Amidst the dreary news that have been coming out of late: overcrowding, MRT breakdowns, immigration checkpoint failures, fare hikes, a riot, income inequality, unaffordable housing, etc, the Singapore Democrats carried one important message as we launched our 2014 campaign: Better policies, brighter future.
We did this as we conducted our Chinese New Year walkabout - our first ground activity of the new year - visiting residents at the Tanjong Pagar, West Coast and Holland-Bukit Timah GRCs.
As bleak as the present looks - and we met many residents who were palpably angry at the Government for the current unfortunate state of affairs - we called on our fellow citizens to remain hopeful and to face the future with courage and gusto.
This is because with every major problem that has befallen Singapore, the SDP has committed ourselves to drawing up alternative policies that will allow Singapore to move ahead with confidence.
With the next general elections not that far away, Singaporeans will be able to see what an alternative Singapore looks like - a Singapore that ensures our stressed out workers lead a healthy work-life balance, an economy that reduces income inequality, and a compassionate society that elevates happiness and quality of life for our citizens.
More important, they will be able to choose between what we have now and what we can become.
Speaking in Hokkien, a middle-aged lady told us: "You must come in the next round! We've had enough already!"
An elderly man at Ghim Moh spat on the ground as he scolded: "Everything keeps going up! This PAP is too much!"
An engineer said: "With my salary I'm doing well but I can see that if the country goes on like this, we're finished."
We hear you, we told our constituents, and that's why we're working hard to make Singapore better.
We have been disciplined in spending time and effort to draw up alternative policies, we've been working hard on the ground, and we've been diligent in building up our party machinery.
We're not waiting until the Prime Minister calls for elections - we've already gone ahead with campaign. In fact, it started immediately after the last GE.
We're calling on our fellow Singaporeans to get us into Parliament so that we can start with building a better alternative for our nation.
Donate, volunteer, spread the SDP message. Do whatever you can to help the cause, our future and our children's future are at stake.
New faces have joined our ranks. Our members are fired up, and even though the work is hard, we persevere and remain positive. It's better to light the candle than curse the darkness.
At certain locations during our walkabout yesterday, we split up into two teams to cover more ground and to greet more of our fellow Singaporeans.
We wanted to share with them our message of hope: That they are not stuck with the present policies. They have a choice in the SDP and our alternative ideas.
Needless to say, we were warmly received.
One grave issue is the Government's intention to raise our population to 6.9 million. We explained how we can be smarter in our immigration policy by allowing only truly qualified foreigners to work in Singapore, especially the PMETs.
This can be done with the SDP's Singaporeans First Policy where our TalentTrack scheme will allocate points for qualifications, age and competencies of potential foreign workers, and only those who meet the cut-off mark can be employed here.
Businesses can only hire these foreigners after demonstrating that they cannot find Singaporeans with the requisite skills.
In this way, we ensure that Singaporeans are not discriminated against and that only the best foreign talent work here.
At the same time, we don't deprive businesses of genuine foreign talent and skills. Best of all, we keep our population to a healthy level and improve our quality of life.
Read also SDP unveils six-point plan to control population
We want to leave you with this picture on the left. It was a tiring five hours after trekking across six food centres and markets, but all of it was more than compensated for by this adorable little girl. Made. Our. Day.
Happy Chinese New Year and have a good holiday, everyone!
More photos of the event at SDP's facebook photo album.
SDP
*Article first apppeared on http://yoursdp.org/news/2014-01-27-5770