Post General Election Blues

The GE has been over for about 2 weeks now and all the noise has subsided, replaced by an even bigger national calamity, the haze. 

You may infer from the last statement that I wasn't too happy with the outcome. I felt fooled. Maybe by the people and the promise. 

There was Chee Soon Juan with his born-again persona, the calm speeches that spoke to our hearts, with rationality that appealed to our heads and a simplicity that transcended society, like a wave sweeping and washing us clean. I was among the thousands who went to see him speak at UOB Plaza. He turned it on and turned it on well. 

There was the embattled WP. Desperate to fend off claims of mismanagement and impropriety, they spoke of teething problems and how they had to cope to with change, processes and policies they weren't in charge of. Yet the 50,000 people whom I jostled with in Hougang cheered as though we were at a pop concert. Nothing felt amiss. Nothing felt like the status quo was caving in for those who bled blue. 

And East Coast GRC looked ripe for switching allegiances too. 

I let myself be fooled by the hype and noise, comfortably collapsed into the rally rhetoric and online hullabaloo. 

It was a terrible showing for the WP. Losing Punggol East must have been heartbreaking for Li Lian. She had risen to the challenge against a doctor son of Punggol, in a by-election but apparently it wasn't enough to edge out an old timer with a big smile. It was tthe same in Hougang, where the PAP made the tide turn against the WP rather significantly, what is now a tantaliser for the men in white to go all out to woo over completely the opposition stalwarts in five years' time. And of course the Aljunied contest was a near bloody disaster. So close the numbers were, the PAP must have been reeling and squealing in delight. And it was the last result to be announced. A nail-biting finish no less. A less than a 1 measly percent win for the incumbent must have been demoralising for the team that won over residents with sincerity and resolutions just the term earlier. What will the WP do now? Have they drowned in their tears of shame? 

On a brighter note, we know a third of the people in Bukit Timah don't like the PAP. And 9% of the people in Tanjong Pagar are actually willing to throw a political novice into government. LKY must have been squirming in the afterlife over that mutinous poke in the ribs in his own backyard. 

Yes I was hoping for more opposition representation in Parliament, clearly. And clearly the rest of the population was worried about the bedlam, mayhem and Armageddon that would ensue if we didn't vote in the people who had been running the show for the last half century. 

Those who are able to "own self check own self", those who would build bus interchanges only if voted in, those who started CPF reform only after suing the young man who raised his voice about our retirement concerns at Hong Lim Park.

I guess I'm pissed that nothing's changed. (I still don't have a coffeeshop in my neighbourhood.) We somehow fell victim to the SG50 spirit, LKY's passing, the nostalgia of how far the country has come, how bright our future seems to be. All the emotions associated with transforming a fishing village into a gleaming powerhouse of commerce and industry in two generations. We had put faith in leaders who have taken us this far and we have voted them in again because of the promise that they can take us and our children to SG100 without problems and issues. Are we afraid of what comes next? Why? 

Do we fear untested madmen ruining this country? Do we inherently not give anyone else a chance? Are we this unsure of the unknown? Did the last 50 years of the same government rob us of believing in anything new? This is our lack of creativity spilling into the political arena? So dull are we that we can't imagine new faces as leaders? 

I'm reminded of how some people I've met, albeit older and some SPGs, who believe that the white man is superior. The colonial master came and conquered our lands for a long time and for a long time all we knew was his word and sword. Somehow, although now liberated and democratic, I feel we continue to succumb to trusting those we are used to having in power. From white man to men in white. Let's keep the dynasty going why not? Why rock the boat when all is good yeah? I'm wondering what will happen the cracks begin to appear. How will we find the glue to hold us together? Will the glue be handed down to us instead? What sticky mess will we be asked to handle? 

When Kenneth Jeyaratnam snatched the mic from the live report presenter and said "Singaporeans get the government they deserve" I laughed. Because it's true. We can't handle democracy. We fear change because we have few options. If you have money, you can leave. If you don't, then the fear of a shitty life threatens us constantly. The fact that elderly persons wipe tables and clear cutlery at hawker centers for a living rubs in the salt of fear. We then complain about our government. The very next day after polling in fact a taxi driver expressed his dismay. I didn't ask him whom he voted for. This is the way we are. 

