We may be flogging a dead horse because if the government wants it done, it shall be done.
Still, the idea of a general election at the height of a pandemic appears self-serving and irresponsible. At a time when countries are in lockdown and previously scheduled elections are cancelled or postponed, all the signs point to our government deliberately scheduling a pandemic general election.
There is irony in the situation.
In 2017, Madam Halimah Yacob ascended to the presidency without having to campaign for a single vote because all other candidates were deemed ineligible.
She herself admitted there were doubts about the election process. That’s of course an epic understatement. Try as she may, Madam Halimah has not been able to shrug off the hashtag #notmypresident.
While we had an elected presidency without a single vote cast, we now face the spectre of having to cast more than 2.6 million votes during a pandemic which seems to get worse with each passing day.
The PAP government knows that in a crisis, where uncertainties abound, they have risk-averse Singaporeans in the palm of their hands. The majority of Singaporeans care less about HDB and CPF and foreign influx at a time like this, and more about personal well-being and virus spread and virus containment.
What’s more, given the social distancing measures and limit on mass public gatherings, political rallies would most certainly be curtailed. The opposition has a mountain to climb when they have to conduct an election campaign like no other, with restrictions put in place.
But then this is SG United. This is how we conduct our affairs.
We progress from an elected presidency without a single vote cast, to a pandemic election with more than 2.6 million votes on the line.
SG United is known for many world firsts. We have GRC, NCMP and POFMA. We have Reserved Elected Presidency. Fittingly, we are now in a race to be the first in the world to hold a 2020 Pandemic General Election.