Election "Cooling of Day" - Cool?
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Cool what? How about cooling down their outrageous pay check and doing the right things for the citizens of singapore? Not initate another pathetic, futile attempt to bait the attentions of the hip-hop scenery.
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Frankly speaking, it's to avoid emotional voting goaded on by loud mouthed rabble- rousers like CSJ and his merry gang and Gomez's hilarious side show caught with his pants down, but to vote rationally and calmly for his own future.
In fact, just one day "cooling off" period is too short going by Australia's 3 day practice. but it should be increased to 2 days and declared as public holidays to win over the voters..haha, just my wishful thinking
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Originally posted by Bentsb05:
Frankly speaking, it's to avoid emotional voting goaded on by loud mouthed rabble- rousers like CSJ and his merry gang
But why cannot emotional?
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I wonder whether anybody will get emotional and go and vote for PAP.
People will get so emotional when they hear PAP MPs speak, filled with so much joy and love, die die they also must go and vote PAP, support PAP.
So, to prevent such emotional outbursts of PAP support, PAP had no choice but to impose the "cooling" day.
So many people support PAP, praise PAP, all love PAP, hail PAP.
No choice must stop all these profound emotional support for PAP during elections.
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PM Lee: 24 hour “cooling off” period at next GE
Written by Our Correspondent
An extra “cooling-off” day before polling day itself will be introduced at the next General election during which campaigning will not be allowed so that voters can reflect “calmly” on their decision.
The announcement was made by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the Singapore media in Cuba where he was attending the Commonwealth meetings.
“The legislation is almost done now, but there has been a little bit of delay because we had one further thought, which is to extend the period between Nomination Day and Polling Day by one extra day and to use that extra day as a cooling off period before polling itself,” he said.
All campaigning including mass rallies, door-to-door visits and display of party logos and symbols in public places will be banned on the “cooling-off” day.
The one exception will be party political broadcasts, which are televised on the eve of the polls to summarise the messages of the different political parties. This, alongside news reporting on the election, will not be affected.
The new rule is likely to benefit the ruling party which has absolute control over the Singapore media including its only news agency and broadcast station. It is usually allocated a longer air time on TV than other political parties.
The latest move probably stem from a need to pre-empt a “freak” election from happening as it did in the Malaysian general elections last year when the opposition won 82 seats in the federal parliament thereby denying the ruling Barisan Nasional its traditional two-thirds majority.
The minimum period between Nomination Day and Polling Day will be extended from nine to 10 days to compensate for the extra cooling off day.
Opposition parties have long complained about the short campaigning period which give them little time to highlight important issues to the voters.
The campaigning period used to be as long as three months and it was only reduced to the current nine days after the PAP won the general election in 1963.
During the 2006 elections, the rallies of opposition parties are attended by ten of thousands of Singaporeans in contrast to the paltry crowd at PAP rallies whose participants were offered free food and transport to be persuaded to attend in the first place.
The extra “cooling-off” day will enable the PAP to use all organs of the state to sway the results in its favor and to lessen the impact of mass rallies.
More importantly, it will also act as a buffer to allow it to salvage the situation should it make another PR mistake which may peeve off the voters like the Gomez incident in the last election.
For a party which is used to having everything under its control, the “cooling-off” day is nothing more than another ploy to decrease the chances of the occurrence of a “freak” result.
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What "cooling off" day is PM talking about when our GE over the decades have not been hot. Usually, our GEs were quiet and unexciting as many electorates were uncontested. I can only think of the advantages the ruling party can make during the one day before voting ie maybe for damage control on certain topics oppositions have highlighted or gain some grounds through our pro-mass media.
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Websites of political parties will be bound by “cooling-off” day rules
Written by Our Correspondent
The “cooling-off” day before polling day during which all forms of political campaigning is banned will be extended to cyberspace including websites of political parties which are expected to adhere to the new rules.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the introduction of a “cooling-off” day in addition to the minimum nine-day campaigning period for voters to make a “rational” decision.
