By Sharon Loh
Copy Editor
sharonloh@sph.com.sg

 

AMAZINGLY for someone so scatter-brained, I got my act together and squeaked in my registration as an overseas voter hours before the deadline expired.

So there it was - Sharon Loh Hui Tze - assigned to vote at the polling station in Washington, DC.

You're going to drive four hours to vote, my husband asked me?

Oh well, it'll never happen, I said. Our constituency is Holland-Bukit Timah. What are the odds?

Yup.

So we packed our bags, checked the kids out of school early today, and hit the I-95 north.

Apparently some 150 others would do the same, driving or flying from New York, Cleveland, Atlanta and elsewhere on the east coast to cast their votes.

Two young gentlemen who arrived at the Singapore Embassy at the same time I did had made the five hour drive from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

There was such a sense of excitement among these weary travellers arriving at the inn. I asked the young lady at the embassy reception if she had voted yet. After all she worked right in the building.

No, she said. Her constituency was Tanjong Pagar. Now, wasn't that predictable?

Many Americans have asked me why Singapore doesn't accept ballots by mail, the way the US does. The easier it is to vote, the more likely people would.

I didn't have an answer for them, but it does test your commitment when you have to drive a day to mark an X on a small piece of paper that will join two million others.

My kids voiced the question in my mind when they said, come on, you don't NEED to vote.

They were excited about the trip, but for them it was a weekend to visit their cousins in DC.

I wondered too. One vote. Honestly, what difference does it make?

There were two things that spurred me to make the trip.

One was the campaigning of the past week. (By the way, being overseas is now no excuse for ignorance. I could attend all the rallies at the same time by watching the tweets. It was a soup pot on the boil with a bazillion, mostly self-appointed, cooks.)

Sometimes, watching the opposition speak made me wonder if they were talking about my country.

I thought life in Singapore was pretty good. I thought I had it better than my parents did, and my children than I. It's the happiest place on earth, for god's sake! But here were people telling me I didn't know how bad things were. I wondered if they were trying to get votes, or if I were out of touch.

But unlike in days of yore, much of what was said was thoughtful, reasonable and persuasive. Those nine intense, awful, exhilarating days were a revelation of how the Singapore electorate - voters and candidates alike - had discovered their voice. GE 2011 would be the year they finally took their power.

As every party candidate implored, everyone has a part to play. Whether it's in the working of the country, or the choosing of your government, or the posting of videos online to keep people like me in the know, no one is unnecessary.

No one, therefore, should be silent or powerless. That brings me to the second reason I had to vote. Living here in the US in the last three years, I have had to witness the angst of the American people as they claw themselves out of a recession that is still short on jobs.

I have gnashed my teeth and wrung my hands at the cynicism and duplicity of many of their political leaders, and the sometimes breathtaking blindness of the populace. The carnage of the midterm elections is still being felt just as the US presidential elections are a short 18 months away. Politics runs at light speed here and if you don't learn the language of your constituents you could be out on your backside in two years.

Watching American politics has made me realise that if you don't want to have leadership you don't feel good about, then exercise your choice today.

Voting is both a responsibility and privilege for every citizen. It's time to take your power.