MM Lee has famously said that if Singaporeans vote for the opposition, then they must be daft. His assumption is that anyone who votes for the opposition must be casting a protest vote and by that extension anyone who cast a protest vote must obviously be daft.

Well if he thinks so, so be it. If I get to vote in the next election than I will go ahead and just be daft. I guess its inconceivable to him that there might be other reasons to vote for the opposition than a protest vote.

I’ve thought about this for a long time and here’s why I will vote for the opposition if given an opportunity.

Courage.
Singapore is a society that is still ruled by fear. Beneath the veneer of modernity is still a palpable undercurrent of fear. I’ve already lost count of the number of times friends has advised me not to openly criticise the government and its policies. Till today there are still people who freak out when they see the serial number imprinted on their voting slips. And in this environment to have people openly declare their opposition political affiliations- that to me is courage.

We’ve all seen opposition politicians driven to exile, bankruptcy and worse. So for anyone to openly stand up against the government takes a tremendous amount of courage. Time and time again, Dr. Chee has stood up against MM Lee. How many people in Singapore would have the courage to do that? Respect has to be given to MM Lee for what he has achieved in the past, but that does not mean he should be immune to criticisms and we should just blindly hero worship the guy.

Who among the PAP would have that courage? The courage to speak the truth and ask questions that needs to be asked. Over the last 2 years, our government has lost billions and billions in questionable investments- yet not one PAP MP has had the courage to stand up and asked what needs to be asked.

Tenacity.
Out of 82 seats in parliament, only 2 belongs to elected opposition. Even grassroots organisations which are supposed to be non-partisan are controlled by the PAP. Just about every aspects of our lives are in some shape or form controlled by the government. Despite all the unhappiness with the PAP and its policies, people still return them to power in overwhelming numbers every election. Any sane person would tell you the opposition is a lost cause. Yet despite every obstacle you can throw at them, the opposition parties are still around. They may not be thriving, but they are around and they haven’t gave up the fight. Every election, you can almost count on them to lose and yet, they carry on. That to me is tenacity. That even in the face of certain defeat, they have not given up the fight.

On the other hand you have our so called P65 MPs. Remember how these guys were trumpeted to be the bridge between the new and old PAP. The people who are supposed to be better able to connect with the new generation.

Hell, they even found the time to start a blog after their hip hop dancing rehearsals. Remember the fanfare and publicity.

Than a few months later, the blog started to die a slow agonizing death. Postings got less and less and what postings you have are usually regurgitated parliamentary speeches. Eventually it dwindled done to a few sorry assed postings every couple of months. Now they don’t even bother anymore as the blog gets taken over by a bunch of faceless bloggers.

If they don’t even have the will and tenacity to maintain a fucking blog- can we really trust these people to solve the big issues that affects Singapore.

Passion.
In Singapore, you don’t get anything from joining the opposition. No big bucks, no public adoration, no multiple company directorships and certainly not a snowball chance in hell of getting into parliament. So for anyone who joins the opposition, you really have to have a passion for it. A passion for serving the people, a passion for speaking up and righting wrongs. If you didn’t have the passion for it, than you probably wouldn’t want to join.

The PAP on the other hand, has to keep increasing the renumeration for MPs and Ministers just to get people into politics. So whose to say if these people aren’t in it for the money and power. Even now you still get stories of MPs who treat their constituents with disdain or worse. Some don’t even have time to see their constituents, relegating those duties to some flunkey instead.

Integrity.
The PAP likes to brag about their whiter than white candidates. But let me tell you who I really trust. The opposition- and here’s why.

An opposition politician has no choice but to honest and above board in everything he does because the PAP is just waiting to capitalise on their mistakes. With the police and ISD under their control, an opposition politician can’t even think of not returning the extra 50 cents they chicken rice seller just gave to them because eventually this is going to see the light of the day. So an opposition not only has to be clean, but he has to be cleaner than any PAP candidates.

If I had joined the opposition, I am sure that PAP would have no problem finding out I cheated on my primary 3 spelling test one tuesday afternoon.

These are trying times for Singapore. If I am going to vote for somebody, than I need that person to have courage, tenacity, passion and integrity. I can’t be voting for some yes man who is in it for himself. So that is why if given the chance I will vote for the opposition because I may not know the man personally, but the act of standing up as a opposition politician already speaks volumes about his character to me.