The people have spoken! The People’s Action Party (PAP) has garnered 75.3 per cent of all valid votes cast. If the PAP is sitting for an examination subject, that score translates to an A1 grade for the subject - a distinction, no less.
Two opposition MPs - Mr CHIAM See Tong and Mr LOW Thia Khiang - have managed to hang on to their seats in Parliament, but by a smaller margin than before.
A third opposition candidate - Mr Steve CHIA of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) - will be offered a Non-Constituency MP seat in the new Parliament by virtue of his being the best-performing loser.
The candidate who attracted my attention was Associate Professor HO Peng Kee. Prof. HO was initially thought by the bookies to have a 50-50 chance of winning the seat for Nee Soon East, the constituency he had served as MP for more than ten years.
Why should Prof. HO have only that slim chance, I asked myself. I paid a visit to his constituency on Polling Day. I almost couldn’t recognise the place. It’s been years since I was there last and all the flats there which were built in the early 80s have received a complete makeover. I was jealous for a moment - yes, jealous of those who live there now. I have since moved to Hougang which is Workers’ Party territory and Hougang is now like Nee Soon East in the 80s.
Those chaps who gave Prof. HO a 50-50 chance of winning Nee Soon East must be crazy, I thought to myself. If I were privileged to be living there, I would not hesitate to vote for him. So, I told myself, that probability couldn’t be true. I said the poll result would prove the bookies wrong. And prove them wrong it did on Polling Day. Prof. HO went on to win 73.7 per cent of valid votes cast!
What I wish to say is this. People can bet what they want to bet on, but there’s no denying the truth - that a person who has put in so much time and effort, at the expense of his family and body (he’s got greying hair nowadays you know), into a constituency cannot go unnoticed by its residents but will receive his just rewards.
