How to check which constituency are you voting in for GE 2011?

Fellow Singaporeans, the electoral boundaries are out and its time to find out which constituency you are voting in! Another good reason to check is to ensure that your address is reflected correctly hence voting in the right constituency :)

These are steps on how to check.

Step 1:
Go to www.elections.gov.sg

Step 2:
Click on this icon on the left hand side

Step 3:
Log in with either your Singpass or Date of issue of NRIC

Step 4:
Result out :)

Hougang Ave 2, 赞!

14th Feb 2011, I spent this Valentines' Day meaningfully despite not having my husband with me.

I was asked to attend a CNY dinner together with other WP members. Thinking that this one is not going to be different from the rest of the temple dinner that I've attended, I was expecting to hear loud music blasting from a distance.

I was wrong.

Upon reaching the venue, lion dance performance and a 财神爷 greeted us :) I don't see the usual round table arrangement. Instead I spotted several long tables formed by a few square ones. Seated around those tables were old folks.

There were 2 stretch of buffet lined up, ready for consumption.

A small stage with a red banner that reads, '后港二道大牌702乐龄互助会慈善晚会' was erected in the center of this set-up. This dinner was specially organised by Block 702 Hougang Ave 2 Senior Citizens Corner. It is an annual event whereby they will invite MP of Hougang, Mr Low Thia Khiang, to grace it.

The objective of this dinner is to distribute ang pows to the elderly folks from various Home.
Source of money? Residents of Hougang Ave 2. Some of them who had already moved out from the area continue to contribute year after year.

I was impressed, very impressed when I learnt about it. There were approximately 40-50 old folks who came from 4 different old folks' home. Free shuttle bus services fetch them from their Homes to Hougang.

Apart from ang pow distribution, the residents prepared performances too. Singing and dancing were all part of it. The performers were none other than the residents! I remembered this belly dance segment that was brought to the audience by 3 gorgeous auntie. They did an awesome job and they were age 57, 60 and 62! While others were performing on stage, the rest would start to dance along with the music off stage. All these were efforts put together by the residents. It was such a joy to see these residents enjoying themselves. They had created for themselves another homely place apart from home itself.

This picture below shows the donors name and their contributions.



I have to say that its even more fabulous to see the old folks clapping their hands and mumbling along with familiar songs such as '爱拼才会赢', '万水千山总是情', '帝女花', etc. They were enjoying themselves, no doubts about it.

Towards the end of the dinner, Mr Low and Ms Sylvia Lim went around the tables to distribute the angpows. Its just an angpow to the majority of us, to them, its enough to make their day.

When it was finally time to call it a day, I started to see a number of residents moving towards the old folks. I was wondering, for what??? These residents were there to ensure that everyone of them don't trip, fall, got on the wrong bus or was left behind. Its time for these old folks to head Home and I meant Old folks Home.

A few of us moved along to render our assistance. There is no way one can witnessed what had just happened and still sit rooted to your seat. The urge to lend a helping hand to these old folks swelled!

When we managed to get everyone safely onto their buses, its time to say goodbye. As the bus passed by us, old folks on the buses waved at us. They were grinning from ear to ear :)

Tears swell up....Mixed feelings was what I've experienced at that moment. A sense of pride that I was able to extend that little help, appreciation towards the organizer and the residents who made this possible and empathy for the old folks.

I told one of the organizer this before I left, 'Please invite me back again next year, this is the best CNY dinner I've ever had.'

It was at this time, my stomach sent a message to my brain that it needs to release some stuff from it... Ahhhhh! I quickly went in search for a toilet!

兔年快乐！

祝大家，新年新气象。
愿大家在2011年，天天开怀，时时快乐，分分精彩，秒秒幸福！
每天都快乐就对了啦 ;)

MP Lui Tuck Yew in Jalan Besar GRC???

I know the place that I'm staying is under Jalan Besar GRC. A cursory search on the Parliament website says so too.


Today I went to open my letter box and found a nicely, coloured calendar for year 2011. The front page of the calendar consists of a photo collage of Mr Lui Tuck Yew engaged in grassroots activities. I thought to myself why Lui Tuck Yew? I thought my place belongs to Jalan Besar GRC? I should be seeing faces of Yacob Ibrahim, Heng Chee How, Lee Boon Yang, Lily Neo or Denise Phua instead.



