It is Nomination Day today (Sept 1), the day when official campaigning is permitted by law to start: "Candidates can start campaigning after the notice of contested election is issued, up to the start of the day before Polling Day (which is the Cooling-Off Day)." Expect your television screens to be flooded by more archived images of the "founding father" a.k.a. the horrible person.
Institute of Policy Studies’ Gillian Koh expects the ruling party to campaign on the “foundational” pillar of good governance. Another academic from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Political Science said that while numbers can be trotted out to show there have been improvements since the 2011 GE — such as more flats constructed, reduced inflow of foreign workers — it is harder to convince people over “intangibles” such as one’s sense of job security, and the perception of being squeezed out by foreigners.
It is easier to spot the tangibles, such as when residents at Pasir Ris ONE discovered that the corridors were only 1.2m wide, the bare minimum required under the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) rules. No one has yet come forth to accuse the developers, SingHaiyi Group and Kay Lim Holdings, of grossly profiteering from the BCA loophole. Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who helms the BCA, is unlikely to order a probe into their books.
It is also difficult to prove that the mother of all issues, liberal immigration policies, is the root cause of lost jobs, transportation woes and unaffordable housing. Opposition members in parliament may question what accounts for the drastic fall in job growth from 28,300 jobs in Q1 2014 and 40,700 jobs in Q4 2014 to just 300 jobs in Q1 2015, but transparent answers may not be forthcoming. It is cold comfort that the union leader turned Manpower Minister, Lim Swee Say, declared aloud in parliament, "Our aim is to moderate the inflow of foreign manpower, at a pace that we can accommodate." In other words, the onerous strain in infrastructure which we have been putting up with, is here to stay. That's the stark future for the next generation, if the incumbents are allowed to have their pace of governance.
Institute of Policy Studies’ Gillian Koh expects the ruling party to campaign on the “foundational” pillar of good governance. Another academic from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Political Science said that while numbers can be trotted out to show there have been improvements since the 2011 GE — such as more flats constructed, reduced inflow of foreign workers — it is harder to convince people over “intangibles” such as one’s sense of job security, and the perception of being squeezed out by foreigners.
It is easier to spot the tangibles, such as when residents at Pasir Ris ONE discovered that the corridors were only 1.2m wide, the bare minimum required under the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) rules. No one has yet come forth to accuse the developers, SingHaiyi Group and Kay Lim Holdings, of grossly profiteering from the BCA loophole. Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who helms the BCA, is unlikely to order a probe into their books.
It is also difficult to prove that the mother of all issues, liberal immigration policies, is the root cause of lost jobs, transportation woes and unaffordable housing. Opposition members in parliament may question what accounts for the drastic fall in job growth from 28,300 jobs in Q1 2014 and 40,700 jobs in Q4 2014 to just 300 jobs in Q1 2015, but transparent answers may not be forthcoming. It is cold comfort that the union leader turned Manpower Minister, Lim Swee Say, declared aloud in parliament, "Our aim is to moderate the inflow of foreign manpower, at a pace that we can accommodate." In other words, the onerous strain in infrastructure which we have been putting up with, is here to stay. That's the stark future for the next generation, if the incumbents are allowed to have their pace of governance.