http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/08/national-day-or-mp-day
Thursday, 7 August 2008, 12:00 pm | 1,919 views
Gerald Giam / Deputy
Editor
As August 9th draws near, springing
up all over the island are posters of smiling People’s Action Party
Members of Parliament (MP) and Government ministers wishing
Singaporeans a Happy National Day. While this might be a regular
sight that Singaporeans have been conditioned to accept all these
years, I question its necessity.
Like most other
Singaporeans, I love National Day and the festivities that come
with it. Singapore
has achieved much over the past 43
years and we have much to be proud of and grateful for.
But why is there a need
for politicians to splash their faces across every other National
Day poster? In my little sub-constituency of Canberra in Sembawang GRC, I have counted at least two
giant sized billboards.
When I travel through
Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Timah and Tanjong Pagar, almost every other lamp
post on the main roads is decked with smiling pictures of PAP
politicians superimposed on pictures of children. The main
intersection of each town has a giant billboard with all the MPs in
the GRC waving, some even with their names and titles labelled on
their photos, lest any resident forgets.
One huge billboard in Joo Chiat even has a
politician with his fist clenched across his chest, as if reciting
the Pledge. (Picture right).
The purpose of these
billboards is quite clear: to give the MPs more visibility so that
residents will recognize them and hopefully vote for them at the
next elections.
Who
pays?
I am guessing all these
posters and billboards are not paid out of PAP coffers, but from
town council funds — to which I contribute over $740 each
year.
I emailed Sembawang Town
Council and Tanjong Pagar Town Council to ask, but they did not
reply. Strange, since my town council has always been very prompt
in replying to the municipal problems I have raised.
Is this a prudent use of
my hard-earned money, particularly in a time of a slowing economy
and high inflation? Why should my town council payments be used to
further my MP’s political interests?
Worse, some giant billboards are lit up the
entire night with bright spotlights. What happened to our
eco-friendly drive? And what about the cost of the electricity
used, keeping in mind that the prices of fuel have increased
recently.
In fact, some of these
posters look no different from election posters sans the
lightning symbol. Doesn’t the Parliamentary Elections Act prohibit
election advertising outside of the campaign period?
I do not see posters of
MPs in opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang. In Potong
Pasir, there are some posters, but without Chiam See Tong’s face.
Hougang has a simple landscaped display of the Singapore flag along Avenue 2 – and no, Low Thia Khiang’s
picture is not included either.
Views of other
Singaporeans
I checked with a Singaporean friend living in
the US whether such banners and posters appeared on the
4th of July, America’s
Independence Day. There were none in the city where she
lives.
She emailed me, “I
personally think that the banners…look hideous and distasteful.
When I tried to raise this matter up with someone a long time ago,
I remember being told off that those posters were being targeted at
the heartlanders.”
She added, “To put
banners like the one you sent me…when there is no GE (General
Election) near in sight, that’s definitely
propagandistic”.
Another friend, who
works in the media, told me: “It gets very confusing here. Can’t
tell the difference between country, state, government and ruling
party.”
Suggestions
I would like to suggest
that the PAP and its town councils immediately stop the use of
public funds to promote their partisan causes. For a start, all the
spotlights for the billboards should remain off at night to save
electricity.
I hope our ruling party
MPs realise that National Day is a day of celebration for the whole
nation, not a season to honour themselves.
Click on pictures to enlarge.———
