Vote For Yourself, Not For Your Neighbour

Every few years, Singaporeans come together to think of their past, present and future. We lash out opinions and seek forward guidance.

With the impending 2015 General Elections to be held on September 11, we realized that there are many Singaporeans whom we talk to who aspire to play the role of “Robin Hood.” By that, we mean that they are thinking about voting based on what they feel someone else needs are, rather than for themselves.

We had discussions with friends, who by the way, are doing quite well in life. One of the most frequent comments we hear is that people are casting their votes not based on their own personal experiences over the past 4 years, but on the experience that they think others are having. Sometimes, these experiences that they know about are from the articles that they read.

For example, some would comment that they “feel the poor would have more difficulty living in Singapore as their income isn’t growing fast enough.” Some also felt anger at the public transport system, despite not being involved with any major train breakdowns, or even being a regular user of public transport themselves.

A distorted perception

An example of a distorted perception is looking across the table and noticing a big guy eating only a small plate of salad. The immediate conclusion would be that this guy is dieting, probably hungry and likely to not be enjoying his meal.

The truth however is that the guy might already have a huge meal before, and really like salad as well. He might be perfectly happy.

This brings us back to the comments on poorer people having more potential difficulties and anger due to the train breakdown. Why are we sympathizing for others, when we can never fully understand them?

By adding our own assumptions of others into our vote, we will distort what our vote truly represents, MYself.

Will the minorities will be suppressed?

If democracy were always taking the side of the majority, would the minorities be suppressed?

The first question we ask is, who are the minorities in Singapore? Racial minority? Household income minority?

Minority representation in Singapore is pretty robust. There are definitely flaws and some under representation (single mums). However, at least from what we noticed, these pleas are currently being brought to light and are in discussions.

There are relatively good racial representative in parliament. Gender participation is improving over the years. Therefore, we like to ask a slightly different question, who do the minority in Singapore truly represents?

The middle-income voters are true heavy weights

We categorized those earning above the 25^th percentile to the 75^th percentile of average household income to be the middle class of Singapore. This makes up about 50% of the 1.2 million households.

Although the upper percentile of the middle income might be in a slightly different state as the lower percentile of the middle-income households, their benefits are relatively similar (such as qualifying for most public housing purchases).

Therefore, experiences and expectations of this group should be relatively similar. Those belonging to this group should step out of the “I am from the sandwich-class” mentality and call to arms, as you are actually the main deciding factor in this General Election. Whoever this group votes for would likely be the group deciding the elections. There is no excuse. You are not “sandwich.”

Leadership and representation

Most people would have realized by now that the different GRCs and SMCs play a different card when they market themselves. Some emphasize on clean town council management, some emphasizes on potential ministers within their GRCs, and others, on representing us in the parliament.

In the last election, the “co-driving” of government seems to have taken off well with Singaporeans. However, it has transcended to “how can this “bus” drive us the distance.”

Instead of finding just a representative, let us find a representative that can be a great leader. The DollarsAndSense team are not definitive supporters of the “People of Zeus” or “Thor’s Associates”. What we truly support are Great Policies, Great Foresights and Great Actions.

Your country, Your vote, Your choice.