#GE2015 campaigning is coming to a close this Wednesday (9 September 2015) before the cooling off day and voting on 11 September. Often dubbed as a “watershed” election and even “more watershed” than the previous GE in 2011, much emphasis is placed on Singapore moving forward past its 50 years of independence. Should the People’s Action Party (PAP) continue its stronghold; or are they declining in quality that Oppositions should be there for checks and balance in the parliament?
#GE2015 sees even more social media activity going on – rallies are streamed live on the internet, and campaigning methods are getting more tech-savvy. Heavy decisions aside, here are 6 light-hearted nods that we would like to award to the politicians at work.
1) Best Speaker
Dr. Chee Soon Juan’s speeches for the past few rallies were undoubtedbly good. The memes were spot-on: having waited 15 years before being part of the general elections again definitely made Dr. Chee more passionate, more motivated and more articulated. Dr. Chee wowed Singaporeans with several languages and dialects – Mandarin, English, Malay, Tamil, Hokkien, and even Cantonese. Dr. Chee draws emotions from his experience of having to count his dollars for ice-cream for his children, to a direct jab at Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan on the overbudgeting of Youth Olympic Games 2015 by S$300 million. Both politicians will be contesting head-on for the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC with their counterparts.
2) Best Comeback
One of the most watched three-corner fight this GE will be Tin Pei Ling from PAP, Bernard Chen from Workers’ Party (WP) and Cheo Chai Chen from National Solidarity Party (NSP) for Macpherson SMC. Cheo made a boo-boo for himself when he mentioned, “motherhood is a weakness” against Tin. Causing quite a stir on social media, Tin replied that “motherhood is a motivation” than a stumbling block. Perhaps the true solidarity here will be the coming-together of the mothers of this GE2015 – Tin Pei Ling, Lee Lilian and Kevryn Lim. Cheo later retracted his comment as a “joke.”
3) Worst Speech
“To be fair to Mr Lee, he is a very talented sportsman. He knows how to fix the electoral game and is a very good player at dodgeball.” – Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Secretary-General of Reform Party
Reform Party (RP) seems to be having a lot of fun attacking the ruling party thus far, and honestly, we do not know where the limit lies. Are they even allowed to say that? For a list of quotes from the party itself, click here.
4) Most Heartwarming Moment
Chiam is in the house. Make his way slowly up the stage at #SPP rally #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/r7AoCuyL9G — SIX-SIX News (@SIXSIXnews) September 6, 2015
The crowd at Singapore People’s Party (SPP) cheered in unison when the frail, wheelchair-bound Chiam See Tong appears with his fists in the air. Chiam made his way up the stairs and delivered his speech at the podium. Chiam appears weaker in physicality but still strong in spirit – many of who were at the Hong Kah North ward rally cheered both the veteran politician and the newbie he had endorsed, Ravi Philemon. Ravi will be contesting against Dr. Amy Khor. Dr. Khor had one of the best winning margin for the PAP in the last GE.
5) Best Rally Experience
“Do you know why we SDP has been persecuted and sued in the past? Cuz we’ve got big balls!” #SDPrally pic.twitter.com/UdqrSeD48f — Songhua (@songboh) September 6, 2015
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has inflatables out at the right time as they made their speech. We guess this is how you can make a rally more engaging and social-media friendly!
6) Best Campaigning
While the ruling party has PM Lee’s campaigning board all over Singapore even in areas that he is not contesting in, The Workers’ Party has a Optimus Prime Truck that is making its round around the island. It lights up the road in blue, and it is quite a pretty sight. Most of all, it is great for social media traction!
Writer: Leong Chee Sheng Photos as credited