This picture was taken by the blogger known as Yawning Bread at a Workers' Party election rally. Might this be the biggest election rally in Singapore's history?
Yawning Bread adds that the actual crowd was even larger than that. His camera lens wasn't wide enough to capture everything. If I were the PAP, I think now is the appropriate time to start quaking in my boots - at least in Hougang.
Go to Yawning Bread's blog for the full story.
And remember - tell your friends too. This is news that they won't get from the mainstream media.
18 comments:
my god... I miss out a good show.
By my estimate, that is probably 10 thousand people.
And no... our local press did not report the big turnout.
I gave up reading ST 5 years ago.
I have been at the last 3 rallies of the WP, including the one tonight at East Coast.
Couldn't make up how huge the crowd was tonight because the ground was mainly flat. But I figured it must be HUGE because I couldn't make up where the boundaries of the crowd were...
At Hougang, my friends and I felt the massiveness of the crowd as we moved our way around. We had to park a long distance to avoid the congested roads leading to Block 837.
many in the audience are not from Hougang constituency so I would not take this as an accurate indication of a landslide victory for WP in Hougang. Many have travelled far and wide to see WP rallies....especially the Westerners. hah!
Everyone should read what yawning bread wrote. I was crying while reading his beautiful and powerful essay. Maybe there is some hope for Singapore after all. Those that can vote please exercise it wisely. This is the only time you are empowered to make your voice heard, Make your vote count on May 6. Please pass this on to everyone.
Thank you Mr. Wang for deciding to continue your blog.
mrdarren:
It's not about a landslide victory for Hougang. It's about the SIZE of the crowd. And that's phenomenal.
From Weekend Today - 29/04/06
Will the PM's young challengers lose deposits?
Few would give the relatively inexperienced Workers' Party (WP) team a chance against that led by the Prime Minister, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is facing a contest in his Ang Mo Kio ward for the first time since 1988, said he was taking things seriously. However, when asked if his opponents might lose their deposits, Mr Lee said: "We'll try our best to make sure it costs them some money." — Page 3
This is our First World! (hah) Government being plainly Vindictive.
yeah i know the rally turnout is amazing, but i doubt the PAP will be quaking in its boots. There will be many PAP supporters who shun rallies and are contented with the promise of economic progress.
The huge numbers could be a reflection of the desire for genuine alternative voices and widespread dissatisfaction with the media coverage of alternative parties. Or they could be first time voters wanting to have a taste of election rallies. Will they translate into votes for the WP? Time will tell.
I'm also just gotten back from EC rally as well. Despite not a resident there, i would seriously want to hear out WP's message to the people.
I would said, it striked deep in the hearts of many Singaporean who are facing hardship in the lights of rising costs and job securities
The crowd were responsive and i probably hope if this resonant into real result for the APs. There's might b hope for everyone.
mrdarren:
I may be wrong but I think over the last 5 years, people have gotten "smarter". A substantial number of the voters this time round are young - the sort who feel they are nothing to lose, who are politically-more savvy and who don't take an "yes" for everything.
I have not any rallies until this GE. In the previous 2, though I stayed at home, my heart and soul was with the opposition.
Hi Mr Wang your favorite Tan Sai Siong has written another "outstanding" piece of article.
This time the target is james gomez
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/206017/1/.html
Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 02 May 2006 0709 hrs
Accountability is a real issue
By Tan Sai Siong, TODAY
The picture indeed hit the front page of today's papers..across the causeway.The Star's pixman took a picture which srangely seem identical.
This is quoted from my blog entry, since I'm too lazy to rewrite a comment of a similar news:
"Today I went back home. I live in the Kovan area in Aljunied. Upper Serangoon Road, a very long main road that runs right through Serangoon to Hougang, was right within view. My father told me that on the night of the WP rally, the road was jammed pack. And that's a freaking 3 to 4 km from the rally site in Hougang!"
4 simple reasons why you should vote Opposition
1) Opposition MPs are simply better. First, they upgrade your estates for free as compared to Jalan Besar residents who have to pay up $10000. They speak up an average of 436 times in 4 years in parliament as compared to PAP backbechers 136 times. Both of them care for their residents very much and do walkabout regularly.
2) Check and Balance-Without the thousands of questions Opposition MPs ask in parliament, a lot of problems would not be exposed in parliament, from GST collection problems (almost 200 million last years) to land problems to circle-line problem to NKF to education issues.
3) Without the opposition, PAP has no incentives to open up Singapore. They will take as if Singapore has open a blank cheque for Singaporeans and take actions to close Singapore politically futhur. MR wang has pointed out on a monthly basis on some anti-openess things they do; ban RGS students selling T-shirt, podcast during election etc etc etc etc.....
4) If PAP wins all the seats in parliament, they might just close down elections in the future. If we dun even have one opposition out of 90 MPs in parliament, PAP can just pass a law to ban elections and Singapore democracy may just die off. People will migrate and doom and gloom lah....
I am sure this has been referred to before but its interesting. PAP as referenced from Dictionary.com:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pap
1. Soft or semiliquid food, as for infants.
2. Material lacking real value or substance: TV shows that offer nothing but pap.
3. Slang. Money and favors obtained as political patronage: “self-seeking politicians primarily interested in patronage, privilege, and pap” (Fiorello H. La Guardia).
Going back to media coverage, I wonder if anyone else noticed this insidious/blatant (depending on how you look at it) little/big (depending on how you look at it) 'campaign' against Mr Chiam. It consists of using the letter 'P' instead of 'A', i.e., linking Mr Chiam to the SDP (instead of SDA), which he left over TEN years ago.
I saw it once in last week's TODAY, and also saw and HEARD it on CNA.
'Oversight' or what?
tsk... tsk...
The fact is that opposition rallies are always better attended than PAP ones. You don't have to attend a PAP rally to know what their party line is, you simply have to pick up the bloody Straits Times.
Turn out is bloody impressive, but turn out in Cheng San 9 years ago is also bloody impressive. The numbers do not tell the whole story: more than 30% of the voting population will always vote opposition, and that's always a huge number of people. The question is, are more people going to vote the opposition than the PAP, and that's a question only the elections can settle.
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