do for Singapore.”
All said, a General Election is about the candidate and not
about the residents themselves.
Thus, in the coming General Election, the voters of Tampines
will judge Mr. Mah for what he has done for them as a Member of
Parliament. It is also natural that the opposing candidates will
also want the voters to give their verdict on what he has done as
the Minister for National Development.
When the Housing and Development Board was formed in 1960, its
task was to tackle the acute housing shortage problem in Singapore
as well as to get rid of its slums. It was meant to provide
affordable housing to the citizens. It has done so admirably until
recently when prices of HDB flats sky-rocketed.
The Minister should know that if ever the prices of property go
beyond the reach of the average worker and the asset inflation
pushes up the costs of living for the low income group, there will
be unwanted social consequences. An underclass will be formed and
the poor, the destitute and the very low income groups will be
slowly pushed out of the mainstream of social and economic life. As
we have no countryside where the poor and destitute can go to, this
underclass will have to form slums to manage their lives of
despair.
At the moment, the prices of flats are slowly going beyond the
reach of many young Singaporeans. This is not because these
Singaporean have become lazy and not competitive. In truth, most
workers still work beyond their normal office hours. Many do make
frequent trips abroad, separated from their loved ones, to earn
their keep. Some even stay overseas for a lengthy posting when
their duty demands. Our students are still scoring the As in
examinations and many are still sacrificing their youthful adult
lives doing night courses to better themselves.
The reason why houses are slowly going beyond the reach of young
working Singaporeans is that the wages they are getting are not
keeping up with the escalating price of housing.
When property prices are high and our workers are paid
reasonably, they can still manage to pay their mortgages and own a
home. However when the prices of flats are high, pushed up by the
demands of a sudden increase in population, and the workers’ wages
are depressed because of the great influx of cheaper foreign
labour, the dreams of the young in wanting to own a home must be
shattered.
30 years ago, the moment a young person comes out to work; he
can confidently start looking for a flat even on one income and a
loan for fifteen years. Nowadays, a young couple would need a dual
income and a loan of thirty years and a very tight belt to just
barely make it.
The PAP government has always used asset-enhancement as a way of
making Singaporeans feel rich. Since 80% of Singaporeans live in
HDB flats, enhancing the price of HDB flats serves this policy.
However, this only makes Singaporeans rich on paper and poor in
cash, a situation they have to pay for because high property prices
also make life more expensive for everyone.
No, Singaporeans have not yet become lazy. However, they will,
when the prices of flats go beyond their reach. What’s the point of
hard work if your dream is beyond your reach? Why care about
family, friends and community when it is better to grab everything
when you can? Why bother to help the poor? Better to use the time
and effort to make your buck as soon as you can.
There is a real problem. If this problem is not solved, the next
generation of Singaporeans and their children are the people who
are going to suffer for it.
The opposition is, therefore, right in wanting to Mr. Mah, as
Minister of National Development, to defend his policy in the
coming General Election. If he cannot defend his position in a
constituency that he has nursed for 22 years and whose residents
have already bought flats at an affordable rate long time ago, then
his opponents deserve to be congratulated.