As far as I can remember, I've voted for the opposition at least for the past 2 GEs. Back then, my conviction was for a functioning check-and-balance role for the opposition as in any other parliamentary democracy. I had even participated enthusiastically in the Our Singapore Conversation last year. Pretty normal, someone from a foreign democracy would have commented on my attitude.
However, circumstances on the ground did not match the political rhetoric of our government. The last straw was broken (as with many Singaporeans) when the Population White Paper was announced and swiftly bulldozed through Parliament. Angered and hurt, I began to find political soulmates like Gilbert Goh and Leslie Chew on the net as well as getting my articles published by TRS and TRE. I'm grateful for these websites and they are not the demons as portrayed by the mainstream media.
Even then, I continued to stretch an olive leaf to the PAP, posting polite petitions on ways to contain (not reduce) the foreign population on the Facebooks of ministers and PAP MPs. In early October, I handed a hard copy of my petition to Minister Chan Chun Sing when I attended a session of his Informal Policy Discussion. My last petition (7 Dec) was to MP Lily Neo on her Lily Neo Page, warning her of immigrant riots just one night before the Little India riots.
Have I done enough?
My wish is a population cap of 5.5 million in 2020 before increasing up to 5.8 million (upper end of the Worker's Party plan) in 2030. Make no mistake about my proposal. Even at these levels, we can only hope for anti-foreign sentiment to be contained, that is, maintained at the current anger level. Social stability will be severely at risk if our population increase to the 'working parameter' of 5.8 to 6 million in 2020, which is only a few years away. There is no need for me to talk about 6.9 million. If you can understand the enormity of the situation and the seemingly formidable entrenched mindset we are fighting against, an opposition win in 2016 is no longer academic, but a life and death issue for the only homeland I know.
David Ching
TRS Contributor