“We think there’s merit in this idea (of a cooling-off day). After a very exciting and emotional election campaign, you really ought to have some time to calm down, reflect on the issues and the arguments, and analyse what’s at stake, logically, rationally, and then to go in to the polls to cast your vote in a calm and steady state of mind,” he said.
Though PM Lee acknowledged that it would be difficult to enforce the law in cyberspace, he hoped the spirit and principle of the “cooling-off” period would be upheld by Internet users without elaborating on the topics they should refrain from writing or discussing.
“I can’t control several million videos on YouTube. But your website, what you are putting out in your own name, I think that should end on the day before cooling-off day,” PM Lee added.
This means that webmasters of political parties as well as socio-political blogs whose identities are known will have no choice but to adhere to the “cooling-off” period since they can be traced and punishment can be meted out easily.
The new rule will help make up for the PAP’s disadvantage in cyberspace where its websites have far less readership compared to those run by the opposition such as SDP.
Most socio-political blogs are also critical of the establishment and they are unlikely to provide it with a favorable coverage during the campaigning period.
The PAP’s foray into the new media has been hugely disappointing so far despite being armed with more resources than their competitors.
Few PAP MPs and ministers have a blog or Facebook account and even then, they are updated on an infrequent basis.
The P65 blog which was started in the aftermath of the 2006 general elections for the young PAP MPs to reach out to netizens fizzled out due to low readership and lack of genuine exchange between readers and the writers.
While the mainstream media remains tightly controlled by the PAP, its monopoly on information is slowly eroded away by the emergence of the new media.
The new media is credited with triggering the political tsunami which hit the shores of Malaysia last year.
Despite the hype over the new media, its impact on the next election in Singapore is likely to be minimal.
Unlike the Malaysia new media which is dominated by credible internet newspapers like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider whose readership is comparable to that of the state media, Singapore new media is still in its infantile stage of development.
There are no strong players with a substantial readership to challenge the state media. Furthermore, Singaporeans are less politically aware and active compared to their Malaysian counterparts.
The “cooling-off” period will not be the only change made to the existing rules. The PAP will take no chances to ensure that the much dreaded “freak” election will never happen in Singapore.
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What is the purpose behind this cool off period ? sound like girl having their period.
if i am going to vote i have make up my mind long time, Who to vote i don't need any cool off day,
Are the garmen going to give me free massage to cool me down so i can make right decision on who to vote?
Imagine i change my mind on who to vote during the voting day itself due the election office can't answer my question.
My question is" Why u need to write down my serial number on my voting slip"
Answer " it for record purpose" The answer don't make me happy.
So i say to myself go and die if they want to know who i vote for. Guys out there, Don't care what they do, the main we choose who we like. End of the story,
How good u try to sheild/hide your gold, oneday people will find out too..
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i don't give a daman about elections.
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News: The Straits Times - 1 December 2009
24 hours to cool off before Polling Day
No campaigning on eve so voters can make a rational decision
By Chua Chin Hon
PORT OF SPAIN (TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO): Singaporeans will get an extra 'cooling-off' day at the next General Election, a 24-hour period during which campaigning will not be allowed so that voters can reflect calmly on their decision.In announcing the change, which will also apply to the presidential election, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the idea had been on the table for many years.
The decision to finally go ahead comes in the light of another significant set of changes to the election rules he proposed months ago.
In May, Mr Lee announced in Parliament that Singapore's political system would be amended to give non-People's Action Party (PAP) members at least 18 seats, or nearly one-fifth, of the House.
This would involve changes regarding Non-Constituency MPs and Nominated MPs, plus the Group Representation Constituency and single-member ward schemes.
'The legislation is almost done now, but there has been a little bit of delay because we had one further thought, which is to extend the period between Nomination Day and Polling Day by one extra day and to use that extra day as a cooling off period before polling itself,' Mr Lee told the Singapore media at the end of a three-day visit here to attend biennial Commonwealth meetings. He is now in Cuba.