Maybe I have been blind or blinded, foolish or fooled. Regardless, our duties as Singaporeans now is to keep an eye on things, to keep a finger on the pulse, to open our mouths when we are uncertain or afraid, and to march on two firm feet if the time comes. 

Happy National Day Singapore

The tip 

Of a peninsula

A point where fisherman met

To barter and make merry

To raise families

A future from the sea

The tip

Of a storm 

Lightning and thunder

Between pride and empires

In a lion, a prince saw hope

And gave a name 

The tip

Of colonial commerce 

Worth fighting for 

It took white men to see potential

To connect the dots 

And attract the hopeful

The tip

Of power changing hands

On bicycles they came

Towards guns pointed away

To christen a new darkness

As light of the south

The tip 

Of a resolute spear

A yearning to lead ourselves

Grateful for the tired master

But unsure in changing tides

Red menace, hungry neighbours 

The tip

Of a painful birth

An abortion of political relations

From united federation

To a fragile state 

No looking back now

Everyone suddenly together 

The tip

Of a vision

One man, his team, a million people

To clear and clean

To transform and progress

Under a firm hand

With eagle eye and furrowed brow

The tip

Of greatness

Never there but always inching closer

The people driven

Children learning, gears turning 

You can count on me

Because this is my country

The tip

Of destiny

A people proud but not content

In a glittering city they call home

Also home to a fleeting army

Together in a tiny boat 

Of rising expectations

The tip

Of certain uncertainty 

We take careful steps

On shifting ground

Shaping a shared future

Of ups and downs

A red dot set to glow brighter

Saying Yes To KL

I have been spending quite a lot of time in KL recently. I volunteered to do a job there for the local office, replacing temporarily the marketing manager there who left in April. The last few months has been airport rides to Changi at 5pm, passing through security and immigration twice, a train to and from KLIA and KL Sentral, and taxis to a hotel room. After two work days, I'd leave at 4pm then the LRT to KL Sentral and another plane back home. Hectic. I called it 'a long way home' two ways. 

We had a short handover. I mean short like a 4-5 hours. Maybe the expectation was that a "hub" guy would know more than just "hub" stuff. It was a bit of both. The reality of executing locally is very different in practice than the scraps of information, hearsay and emails we "hub" people piece together to make a semblance of what a local role and its responsibilities are like. 

But I went in with eyes open, brain ready, smile flashing and right hand outstretched. And the Malaysia team welcomed me with open arms and a ton of stuff. 

It was eye opening to say the least. The numbers, goodness. Dealing with moving finances, planning spend, pouring over work statements, checking POs, fy16 planning, staring at Excel sheets upon Excel sheets pivoted against other Excel sheets - that's the stuff marketing folks are made of. The meetings with agencies, checking facts and branding, logo placements, even social posts were easy compared to juggling finances. Thank God for a3 printouts. 

The agencies are well agencies. Being from a couple myself, I can understand their position and eagerness to perform. I dealt with three and all have their quirks. I felt somehow all three were being under-utilised with respect to their full potential. They weren't being challenged or tested. So I tried to shake things up a bit where I could. It was fun. 

My colleagues in KL are part of a small team. They are solid people. Hardworking, enthusiastic and driven. It was amazing to see how everyone supported everyone. From the top down and bottom up. Success for one was success for all. They also partied hard. Good lord, they can party. 

The most unexpected part of the exercise was that I liked it. I grew to like it even more than I realised I could. I think it was part new adventure, part power trip and part new people and surroundings. I was also meeting clients and talking about how my company could help their business. It was refreshing. Things were moving. Everything was fluid and unconstrained. The potential to make things happen was, is, palpable. 

I told my 'temp job' manager that if they gave me  my salary in sgd and put back my CPF, I'd have a run for the role. But alas, no KL for me. 