I continued to flip the pages. January showed a picture of the Tanjong Pagar GRC team.


Subsequently, from February to December 2011 are pictures of Lui Tuck Yew and his grassroot activities.


The calendar is handy and it also indicate the MPS dates for every month but I'm bewildered by the choice of pictures in this calendar.



I should be seeing pictures of my MP and his MPS dates not Lui Tuck Yew!

GE is around the corner and what is required to cover the ground?

It is of no surprise that not many people or voters are aware of the amount of effort and time required during campaigning period. This could be due to the lack of information or voters could not be bothered.

With GE around the corner, I re-revisited the book from Dana Lam, 'Days of Being Wild'. I came across this segment and I thought it would be good to share this with everyone who is reading this. This book was written and published after GE 2006.

I've summarized the segment below:

Campaigning

"We always tell people who join us, we must be a respectable party. People must see the meaning and find it meaningful to join the WP. So you must take the correct approach to politics. We serve Singapore by having people who were concerned, like-minded citizens to come forward and get on board and we provide the people with a choice. And for Singapore to move towards a First World nation, this itself I think was a national service to Singapore. Whether you were elected or not, was something else. But it must be something meaningful for you to do,' Said Low Thia Khiang.

Campaigning was tedious word, exacting mental and physical endurance from each individual. It was highly labour-intensive. What the party did not have in numbers, it more than made up with the individuals' willingness to put themselves on the line. As Low said, 'We have small group of people doing a lot of things. And we depend a lot on the individual stretching, even over-stretching himself or herself on the job.' Here are some of the roles in an election campaign.

1) Election Agents (EA)

Every candidate was assigned an EA whose function included seeing to the collection and filling of the candidate's nomination papers. He or she also kept track of the election expenses of the candidate. In a GRC, a Principal Election Agent (PEA) was elected from among the EA to represent the group.

EA to ensure all necessary forms for candidates were collected in person before Nomination Day. Forms had to be signed and signatories must be present on Nomination Day at the respective centres.

Permit to hold rally was issued to EA. EA is made responsible for everything that happened at the rally. He or she is the main liaison with the police on law and order issues from traffic and crowd control to how and where the stage was set up. A list of names and particulars of speakers was submitted to the police beforehand.

EA also arranged for transport and catering of dinners for the candidates and their helpers. All EA had to take an oath of secrecy which meant they were not allowed to divulge what they know.

2) Proposer, Seconder, Assentors

For every candidate, there had to be a proposer, a seconder and 4 assentors who had to present themselves with the candidates at the respective nomination centre. Assentors had to be residents in the respective constituency.

3) Proxies

2 things were necessary for holding a political rally; a rally site and a police permit. Rally sites were designated by the police who cited law and order concerns for designated open fields for the purpose. But these areas were hard to access! Consequently, stadium venues were considered choice sites because of available seating, shelter, lighting and easy access. Candidates were not allowed to use the PA system in the stadium -- for law and order reasons. Limited opportunities for a choice site was what drove political parties to deploy 'proxies' to queue overnight at the Police Complex at Cantonment road.

Sites and permits were issued only the day before the rally. This meant that for about 8 nights (9 days to campaign) between Nomination day and Polling day, the party had to find people who were willing to spend the night at the Police Complex. This day-to-day application process also explained why it was virtually impossible to have a calendar of rallies and their times and venues in advance.

4) Marshals/ Helpers

Required by police regulations, they ensured that people attending the rallies were orderly and knew where to go. These helpers got to be aware of what is allowed and what is not.

5) Polling agents

Tasked with watching over the procedure at polling centres, they were sworn to secrecy and could not divulge what they knew. Generally, they tried to see to it that voters were not intimidated or unduly influenced by any party present.

6) Counting agents

These were also sworn to secrecy. Generally, they had to have a keen eye and were tasked with watching over the counting of votes.

Apart from the above mentioned, there are a lot more manpower required!!!!!!!
I was both Polling and Counting agent in GE 2006 and I have to say that I'm glad that I volunteered myself for it. The experience was wonderful and how many 5 years do you have in your life to take part in experiences like that?

In conclusion, as a true-blue Singaporean, what role would you like to take on for the up-coming GE?