He expects the Bill to be ready for its first reading in January or February, with the necessary amendments to the Constitution and related legislation completed after the Budget debate, which traditionally takes place in late February and early March.
The Budget was presented in January this year in response to the global financial crisis.
The idea of a 'cooling-off' period before the polls is not an uncommon one. Countries like Australia, Indonesia, Italy and Mexico all have some variation of this feature in their electoral systems, with anything from one to three days of campaign silence before the final vote.
Singapore currently allows campaigning to take place between Nomination Day and the day before Polling Day. On the day that votes are cast, however, all campaigning is disallowed, meaning a ban on mass rallies, door-to-door visits, and the display of party logos and symbols.
The 'cooling-off' day will, in effect, be like the Polling Day, when all forms of campaigning are disallowed.
The one exception will be party political broadcasts, which are televised on the eve of the polls to summarise the messages of the different political parties. This, alongside news reporting on the election, will not be affected.
The minimum period between Nomination Day and Polling Day will be extended from nine to 10 days to compensate for the extra cooling off day.
'So you have basically the campaign period the same as before, one extra day which is a quiet day, and then the polling,' Mr Lee said.
'We think there's merit in this idea (of a cooling-off day). After a very exciting and emotional election campaign, you really ought to have some time to calm down, reflect on the issues and the arguments, and analyse what's at stake, logically, rationally, and then to go in to the polls to cast your vote in a calm and steady state of mind.'
Another advantage, particularly if the election has been an emotional one, is that the extra day will help lower the risk of public disorder.
The Prime Minister said he recalled past election rallies at which there was pushing and shoving as the crowds got worked up. In some cases, crowds also refused to disperse after the rallies were over.
'It is good to have 24 hours to calm down, think about it, and then tomorrow we vote,' said Mr Lee.
But will this work as well in the era of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other forms of online social media?
Mr Lee acknowledged that there was a grey area with regard to the Internet, where private exchanges could quickly become public ones, and the policing of online violators could be tricky. Nonetheless, he hoped the spirit and principle of the 'cooling-off' period would be upheld by Internet users.
The websites of the political parties, however, will be bound by the new rules.
'I can't control several million videos on YouTube. But your website, what you are putting out in your own name, I think that should end on the day before cooling-off day, said Mr Lee.
With all these political changes coming up, can Singaporeans expect to see some new faces in the PAP line-up soon?
Mr Lee declined to give details, except to say: 'The slate's not complete yet but we are not at the starting point any more.'
The Prime Minister also remained coy about whether the changes meant Singapore would have a General Election next year.
When asked, he laughed and said: 'Maybe... I don't have a date for you.
'There will be many milestones along the way which will tell you that the date is getting closer. But even without the milestones, I can tell you the date is getting closer.'
- end of ST article
Source: http://www.pmo.gov.sg/News/Transcripts/Prime+Minister/24+hours+to+cool+off+before+Polling+Day.htm
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people who're rational usually vote for a proven party. people who're irrational like the whole of USA before 2008 vote for hope and dreams that're more likely to be given by a good speaker. while in theory it is fair to all parties, PAP might stand to benefit a little more from its track record.
another machine of continuity?
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Originally posted by the Bear:
unless you're a minister.. then the lunch is paid for by someone else
Their lunches for the whole year have already been paid for.
And their breakfasts, dinners and suppers.
Everyday eat mee siam with hum.
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By the way, the timing of this announcement suddenly when he is away in another country could point that he might be calling election the moment he comes back to singapore.
It's the school holidays now, so all the schools, community centres are ready to be used as polling stations.
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After so many years of being frozen from being walkover voters, it's more like needing a warming up or thawing period instead.
what a clown you all have as a leader -
Originally posted by the Bear:
it's sad he's been caught, hook line and sinker by the naysayers and those people who cannot differentiate between the country itself and the abhorrant politicians out there
how sad so many have sunk to such levels... even when they profess that they sink their roots here... yet sling so much mud that they if they try to wash it off, it'll just choke the sink...
oh well... sink or swim.. it's our country...
i choose to swim...