What's sucky about KL is that it's just waiting to be brilliant. The city is alive but held back by bad planning, silly rules and a general malaise about change. Things could be great if people want it to. Those courageous ones seem to want to leave or just work hard to make their own heaven within the madness. 

My run up north is coming to an end soon and I will relish the privilege. It's hard managing two jobs but it helped me grow. It might be the seven years in the same place that's affecting me. Maybe it's something else. Seeing possibilities from saying yes, from something out of the blue, made me understand myself better. It was well worth the sacrifice. 

I managed to catch a few movies in 40 minute segments. Last one was The Age Of Ultron, a long one in 3 flights. 

Hue Ball, A Metaphor For How We've Made A Mess Of Things

Saw a review of Hue Ball, an iPhone game, posted on Twitter. Described as addictive. I downloaded it and started playing. Essentially you start with a cannon swinging left to right and three stationary coloured circles on the screen. Every several seconds these 3 circles will develop layers and the player is supposed to shoot circles/balls from the cannon to prevent these layers from accumulating. Each layer or circle destroyed is a point earned. Targeting a circle is much like playing snooker or pool. You can aim straight or bounce off other circles or balls or the walls. So that's the skill but I guess. Each layer is a colour hence 'Hue 'in the name of the game. Admitted the colours get pretty as they layer up.

Start

Three things to be aware of. One, the layers can't exceed five else the circle becomes a permanent skull face. So the player has to keep the shooting and aiming right. Two, each ball shot out becomes a layer-accumulating circle. So the more you shoot, the more you have to shoot at. Three, when the ball you shot out bounces back towards and touches the cannon line, the life counter decreases. So the more bad ricochets that happen, the quicker the game is over.

I've been playing this game for about two weeks. It is fun but then I got existential about it. The game is a metaphor for humankind! Hear me out - you start off with a cannon that's doing nothing, minding it's own business (that's people).  The 3 circles in the open frame are just out there accumulating layers as time goes by (that's the earth or animals or plants). One is compelled by the need to earn points (that's greed or need to be a busybody) to blast a cannonball out at the three circles. Left on their own these circles would turn into skull faces and the player wouldn't even be affected or suffer any disadvantage. The need to intervene and perhaps gain a perceived advantage compels the player to shoot balls, with or without realising that this action causes an immediate effect on the external environment, and also has a lingering long term effect that needs to be dealt with sooner or later. The more shots fired, the greater likelihood that the open frame is pitted with more circles to contend with, each one growing as time goes by. See where I am getting at? 

The mess after a while

Let's say the open frame represents the environment. The more we mess with it or try to control it, the more problems we create. We chop down trees to make stuff. There's less forest to clean the air and control greenhouse gases. The animals too have nowhere left to hide and enter our cities. We then have to deal with more issues than we started with. 

Let's say the open frame represents Saddam-era Iraq. The problems were there but not the kind that the western powers said there were (as later proved). A coalition of the willing was raised to liberate Iraq from tyranny and mayhem at a huge financial, moral and human cost. And today, we are nowhere close to having a peaceful Iraq. Each intervention caused more bloodshed, more lives lost, more confusion among locals and allies, less trust between the Arab States and the West, more pockets of self-styled militia waiting to get a piece of the action with no simple end in sight. The more cannonballs shot out, the more balls to juggle, manage, deflect and solve for. 

For every action, there is reaction. For every cause, an effect. That's what Hue Ball is about. That's also what life is about. 

We're here to do God knows what. Survive maybe. On a TV commercial for a green movement, there was a line "We need the Earth to survive, the Earth does not need us." It's true. Leaving this alone is sometimes the best thing to do. 

Sort of leaving things alone

Another line from a song comes to mind too - the road to hell is paved with good intentions. A shocking statement to say the least. But think about about all the things that have been done in the name of all that is right, good or holy that have ended in varying degrees of fiasco, mayhem and arsed up. 

It's the history of humankind, in a harmless point and shoot game.