A COVID-19 Election

It's getting to be a habit, me talking about the COVID-19 outbreak. I was planning to write about something else this week - something techy and probably boring as shit - but this seemed important.

On the 13th of this month, the new electoral boundaries were released. This may mean nothing to readers outside of Singapore, but over here, it's huge. Traditionally, the Singapore General Elections follow soon after. That's the time every four years, that politicians throw shade at each other over passionate and well-staged political rallies, we all vote however we wish, and the ruling party gets reelected... most of them, anyway. That's the Singapore General Elections in a very simplistic nutshell.

(Courtesy of ChannelNewsAsia)

This year is a bit different, however. With the outbreak situation hanging over everyone's heads, a situation where being in a crowd could get you infected with COVID-19, most people are naturally concerned with their impending mortality. The ruling party was accused of political opportunism. After all, who is likely to risk a change in Government during a crisis like this? I'm pretty sure that this, while not the entire reason for the timing, certainly didn't hurt.

But when you're the ruling party in a democracy like Singapore, in an outbreak situation like this, you don't have much choice. Actually, scratch that. The ruling party does have choices. It's just they have only bad choices, and worse choices.

Hold an election during the outbreak of COVID-19? Bad, bad choice.

Hold it a year later when things the situation could be messier? Worse choice. Much worse.

Honestly, I'm not a fan of the ruling party. In fact, if I weren't a software developer, I'd have a lot less sympathy for them right now.

You know how some users expect the system they're using to be secure?  A secure system needs to adhere to certain standards. Each user needs to be authenticated by the system. No user or intruder should see any more information than they're supposed to. Sensitive information should be encrypted. Passwords need to be of a certain length, and conform to accepted conventions.

System security

But then those very same users complain if the authentication inconveniences them, and sometimes bargain with developers for short-cuts.

I'm sorry, but if you want a secure system, you're going to have to take everything that comes with it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a secure system. You can tell me that the interface sucks and to improve on it - that I'll gladly do. But you can't gripe about having to change passwords, or ask me not to encrypt data if it slows down the system. Well, actually you can... and you can expect me to never take you seriously again.

Zero inconvenience means you can get into a system where it recognizes you without you having to provide any kind of authentication that can't be faked by an intruder. Security inconveniences people. That's what it's supposed to do. And ideally, it inconveniences intruders more than it does legitimate users.

Some users only want security from a system as long as that security doesn't inconvenience them. Similarly, it seems some citizens are all for the concept of democracy but can't handle the ensuing obligations. Singapore is a democracy. That's not an accident. It's a cornerstone of our National Pledge - a pledge that was drilled into our young minds growing up.

We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

And democracy comes with certain legalities that we are bound by. According to the Constitution, our Government cannot legally remain in power past April 2021 without an official result from an election. That's non-negotiable, COVID-19 or no COVID-19. You can't simply say "it's an emergency, let's do away with the election and just let them remain in power until the crisis is over". That's not how a democracy works. If we allowed our Constitution to be so casually amended, Singapore would become a joke in the eyes of the world.

The Singapore Government is legally obliged to hold an election. There are no two ways about it.

But they have up to April 2021!

That's what I keep hearing. "Why not hold it a year later when things are better?"

"When" things are better? When? Anybody who can offer such a bold guarantee should be predicting stock market trends for a living. I'm not sure if you got the memo, but this situation is forecast to last at least a year, and beyond. There is no guarantee - not even a reassuring probability - that things will be better in a year. In fact, things have gone decidedly south since late last year when the virus first reared its ugly head.

Feeling lucky?

Do you really expect our Government - or any Government, for that matter - to take that kind of gamble knowing what's at stake?

You don't have to like it. I sure as hell don't. In an ideal situation, this would not even be an issue. But there is nothing ideal about what's going on right now. It is what it is. We're going to have to deal with it.

Reactions

The ruling party's political opponents were definitely having a field day slinging accusations of the ruling party jeopardizing the public’s health and well-being for political gain, and acting irresponsibly, among other things.

You know what, that's fine. It's politics. I expect a certain amount of mud-slinging and no small measure of drama.

Bring on the drama.

But if you are going to accuse the ruling party of such things, citing our health and well-being as a concern and then proceed to contest anyway - an act which ensures that the public will need to vote and thus risk their health and well-being - I will consider you an accomplice, and treat you accordingly.

If you think that's unfair, perhaps next time you level accusations, you will consider the possibility that someone is going to challenge you to put your money where your mouth is.

Conclusion

Make no mistake, having an election in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak is a huge inconvenience. Potentially even a fatal one. But you know how some of us Singapore dudes like to talk a big game about how we spent two years (or more) of our lives fulfilling our National Service obligations and preparing to die for our sovereignty and all that shit? Well, this time you might actually get a chance to do so.

Our Government has weighed their options and decided that preserving the legitimacy of our democracy is worth the risk. What will be your reply? How seriously do you take your democracy?

Democracy or death,
T___T