It will not be a surprise for a Bear to swim off just when the country is sinking - despite all the hot air about others not being able to "differentiate between country itself and the abhorrant politicians out there."
Everyone is unbearable to the insufferable Bear, is it any wonder that it will "choose to swim" - and will not sink with the country that it claim to be its own ?
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Originally posted by Bentsb05:
Frankly speaking, it's to avoid emotional voting goaded on by loud mouthed rabble- rousers like CSJ and his merry gang and Gomez's hilarious side show caught with his pants down, but to vote rationally and calmly for his own future.
Emotional voting ?
Do Singaporeans need to be goaded by an impotent CSJ and Gomez, when after each and every election held every four to five year interval - the PAP has the good sense and skill to goad Singaporeans with all the PAP abusive acts to antagonise the good sense of Singaporeans again and again ?
Why lay the blame on CSJ and Gomez again ?
Or have you been consumed by the expertly crafted newsprints that goaded your emotions towards CSJ and his merry gang and Gomez's hilarious side show ?
In fact, just one day "cooling off" period is too short going by Australia's 3 day practice. but it should be increased to 2 days and declared as public holidays to win over the voters..haha, just my wishful thinking
Australia's 3 day practice is to allow the Aussies to have sufficient time to recover from the heavy partying during the campaigning periods - are Singaporeans similar guzzlers as the Aussies to need the 3 day off-campaign before polling ?
Or are you simply hoping to buy more time for the PAP to slip in their own voice when all voices are silenced during the 3 day quiet ?
It will not be a surprise for the PAP to again break their own rules in their usual sly ways - and ‘with the help of the Attorney-General should the Law be broken again by the incumbent PAP ministers. (*1)
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whether got cooling day anot not important cos I will still vote for opposition
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Originally posted by keeptouch:
whether got cooling day anot not important cos I will still vote for opposition
Now that is really cool! -
when our population reach 6 million and most our jobs - low, mid and high - all went to ft and pr
then it's called really very very cool
earn little - where more extra money to buy and eat
just eat plain loti - then it's really damn cool
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This means less 1 day of campaigning for the opposition, if I were him I would suggest a 2-3 day cooling off period.
Elections are by surprise, they don't give opposition any time to prepare, then they shorten the days.
Smart move.
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When he said cooling off period, he knows that citizens will be heated up by the points brought up against the PAP government, that's why he hopes that the cooling off period can calm them down to vote PAP in again.
Obviously his objective cannot be, that he hopes that the citizens will cool down to what opposition has done these past decades, because the opposition has not done anything detrimental to Singapore citizens.
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many people are affected after 1997 crisis
now ft pr flocked here - exchange rate
40 yrs = mature aka old/senior - perment headache for them
hdb they said affordable - fun
last time internet not so common - now news hard to hide/cover
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Originally posted by deepak.c:
This means less 1 day of campaigning for the opposition, if I were him I would suggest a 2-3 day cooling off period.
Elections are by surprised, they don't give opposition any time to prepare, then they shorten the days.
Smart move.
Declare martial law tell all opposition to go get F and come back in the year 2525 that would be cool also for the PAP but since this garmen is already doing even better than a neighboring junta garmen.No need for all that because cold is better than cool.
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“Cooling-off” day for voters to reflect “calmly” on their decisions or for the PAP to do last minute campaigning?
OPINION
With elections looming around the corner, the ruling party is again making use of the power of its incumbency to change the rules of the game and shift the goal-posts in order to “engineer” another electoral result which will ensure their continued political hegemony.
In other modern democracies, the best result a political party can achieve is a simple majority to form the government without having to enter into a coalition with another party.
