Election Virginity

So tomorrow I plan to lose my election virginity. 30 years of not voting...

I'm off to the URA building below to cast my first ever vote.




Before I left to study, I was living in a walkover constituency (no one has contested Bukit Timah for a damned long time.) When I was in New York and Chicago, I couldn't vote because overseas citizens who don't work for either the government or for NGOs are disenfranchised. But now I'm back, and ready to do my patriotic duty.

Which is to vote SDA.

There is no other reasonable option. Perpetuating a competent but incredibly image unconscious government doesn't suit my taste -- in a participatory polity, I'd like my voice and my views to be reflected in policies implemented.

From a purely economic aspect, there is also no point in voting for the PAP. After all, given that PM Lee Hsien Loong (a terribly bright chap, with excellent economic policies but who comes across to me as out of touch with ordinary Singaporeans*) has said the following, sourced from here:

Right now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong, Steve Chia. We can deal with them. Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I'm going to spend all my time thinking what's the right way to fix them, to buy my supporters votes, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?"

Hat tip to Rockson for posting this

Obviously from an economic perspective, it is best to NOT be a supporter of the PAP so that your vote can be bought. The power of moral hazard... something that Singaporean management and government never quite seem to take into consideration.

So anyway.

Tomorrow I vote. Register my discontent with a government which never fails to remind its polity just how grateful it should be to the government for its prosperity (though this is debatable -- it is possible that Singapore invests too much for the return it makes, thereby diluting growth.)

It's individually irrational to vote according to Levitt and Dubner; they popularized the irrationality in Freakonomics. There probably is a feedback mechanism in repeated votings, where if you don't vote but someone you don't like does, then your expected dissatisfaction may be higher than the cost it actually takes to vote, but it's late and I don't want to think too much right now.

Besides, I have to. The gahmen tells me that if I don't vote now, I will never vote again. So too bad, so sad (not really) tomorrow I will lose my election virginity.

*Nota bene -- I recognize that I'm not an ordinary Singaporean, thanks to the 9 years spent overseas as well as the education outside of the local school system. But I don't think that disqualifies me from saying he seems out of touch.