🇸🇬 Polls open in Singapore

Over the weekend, police launched an investigation into Workers’ Party (WP) candidate Raeesah Khan for past comments on social media decrying what she characterized as a racist double-standard applied to non-white, non-Chinese residents.

According to a statement released by the police on July 5, the 26-year-old opposition party member was accused of posting a comment alleging that “rich Chinese and white people were treated differently under the law.”

Singaporean authorities “harassed mosque leaders but let corrupt church leaders… walk free,” she added, referring to a massive 2015 scandal in which the Chinese leaders of a local megachurch were let off with light sentences in a SGD50 million fraud case

Facebook has taken down the Fabrications About the PAP (FAP) page, as part of its actions against accounts which violate the social media platform’s policies ahead of Singapore’s coming General Election. 

The page, which had more than 250,000 likes, had been inaccessible recently. In response to TODAY’s queries, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed on Sunday (June 28) that the page has been unpublished. 

The island state only eased its lockdown a few weeks ago, and with strict social-distancing measures still in place, it remains to be seen how effective the ‘time-band’ system, which aims to spread out voters and minimise crowds, will be.

It’s also not clear that everyone who’s entitled to vote will get to do so. Singapore has compulsory voting, but people who don’t comply aren’t fined as they are in Australia.

People in quarantine will not be allowed out to vote. Those who have been served with stay-at-home notices can vote, but with restrictions, and the virus may deter frail and elderly voters. Because of a ban on physical rallies, all campaign activities are happening online. Those who are less digitally connected are likely to miss the political messages from the contending parties.

It appears likely that the elected composition of the next parliament will be just shy of 30% female, a longtime target of activists. "When you have that critical mass, women politicians are seen as normal," said Corinna Lim, executive director of the Association of Women for Action and Research, or Aware. "There'll be less attention to the fact that a person is female and she'll be judged on her own terms."

Observers also say that there has been unprecedented substantive discussion of gender during this campaign. The Workers' Party manifesto, which dwells at length on issues like the gender pay gap and the need to compensate unpaid household labor, has been praised for its progressiveness. The PAP has dedicated at least two lengthy Facebook Live sessions to issues like violence against women and female participation in the economy.

"Having [this many] women candidates on board is probably the reason why all the main parties focus on such issues," said Lim.

Amid COVID-19 restrictions, campaigning activities are limited to the bare minimum for Singapore’s 2020 general election, set for July 10. There will be no physical rallies; instead, political parties are relying on livestream gatherings and social media communication to reach out to their constituents.

In a country with harsh restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly, a de facto limitation of campaigning to social media could be an opportunity to observe a fairer election process. The asymmetry of resources needed for physical campaigning and to mobilize crowds would be cushioned by the equalization effect of social media. At least, that could have been the case if the city-state authorities had not released a controversial fake news law last October.

But for some gay Singaporeans, casting their vote in the mandatory July 10 ballot will serve as a reminder that they have few political allies on one of the issues that matters most to them.

“It’s a non-topic with the parties, the choices we have,” said Victor Ong, a 44-year-old Singaporean who lives with his British husband Harry, whom he married four years ago in London, and their amber-coloured cat Whisky.

“As much as I want to make my decision based on their stance on that, there isn’t any material to work with.”

Some voters have commented that you’re railing against the same system of governance and policies and other issues such as elitism that the late Mr Lee had a hand in building and developing?

My father was a product of his time. The world has moved on and so has Singapore. There are elements of what he has put in that may no longer serve the country today. My father was not perfect, but I love my father, and like many, I am grateful for what he has done for Singapore. We need to grow and evolve - as individuals, and as a nation.