Under the unique Singapore political system, the PAP has set such high “standards” for itself that anything less than the status quo (winning 82 out of 84 seats) is considered a failure or in the words of MM Lee Kuan Yew, a “freak” result. (according to Dr Yaacob, this will be a “once in a fifty year” event)
Throughout the years, the PAP has cleverly manipulated the system to maximize its chances of winning in every elections, be it through rampant gerrymandering via the GRC system, serving a dose of pork-barrel politics to threaten the electorate or using the state media to discredit and demolish their opponents. Nothing is left to chance.
The latest announcement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that an additional “cooling-off” day will be introduced in the next election should not be dismissed as something trivial for it is a reflection of the behind-scene preparations which have been going on for the last few months.
The “cooling-off” day is supposed to give voters more time to “calmly” reflect on their decision and to prevent public disorder from breaking out.
All campaigning including mass rallies, door-to-door visits and display of party logos and symbols in public places will be banned on the “cooling-off” day which is extended to cyberspace as well, but there is one exception: the news reporting on the election in the state media and the traditional broadcasts of political parties will not be affected.
The PAP’s greatest fear lies in the electorate being swayed by charismatic speakers and articles in the new media which lies beyond their control. The additional day is actually an “insurance policy” for them to attempt to influence the outcome of the election in the last minute should things turn out not the way they wanted or expected.
During the 2006 elections, the opposition rallies are attended by tens of thousands of Singaporeans while the PAP rallies only managed to attract a paltry crowd. Even PM Lee’s son admitted that the opposition rallies are more exciting.
Though the new media did not play a major role then, blogger Alex Au of Yawning Bread still managed to embarrass the state media which censored photos of the huge turnout at opposition rallies by posting photos of the large crowd attending the Workers’ Party’s rallies on his blog.
Mr Brown’s “Bak Chor Mee” parody which poured sarcasm on the PAP’s constant harping on the Gomezgate issue was a hit among netizens and exposed the hypocrises of its leaders.
Despite their recent forays into the new media, the PAP has literally no conceivable presence in cyberspace which is dominated by blogs critical of the establishment or sympathetic towards the opposition cause.
The “cooling-off” day will help to counter the advantage enjoyed by the opposition in these two aspects and to tap on the inherent strengths of the PAP which will be given longer air time on TV and favorable coverage in the state media.
In other words, this means that only pro-government voices are allowed to heard in the public domain on the eve of polling day which will surely tilt the playing field in favor of the PAP.
For those who have already made up their minds long before the election, they do not require an extra day to make a “rational” decision.
The target group is voters with no political affiliations and have not decided who to cast their votes for. Due to the general apathy pervading the entire nation, a significant proportion of Singaporeans may fall into this “swing” group which have the potential to determine the final result in closely fought contests.
With Singapore voters becoming more politically astute and demanding coupled with the emergence of the new media as an alternative source of information to counter the official propaganda from the mainstream media, the odds of a “freak” result happening in the next election is not as remote as it seems.
While it is highly unlikely that the PAP will be booted out of government or even denied their customary two-thirds majority due to the ineptitude and weakness of the opposition, there is a good chance that they may lose a GRC which will deal a psychological blow to its aura of invincibility.
GRCs are considered as impregnable “fortresses” of the PAP which had never lost a single one since the scheme was first introduced in the 1988 general elections.
Once a GRC falls into the opposition hands, the floodgate will open with more and more Singaporeans joining the ranks of the opposition to challenge the PAP as predicted by MM Lee himself the likely scenario in the post-LKY era.
The Malaysian opposition party Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) founded by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was considered a “goner” before the 2008 general elections. After it won an unprecedened 31 seats to become the largest opposition party in parliament, its membership shot up by more than 100 per cent in less than a year.
The stakes are getting higher and higher for the PAP. The loss of a GRC or a few more single wards in addition to the two opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang will herald a new dawn in Singapore politics.
