here's another take on the gerrymandering by Sean Chiang Nee of
littlespeck.com:
Boundaries
Where am I, really!
I woke up and found myself in Aljunied where a hot battle is
shaping up. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Mar 4, 2006
As a resident in Serangoon Gardens for 20 years, I am finding
myself again on the move.
I flipped open the newspaper this morning and learned that I am no
longer a voter in Marine Parade but Aljunied. Its going to take
some time for this to sink in.
Like other senior citizens, I dont like too make sudden changes,
especially when the government is telling me that everything is
doing very well.
Four election shifts in less then 20 years, I think represents
three too many.
See, I started as a voter in, what else but Serangoon Gardens,
enjoying my one-man-one-vote right to choose my own Member of
Parliament and quite happy to elect the best person to represent
me.
Which, in those days, was unquestionably someone from the Peoples
Action Party (who polled 70% of the votes). Then my journey began
without my physically moving my butt an inch.
I became a voter in Braddell Heights, followed by Marine Parade
(which promptly rendered me a non-voter) where I remained for 10
years.
Now Im in Aljunied, where they say a hot battle is shaping
up.
Luckily I have not developed any geographical loyalty in my place
of residence, or else all this spinning could make me
schizophrenic. I think the trick is not to take it too
seriously.
I just wonder how many voters in the outside world go through the
same thing. I supposed I couldnt complain; at least I have a
chance to vote this time.
Sadly, I somehow dont see the election really stirring up the new
generation.
Too many Singaporean youths have a boh chap (dont care)
attitude about politics and elections and dont seem at all
bothered about who wins or who losses - or why.
The coming election wont change anything, anyway. The government
will still be controlling as it had done seems to be a popular
sentiment. All these frequent boundary changes simply contribute to
the cynicism among young and old.
I must say it is quite prevalent in the estate where I live.
At a coffee shop breakfast this morning, an elderly gentleman asked
me why was I surprised. You should know better. Next time
Serangoon Gardens may well move to Ang Moh Kio!
Impact
Whatever the reason, incorporating Serangoon Gardens, a generally
pro-PAP ward of 20,000, into Aljunied is likely to be a plus for
the ruling party.
So may well be for the other switched wards. The exercise has
forced the major opposition parties to review their laid out plans,
making it harder to reach full agreement to avoid three-corner
fights.
In hot contention are the nine single constituencies, for which
there is an excess of opposition candidates.
It will be a real test of their combined resolve to cooperate for
the larger good, which is to give Singaporeans an opportunity to
vote.
With fewer resources, the smaller parties can only indulge in the
smaller fights - not the big constituencies.
The media spin is that the changes are 'surprisingly' minimal, but
the public may not share this view.
It is small only for two reasons: firstly, people had expected a
far larger change and secondly, if the number of new voters has
increased substantially nationwide.
I believe neither is true. I don't think people had anticipated a
massive delineation exercise; if there were, the mainstream
reporters or the Internet would not have missed it.
Secondly, the increase of new registered voters in the past five
years - 45,000 or 9,000 a year - is the lowest in history. So is
the switching around of so many (reportedly 175,000) voters really
necessary?
One perception is that recent measures have probably prevented a
major upset to the People's Action Party. That it will win the
election handsomely is never in doubt.
The question is how many seats and how many votes can the
opposition win?
The public perception is that while the $2.6B budget goodies may
have raised popular votes by at least a few points, this boundary
delineation may help the People's Action Party retain some
vulnerable seats.
True or not remains unclear. It is hard to read the minds of the
voters in their collective wisdom.
