Tag: rally

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In the heat of the night

I could not decide, it was the last day of campaigning, the last of the rallies. It was a hard choice between Workers’ Party and the Singapore Democratic Alliance where they were speaking in Serangoon Stadium (Aljunied GRC) and Potong Pasir (Potong Pasir SMC) respectively.

Why I wanted to attend the WP rally? Get better pictures. Hear what they had to say because I’d left early in the other one. Why I wanted to attend the SDA rally? I wanted to see what kind of support Chiam See Tong still has at Potong Pasir. Continue reading “In the heat of the night”

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Soggy shoes and smelly socks

Since the Workers’ Party rallies have been the hottest around, I thought I’d soak up some action tonight.

Unfortunately, being so hot, arriving any time after 8pm is pointless. The crowd was so thick, it was hard trying to get to the front.
Furthermore, the field out in Yishun next to the Polyclinic was so poorly lit, I could not get many decent pictures.

To make matters worse, the ground was soggy and wet, I dropped my camera cap when I was changing lenses. It was absolutely madness.

Being short doesn’t help. Putting my camera above my head was also useless because I was just too far away.

I left after half an hour, as the sound was bad too.

Nevertheless, here are some pictures of the crowd that spilled out beyond the field.

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Ivory Towels

How stupid can I be? I want to document the election fever with pictures. But what good is that intention when one forgets to put batteries in one’s camera? Luckily I got my MP3 player with me and recorded the moods and sounds of the SDP rally.

For at least one third of the rally, it was drizzling away. Yet most people there did without umbrella.

My overall impression is that this Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rally at the Woodlands Stadium was better attended than the SDA one at Yio Chu Kang Stadium the previous night.

However, I felt the audience was more vocal, less polite and also more distracted. There were many more people having personal discussions, or talking on their mobile phones while speakers were on stage trying to make their points. I say less polite because there were several instances of “PAP bullshit!” being yelled out. Continue reading “Ivory Towels”

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God Bless You Mr Chiam!

On Sunday, the last day of April 2006, I decided to visit the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) rally to find out what Yip Yew Weng (Yio Chu Kang, single seat) had to say.

I have only been to one rally before, in the previous general election. That day, many years ago, it also rained. So I learnt my lesson. I would wear slippers.

Muddy soggy grass, but people still turned up. Luckily, there was no rain, not even a drizzle.

The SDA did not raise many new issues – most were pertaining to bread and butter issues – the cost of living, medical expenses and upgrading.

Theoretically, all this made sense. However, it was only amongst the people that I go a sense of what this really meant. It wasn’t so much what people said, but it was just a sense from their cheers or jeers. Continue reading “God Bless You Mr Chiam!”