growing awareness

Past elections have not captured my attention as much as this year's.

I was ignorant when I was a school-going teenager. To me, government = PAP, PAP = government. I had no concept of alternative parties or alternative voices.

In 2001, I turned 21 and thought I would be called up to vote. It turned out that they sent out the polling notifications a few days before my 21st birthday, which meant that I was considered not eligible to vote. Anyway, it was a walkover in Tampines GRC and I didn't care much either. I was busy studying hard and playing hard in university. Politics was a foreign notion.

In 2006, we were somehow subsumed into the Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC. Being older and having worked for a few years by then, I should have been more aware I suppose, but it was not the case. I was apathetic. Reading articles concerning the elections then bored me to tears. I was more interested in my own social life, work and pubbing. In any case, I was ordered by my parents to vote for the incumbent party. I cannot even remember now which alternative party was contesting in the GRC. When polling day came, I marked a nonchalant cross next to the lightning emblem.

This year, we were back to being in Tampines GRC. Bear in mind that we have not shifted an inch ever since we moved in 25 years ago. Social media has helped made me more aware of the political scene here. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and various blogs and news sites have brought more information to us than mainstream media (which can be biased). I can't say I know alot and there are many things I still don't understand. But at least I know more now and it's a small step forward.

To that end, it was not a nonchalant cross that I penned on the voting form this year.