Code Cruft in the 2020 General Elections

That time is upon us. The time where earnest political debates break out on social spaces, Singaporeans divide themselves into the camps that they support, and eagerly follow every speech by politicians they follow. They may even ruminate (though from experience, I seriously doubt it) long and hard about the vote they are about to cast.

The 2020 Singapore General Elections, ladies and gentlemen. It's an important time in Singapore, no matter how some trivialize it. And your vote, no matter how insignificant it is by itself, plays a part in Nation-building. Because taking part in a free and fair election is an exercise in democracy, one of the cornerstones of our National Pledge.

This is a tech blog, however, and I wouldn't be talking about the Singapore General Elections if there wasn't a tech angle involved. And today, that angle is Code Cruft.

What in the ever-loving heck is "Code Cruft"?

You can look up the definition online, but in my own words, Code Cruft is superfluous code that adds no value to the code base. It is technically correct and will not throw an exception or cause the compiler to highlight a syntax error, but as mentioned, it basically takes up space without being useful. It could be code that once served a genuine purpose but did not scale well as the code base grew, or code that was poorly-written in the first place.

What does Code Cruft have to do with the General Elections?

Hold your horses, young bucks. I'm getting there.

Here's something I keep hearing whenever the General Elections come around. Sometimes I may even hear it when we're not having an election. It's become something like an urban legend.

Pssst... you're not gonna believe this!

It's usually from someone who will tell you that one of his or her friends have a friend who works in the Civil Service and voted against the incumbent, the People's Action Party, in the last election. And somehow or rather, their impending promotion got curtailed, or they were transferred abruptly to a career dead zone. Something along those lines. The point being that the ruling party keeps track of your votes, and if you know what's good for you, you'll make them happy with your vote.

In other words, the assertion is that the Singapore General Elections are neither free nor fair, and your vote is not secret.

I've heard this from so many people, and all these people all seem to know the same person who got unfairly bullied by the ruling party for not playing ball. Although strangely enough, when pressed, they'll never actually name that person.

Is this story true?

Well, if you're asking if this is technically feasible, probably. It may even be true.

But here's the thing - whether it's true or not, doesn't matter. That's not the question you should be asking. This story is like Code Cruft - useless to just about everybody. Let's think for a moment and ask a few more pertinent questions. What could be gained from spreading this story around? Who stands to gain?

Peoples' Action Party. If you're a fan of the ruling party and think spreading this story around will help induce people to vote for the ruling party out of fear, I have news for you. Firstly, this is a low-class tactic unworthy of a country of Singapore's stature and you should be embarrassed that thought even crossed your mind. What are you, some reject from the 60s? Secondly, the world is watching and the PAP needs the public to see this as a democratic corruption-free election. They have spared no effort to convince Singaporeans that your vote is secret. Tactics such as spreading a story like that, aren't appreciated by them in the least. 

Worker's Party. Surely undermining public faith in the PAP works in favor of their strongest opponents? Not so. See, the WP needs the public to vote without fear. They need the public to believe in the democratic process. Accusing the Government of vote-tampering is a serious matter. In fact, vote-tampering is illegal, and if the ruling party is found to have done so in any shape or form, the legitimacy of their rule will be called into question. Singapore's Government will have lost its standing internationally, and this would be a huge loss for Singapore no matter which side of the political fence you happen to support.

Other parties. You mean the losers who never seem to make it into Parliament? Who cares what they think? My left nut is more relevant to this discussion than they are.

But to answer the question, no, spreading this story around isn't in their best interests either. On the extremely remote chance that they actually manage to gain some ground and get elected into Parliament, loss of voter confidence in the electoral process does not help them at all. Therefore, they too, need the public to believe that their votes are secret; otherwise their already slim chances just got even slimmer.

Citizens. Singaporeans have a stake in this country. We participate in elections because doing so gives us the opportunity to help chart Singapore's course. And, as mentioned, democracy is a cornerstone of our National Pledge. Do you imagine the average Singaporean needs to be told that his or her vote is not secret and that Singapore's democracy is a lie? Who does that help, really?

Saboteurs, perhaps? There are people who aren't happy about Singapore's international standing today. Perhaps they are bitter ex-citizens, or merely cynical political observers. At worst, they could be agents positioned by foreign forces to plant seeds of doubt into the minds of Singaporeans. But look - such a method is slow, laborious and inefficient. The majority of Singaporeans would need to be deeply unhappy with their Government in the first place, for that to even have a prayer of working.

Does the story help the teller of that story, then? Maybe it helps him or her look knowledgeable? Well, no, it really doesn't. I've heard this story so many times that every time it's repeated to me, by the time the teller has finished telling it, I've already dismissed him or her as a hopeless know-nothing; at best, a useful idiot for foreign provocateurs.

Conclusion

This story is analogous to Code Cruft. It's Political Cruft. Just as Code Cruft could be syntactically correct, this story could be true, but it's still worthless garbage. It helps absolutely no one.

Stop spreading this nonsense around. Telling this story does not make you look clever. If something has to come out of your mouth, please at least let it be useful.

You need to be a little more sophisticated than this. Don't be that dude.

Your crufty devil,
T___T