Facebook Rally: Vote The PAP Out?

766 days ago by Willis Wee, in Uncategorized

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You can run but you can’t hide. The statement is especially true with the rise of social media. We talk behind the back of the government offline; but these buzz aren’t recorded, aren’t searchable and aren’t amplified. With Facebook, things are very different.

The People’s Action Party (PAP) is the leading political party in Singapore. Despite holding a majority of seats in the Parliament of Singapore, the PAP has been criticized for limiting free speech amongst other issues. These criticisms have been flicked off many times by the PAP, and many disgruntled users have started voicing their opinions on a Facebook page, titled “Vote The PAP Out“. Just a week since its launch date, the page has gathered more than a thousand fans.

Mr Alex Tan, creator of the page took time to list out all the concerns that bother him.

1. Over-influx of foreigners

2. National Service disadvantages

3. Sky-rocketing property prices(average 30 years mortgage loan)

4. High medical costs(CPF’s Medishield cover no shit)

5. Low dispensable income(thanks to CPF)

6. Low CPF’s interest rate(2.5%) leaking value to inflation

7. Inflation due to GST 7%

8. CPF unable to provide retirement(a bulk of the fund is spent servicing a housing loan)

9. Singaporeans unemployment rate not declared(could be higher than gov’s data which is mixed with PRs)

10. No heads rolled when Temasek Holdings and GIC lost billions of our national reserves

11. Heavy shortage of subsidized university places for qualified Singapore students

The page’s wall is filled with anti government messages, and criticisms that reflect negatively on the PAP. What’s more, a thousand fans within a week is amazing, considering how Singaporeans are stereotyped as “obedient” and “subservient”. Would this rally to vote PAP out in the next elections create a ripple great enough to motivate it to address these issues to citizens’ satisfaction? We shall see about this.

Tags: Anti Government, Facebook, PAP, Singapore

About Willis Wee

Co-founder of Penn Olson who is also an entrepreneur since 2005. He has had experience in crafting social media strategies for organizations such as Marriott Vacation Club, James Cook University, Reach Singapore and Unilever. Contact him at willis[at]penn-olson[dot]com

View all posts by Willis Wee →

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http://twitter.com/belindaang Belinda Ang

All I can say is… these people are silly.

Of course you CAN vote the PAP out. But question is… WHO are you gonna vote IN? Someone has to put the country into place. You can argue that PAP has monopolize the country and manipulated the population so well that there are no other stronger leaders who wants to be in the frontline. However, whether or not this argument is valid, this is the truth. There is no one party strong enough to be voted IN now other than PAP.

It is not about just one strong leader. It is about a strong team of strong and capable politicians. People who genuinely believe they can do a better job and make changes to those policies should join opposition and prove their worth so the day Singapore is ready, another party can take over the reins.

Should PAP continue to monopolize? That is not the problem. The problem is Singapore is not ready to let another party take over now. Will it happen in the future? Maybe and I believe so at some point of time.
sarah_chong

I guess the page's real motive is not to rally for people to vote PAP out, but to rally for people to trigger some sort of response from them. We all know we are stuck with only one strong enough political party to elect, but I guess if we don't speak out, there wouldn't even be a slightest hope for improvement.

I also hope that when Singapore really finds herself people who can do a better job, they are given enough resources and freedom of speech for a fair fight to prove their worth.
rliew

Clearly you have miss the point here, Belinda. It is not who to vote IN or OUT. It is about check and balance….it is about democratic process where there is a need for 2 or more parties to have a greater say in Parliament. There is no doubt that PAP will remain as government in next election, but there is a greater need for more say and better debate or everything pass thru the parliament. Or you wish to have a ONE party system as in China?
omgzam

In a Singaporean context, the page is for PAP to “wake up their idea”.
jwny

I think it is unfair to the government of the Republic,

influx of foreigners is due to solely one reason – we are running out of people. Every couple chooses to have 1 or nil children, if we do not have enough citizens our country will be short of the only one thing we can produce – useful people

Property prices are high due to the limited space the republic has, the HDB is formed to ensure citizens (families) can have a home at reasonable prices.

Medical costs can be subsidised…but at who's expenses? Higher taxes imposed on taxpayers?
rliew

importing foreigners can be solved with more stringer as in Australia where they look at which profession they are lacked of and what they need. In Australia, they will check your English. Not like here you can see most Chinese don't speak simple English. They don't even bother to learn even after they are in Singapore.

Property prices are artificially high and cannot be explained by a simple “limited space”. Compare to HK, Singapore still have a lot more space. Most HDB sellers make it high by asking too much even it is a govt subsidized housing. Also government allow on-blocked scheme with little regulation where people allow to make a high demand but not realizing developers will make higher demand when they sell to the same people with smaller unit of course.

Medical costs can be subsidized, yes….isn't 7% GST enough? isn't ERP and so on enough??? Should government reduce their own millions $$$ salary instead imposing this and that. For one thing, they like to compare: when about transportation cost, gov't's salary, they will compare US, Japan, UK, Aust. When comparing efficient, services and all others, they will compare third world countries, M'sia, Thailand, Indonesia. It doesn't make any sense, right?
http://mindbloggingstuff.blogspot.com/ rudeshock

Will the wind of change finally blow our way? No. http://mindbloggingstuff.blogspot.com/2008/03/w…
ricohard70

PAP must go look at the casino.. what coming next ,,,legally what..what next. man ,,,,.Is time to vote them out, Your aim is to the first world status, because you are unfit..
ricohard70

Break down and build again that what we human are good at..
Jame

Are you sure that only 1 reason? If I given you the PR or you become singaporean, will you vote me in on next election?
Anonymous

Well done Willis. U share the same sentiment. I will VOTE THE PAP out and help spread the messages.
The corrupted officials in the public sector is making me puke.