No amount of gerrymandering, propaganda or repression, let alone a ”cooling-off” day can deter a politically aware, educated and informed citizenry for supporting alternative parties to break the political monopoly enjoyed by the PAP continuously since the 1966 elections when the opposition Barisan Sosialist made a colossal blunder by boycotting it.
The real battle will not be fought during the campaigning period or on the eve of polling day, but on every single day after Singaporeans gave the PAP another “overwhelming” mandate in 2006.
From the ministers giving themselves a big pay rise, the relentless influx of foreigners, sky-rocketing prices of public housing, investment losses of Temasek and GIC, rising cost of living to a series of repressive laws introduced to curtail the civil liberties of Singaporeans, the PAP’s “track record” is for all to see. Can we afford to give them another blank cheque to do as they please for the next five years?
By the time the next election is held, the PAP would have been in power for more than 5 decades. The time is ripe for a “freak” election to occur.
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Low Thia Kiang: “Cooling-off” period will give PAP an extra day of campaigning
Written by Our Correspondent
Opposition MP Mr Low Thia Kiang has slammed the “cooling-off” day proposed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as a ploy to give the PAP an extra day of campaigning.
All mass rallies, door-to-door visits and the wearing of party logos and symbols will not be allowed on the day which is extended even to the internet though it is unclear on how the law will be enforced.
There is one exception: Political parties can still give their traditional TV broadcast on the eve and news reporting on the election will continue as before.
The ruling party controls the only news agency in Singapore – SPH as well as broadcasting station Mediacorp which is owned by Temasek Holdings.
The Singapore media is ranked a pathetic 133rd position in terms of press freedom on the World Press Freedom index conducted yearly by respected international NGO Reporters without Borders.
The late Singapore Chief Minister Mr David Marshall once described the Straits Times as the “running dogs and prostitutes of the PAP”.
The Chairman of SPH is Dr Tony Tan, a former PAP minister. A number of PAP MPs are previously SPH journalists including Irene Ng and Seng Han Tong. It was rumored that some of the Straits Times’ senior correspondents are former ISD officiers such as the Chua sisters.
Mr Low feared that the “cooling-off” day will be used by the PAP to sway public sentiments towards its side.
“For instance, if opposition parties campaign on issues of health care and public housing policy and managed to get the message across to the voters, the government department or relevant civil servants can always come out on the day of the cooling period with some announcement of policy changes or explanation to counter what opposition parties said during the campaign period, in an attempt to sway public opinion. The mass media can also run a ’story’ for the same effect without the need for any PAP candidate to appear,” he said.
Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, PAP MP for Aljunied GRC, which was fiercely contested in the 2006 polls, said the mass media had been fair and balanced in its election coverage.
During the 2006 elections, the mass media was used by the PAP to character assassinate the Workers’ Party candidate James Gomez over a trivial incident. Previous victims of the media’s smear campaign includes J.B. Jeyaretnam, Dr Chee Soon Juan, Tang Liang Hong, Jufrie Mahmood and Francis Seow.
The state media is known to portray PAP candidates in a positive light while casting aspersions on the characters of opposition candidates.
Mr Low also said PM Lee’s concerns over public disorder is an ‘over-imagination’, noting that assigning each party a stadium for their supporters to gather prevents such potential problems.
But Mr Ong Kian Min, PAP MP for Tampines GRC, argues that the long-running political strife in Thailand shows Singapore cannot take for granted the calm it has seen in recent elections.
Unlike their neighbors, politics is a low-key affair in Singapore and few Singaporeans are so passionate about politics to create “trouble” during the campaign. Besides, the police which is omnipresent at all the rallies should have taken active measures to maintain public order and security without a need for the “cooling-off” day.
Not known to leaving things to chance, the “cooling-off” day is probably one of the many new rules introduced to counter the rising influence of the new media in order to ensure the PAP’s continued political hegemony in Singapore.
Singaporeans should expect more “interesting” changes to pop up soon as the election approaches under the guise of “benefitting” the voters.