One in two Singaporeans would vote a female President into the
Istana, and four in five would accept a woman Cabinet Minister, if
a recent survey is anything to go by.
In the poll of 1,256 Singaporeans, conducted by MyMailMoment.com, a
lifestyle research portal of SingPost, 63 per cent of the female
respondents said they would vote for a woman President, compared to
58 per cent of male respondents.
Surprisingly, the oldest age group — those aged 50 and above —
seemed the most receptive to the idea of a woman president.
Meanwhile, 83 per cent of respondents would accept a female
Minister, with women perceiving a female minister to be more
capable than her male counterpart.
Lauding the findings, Ms Constance Singam, president of the
Association of Women for Action and Research, said: “It shows that
Singaporeans are open and that they recognise that women can be
leaders and capable, and why not?”
Sociologist Paulin Straughan of the National University of
Singapore said: “It suggests endorsement for the position that
women are welcomed in positions of higher office. It speaks volumes
of women already holding positions of influence — if they hadn’t
done well, then you wouldn’t have this kind of affirmation.”
A woman has never been a fullfledged Cabinet Minister, although Dr
Seet Ai Mee served briefly as Acting Minister for Community
Development and Sports in 1991.
As for current political office holders, four are women: Minister
of State(Community Development, Youth & Sports) Yu—Foo Yee
Shoon, Senior Minister of State (National Development and
Education) Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State (Finance and
Transport) Lim Hwee Hua, Mayor and Senior Parliamentary Secretary
(Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor.
Released in conjunction with the National Day, the survey was part
of a broader survey of 2,017 people, who were asked their opinion
on nationalism, politics, job environment and cost of living.
Eighty—seven per cent who took part were Singaporean citizens, the
rest permanent residents and foreigners in Singapore.
A third were willing to switch citizenship or permanent residency
elsewhere if an opportunity came up.
Asked if they felt a strong sense of belonging to Singapore, 26 per
cent gave a negative response, while 59 per cent said they would
stay and fight for Singapore in a war.
These figures compare to Today’s own National Day survey last year,
in which just over half of those polled — 466 citizens here and
abroad — said they would lay down their lives for the country. And
76 per cent were proud or very proud of being a Singaporean.
On the latest findings, Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum
Hong noted there are already concerns that Singapore is seen as a
place to make money and “a hotel of sorts, which people will leave
if greener pastures are available”.
“Certainly we should investigate further, and invest more effort in
making Singapore a place that people are emotionally attached to,”
he said. — TODAY
it doesnt matter really, because the job means doing nothing and
get big bucks. even a trained monkey can do the same job.
