Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Coolin' off period for General Elections?

Anyone heard of a 'coolin' off' day before voting? Read here if you don't believe me.

Hmm... whoever gave such a highfalutin idea?

I have only known of someone getting 'heated up', or rather to be precise - 'lighted up' during a 'Meet the People' session. Surely I have never heard of anyone flamin' up before voting. Maybe only the human torch.

Perhaps the ugly truth is that the people have stored pent-up 'heat' throughout these years. Heated and worked up because they have not been voting for the past donkey years.

Or perhaps the day of elections will be a hot one. You know, higher mortals can predict 'golden era'. So one can surmise Election Day will be hot with a 'golden sun' in the sky.

Surely you would have thought Singapore being a developed country would have her mature citizens voting with their cool heads.

Hold on. We are NOT a country. We are just a city.

But Singaporeans are a strange lot. People do get heated up while queueing up for Hello Kitty. Or some condo units. But nobody complains when buying Toto or 4D under the hot Saturday afternoon.

Some cycling events can be rejected with "You may be well-behaving, but there may be other people whom you come across when you cycle who may stop you, may want to debate with you and that may attract a crowd, and therefore will result in problems the police want to avoid."

Gee, that concludes Singaporeans aren't all that apathetic if we are always finding opportunities to have 'heated' debates. Mayhaps some do get all heated up enough to debate with an opposition member, attract a crowd and warrant a police arrest... on the opposition member. So who can seriously predict what can happen before voting?

My question is has the 'coolin' day' been approved by the president or did he give his approval within days? I wonder if he too had a 'coolin' off' period after giving his consent.

Anyway has a study been done on the stress level before voting? Surely the scholars must have done some study about Singaporeans getting all heated up before voting. I mean if Singaporeans can master two languages without getting all worked up for years (er, excluding parents), I am pretty sure a tick on a piece of paper is mere child's play.

I hope the banks will also adopt the 'coolin' off' period for future mini-bonds and high-risk structured investments. Investors, do read the fine invisible prints carefully before you sign.

Seriously where in the world does an election need a 'coolin' off' day? Shouldn't it be after the event rather? I can attest to my need for 'coolin' off' when we spent monies to rename 'Marina Bay' to 'Marina Bay'. Or when told 'GST is to help the poor'.

Totally flabbergusted.

I don't know what tune PAP is playing. But it definitely sounds politics. How about an MJ version of 'Cool It'? If they can sing and dance hip-hop in Chingay, I'm sure they can pull this off.

Cool It
They told the Oppo not to come around here
Don't wanna see their face, they better disappear
The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear
So cool it, just cool it

You better run, you better do what you can
Don't wanna see no jail, don't be an Oppo man
You wanna be hot, better do what they say
So cool it, but you wanna be hot

Just cool it, cool it, cool it, cool it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is their fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just cool it, cool it...
(sung to MJ's Beat It tune)

Maybe they are expecting a 'freak' result. I mean if a freak downpour can occur once in 50 years, do I need to parallel it to Singapore politics?

Or dare I say the one 'coolin' off' day is to mobilise the army if there is a freak result as quoted by a Leeder.

Lee Mai Hum Hiam. No hot chilli please. We are Singaporeans.

Uniquely Singapore.

2 comments:

Chee Wai Lee said...

So, some people claim it is just like the system in Australia. Of course, I've recently learned that Australia's 3 days "cool-off" is so there will not be any paid political ads on TV and radio, am I correct?

Anyway, loved your post. Hope you are feeling better and dealing better with the recent stress.

Seelan Palay said...

In Australia, there is a 3 day period before election day where electronic (TV & radio) advertising is not allowed. All other public campaigning continues and newspaper & online advertisements are allowed right through election day without restriction.

I've stated that I will disregard the regulations: http://seelanpalay.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-blog-will-disregard-cooling-off-day.html