Elections

So far, I've attended two rallies this election. The first was the SDA's at Potong Pasir and the second was the Worker's Party's at Hougang which just ended. Even though I'm not eligible to vote this year, i still attended the rallies to hear what the opposition parties have to say. Watching the news on tv just doesn't give you the full picture. Therefore, i attended both rallies with my dad on Friday and Sunday. The SDA rally was a bit of a disappointment. The speakers were not really convincing and not too fluent. Only Chiam See Tong spoke well. Even so, he spoke only for a short while and his voice wasn't too good. The rally ended prematurely at 930. I went back home feeling a little shortchanged. The standard wasn't as good as the 2001 rally i attended at Kallang. On Sunday, after i learnt that the Worker's Party was having a rally at Hougang, i approached my dad and he agreed to go with me to the rally. It was to be my first Worker's Party rally. We reached the rally site at 715. At that time, a substantial number of people have already gathered at the site. Definitely more than the SDA rally. I was pleasantly surprised. The crowd started to grow in numbers as we waited for the rally to start. I was getting a little impatient as time goes by. Finally, the first speaker spoke at 730. He was an Indian. Pretty humourous. It was a good start. As he spoke, I couldn't help wondering what it was like in the old days when JBJ was still contesting. He was a good speaker as far as i know. The atmosphere must have been electrifying. The Indian speaker switched to Tamil after his English speech. It was quite funny hearing the Indian crowd cheering everytime he raised his voice when the rest of us have no idea what is going on. Even some of the Chinese present also began to cheer. After that Indian speaker, 6 more speakers went up to speak in various languages. They touched mainly on the healthcare issue. The speakers who spoke in Hokkien were generally more funny even though i couldn't catch everything that they said. Speeches given in English or Chinese tended to be more serious. I just felt that it was harder to make funny speeches in these languages compared to dialects. Mr Low Thia Khiang was the 8th speaker. Frankly, he's the reason why i wanted to go all the way to Hougang for the rally. I was impressed by him on tv. By his humour and wit. Especially in his replies to the questions posed by the PAP. He was sarcastic without being malicious. His comments were funny but touched at serious issues. He was greeted with loud applause as he took the stage. He began his speech in Teochew. And he didn't disappoint. It was the funniest speech I ever heard. I do not know how to translate his speech here but I can assure you that it was really good. He poked fun at the government and also spoke about upgrading and healthcare. And he also warned about giving the PAP a clean slate. Thunderous applause followed when he finished. The crowd was electrified. He handed over to Slyvia Lim for her speech in English. He then took over for the ending speeches in Chinese and English. But they weren't as good as the Teochew speech. The rally ended punctually at 10. As I made my way back to the MRT, i saw the entire magnitude of the crowd. It was almost unbelievable. Thousands of people squeezed onto a muddy field. You have to be there to see the numbers. I do not know if all of them who came are going to vote for the WP, but judging by the numbers who came, i felt the WP might have a chance this year. The candidates are not too bad and they have a charismatic leader in Mr Low. They might just give the PAP a good run for their money.