Most commentaries including some who had voted for the opposition noted that this time round people "fear" losing the PAP as government. They blamed the entire oppositions for fielding too many candidates that inadvertently pushed up votes for the PAP.
I personally do not think the passing of founding father Lee Kuan Yew made any impact to the vote counts, neither does the SG50 sentiments.
AHPETC is said to be a deciding determinant too. AIM was totally incapable of defending. Some Middle Ground people tried cushioning the effect by trivializing the importance of vigilant book keeping as compared to real municipal duties that are more visible and important to public eyes.
6.9 million Population Paper that was supposed to be the hot issue did not really matters in the minds of the electorate. Singaporeans seem largely unperturbed and the caterwauling was mainly within the confines of detractors who read Singaporeans wrongly. Confirmed by Tan Jee Say who said their Singaporean First Party named for the sake of immigration issue was given all the wrong feedback.
Let us not forget the sacrificial Lui Tuck Yew. His resignation had completely demolished the myth of "Government Sin" due to MRT failure. He proved the government innocent. Detractors may not want to accept that, but Singaporeans do.
Unlike GE2011, this time the PAP camp is much better equipped in social media and have spoken up against outrageous lies and unverifiable stories pointing to government failures. Unsound rhetoric were demolished. An awkward phenomena is the equation of vulgarity and lies with the oppositions. Whether the opposite side of this is of any truth, it turns away moderates.
So what exactly is the electorate telling both the PAP and the Oppositions?
Most Singaporeans have received signals that hard times is about to come. The US Presidential Election is a joke and not about to bring any good news to the world. Europe is facing the backlash for its support for ridiculous wars that created unstoppable refugees and humanity abuses and ISIL fighters are among those sneaked into Europe. China, the most prosperous nation in the world now has seen its wealth dwindling and a promising future tampered by export decline and failing market confidence.
Someone posed a question to me. I have to vote for a good government, I have to vote for a good town council manager, and I also want alternate voice in parliament, but I only have one vote, not three. This person, I have categorized him under Alternative Voters in one of my previous writings.
But by and large, Singaporeans are Practical Voters, also categorized in the same article. With an imminent difficult time coming, not sounded by the PAP but by their own employers and peers, they need to seek refuge. They needed "insurance" not the kind that opposition Gerald Giam imagined, but real insurance that the PAP government had covered them with during very difficult times.
Singaporeans need to remain employed, bring home salary despite the fact that they may have personal differences with colleagues who speaks and think very differently from ordinary SG Joe.
The winning votes they cast yesterday were not exactly for the PAP but for themselves, for their families and for their future. In that sense the PAP's approach of a stable future is far more attractive than the alluring "power" to decide in the future. When you are unable to bring home money, the "power" to decide means nothing, useless imaginations.
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