May 7 – A Historic Day for Singapore

Singapore’s General Election 2011 would go down in the history of the country as the first election where an opposition party won a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since the scheme began in 1988. As a result, the opposition won six Parliamentary seats – the highest number since independence in 1965. (The previous high was four.) Also, it was the first time the opposition had contested so many seats – all but five of the total – to begin with.

Workers’ Party leader Low Thia Khiang (middle) and his fellow Aljunied GRC MP-elects Chen Show Mao (bespectacled man behind him) and Pritam Singh (to Chen’s right) shaking hands with delirious supporters at Hougang stadium in the early hours of May 8, 2011, after their historic win in the 2011 General Election. (The colour version of this picture appeared on page 1 of The Straits Time’s special noon edition on May 8!)

GRCs are a unique system whereby Members of Parliament are elected in teams of three to six. The main reason behind this system, said the government, was to ensure minority representation in Parliament, because each GRC must include one MP from a minority race. There were 15 GRCs and 12 single seats up for grabs in the 2011 election, for a total of 87 places. 

The Workers’ Party (WP) had staged a strong challenge to the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) in Aljunied GRC in the 2006 election, winning over 40 per cent of votes. The PAP’s Aljunied team, led by Foreign Minister George Yeo, fared the worse in terms of vote share among all winning PAP teams and single candidates.

This year, the WP threw in all its best candidates in the Aljunied GRC team, with Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang leaving his longtime stronghold, Hougang constituency, to his protégé Yaw Shin Leong, and personally leading the charge in Aljunied. Their ranks were further boosted by top corporate lawyer Chen Show Mao, who advised the Agricultural Bank of China on its world-record US$22 billion IPO last August. WP Chairman Sylvia Lim, postgraduate law student Pritam Singh and freelance counsellor Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap made up the rest of the five-man ‘A’ team.

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Though I was not involved in any reporting on the General Election for my newspaper The Straits Times, I could not resist attending rallies to take photos, after I finished work or on my rest days. There had been a lot of buzz especially on social media and from the start, this GE had felt like a special one. I managed to attend four rallies: two for the WP (because they draw by far the biggest crowds), one for the PAP (the final night when George Yeo made a promise to reform the party) and one for the Reform Party (which contested in my GRC).

The WP rally on April 28, the first day of rallies, attracted tens of thousands of people. The field was practically packed with WP supporters from end to end.

The WP rally on April 29, held at Serangoon Stadium, similarly attracted a capacity crowd.

The Reform Party’s rally on May 1, at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium. Attendance was far lower than the WP rallies. But that made it easier for me to move around. At WP rallies you’re usually stuck in the same spot unless you enter the media area.

Singapore’s outgoing Foreign Minister George Yeo at the PAP rally in Ubi on May 5, the last day of campaigning. He made an impassioned speech advocating change within the PAP, but still lost against the WP’s “dream team” in Aljunied GRC. He has attracted a wave of support after the loss, with some even suggesting he run for President. But in a post-election press conference, Mr Yeo rejected the idea and said he will not run for Parliamentary elections again.

And I was lucky to be off my usual Foreign Desk duty on May 7, which was the polling and results day. While the hot weather was a deterrent, I decided to pack my camera gear and head to Hougang Stadium, where the WP and its supporters were to gather. Whether the WP wins or loses Aljunied GRC, I expected lots of drama.

(Gear: I brought my brand-new Nikon D7000, the D40X as a second body, the Tokina 12-24mm f4 and the Nikon AF 70-210mm f4-5.6 lenses, as well as my SB900 flash. I used my Thinktank Photo Multimedia Wired Up 10 bag the way it was intended – as a waist bag – for the first time since 2009 to lessen the burden on my shoulder, because it was going to be a long, long night. Thoughts on the set-up perhaps in a future post.)

All the microphones on the stage were set up by 8pm.

I was there early at about 7.40pm with Joanne, as she was doing radio reports on location that night. I went in a T-shirt, bermudas and sandals – the kind of get-up that Joanne would never approve on a date but it was really hot that night. There was barely any crowd at the time, as polling closed only at 8pm, and the earliest results were not expected until 10pm. The WP had set up a screen on the stage to the left of the field, where they projected Channel News Asia’s live coverage of the result announcements.

The crowd laughed, cheered and waved the WP flag to keep their spirits up as they waited for the official results. And they jeered whenever a PAP candidate appears onscreen.

The first official results, announced by the Returning Officer, came past 11.30pm, if I didn’t remember wrongly, but as early as 11.10pm, Straits Times’ Twitter  feed cited a PAP candidate as saying that they had lost Aljunied. My Blackberry was very slow in loading Twitter updates that night. I believe it was because the mobile phone connections in the stadium were jammed that night, with so many people checking Twitter and exchanging SMSes simultaneously. There were even moments when my phone completely lost its network connection!

At about 1am, the result for Hougang ward was announced. As expected, the WP’s Mr Yaw won by a big margin. The crowd roared with approval. It was the WP’s first victory for the night.

WP’s Hougang MP-elect Yaw Shin Leong giving his victory speech. He won against the PAP’s candidate by an even greater margin compared to his mentor Low Thia Khiang in the previous election.

Just minutes after Mr Yaw gave his thank-you speech on stage to rapturous applause and loud cheers, Mr Low and his Aljunied team arrived at the stadium and were immediately swarmed by reporters and photographers. The smiles on their faces made it clear – they had won.

Star catch Chen Show Mao flashed a thumbs-up as he spoke to a WP candidate.

Mr Low had a somewhat relieved smile on his face, while Ms Lim couldn’t contain her delight.

Ms Sylvia Lim beamed as she chatted to her party members.

About an hour after they first arrived backstage, the results for Aljunied were finally announced officially. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap, who spoke first, pumped his fist into the air triumphantly as the team arrived at the rostrum onstage. Mr Low had a blank look on his face – perhaps because he is appreciating the significance of his victory? Or was he savouring the moment?

Soon it was Mr Low’s turn to speak. Midway through, the heat got to him and he took a moment to wipe off the sweat on his face.

The team waving to the crowd, as they were about to leave the stage.

The team posing for the photographers before they headed down to shake hands with supporters and left the stadium.

It was almost 3am by the time it all ended, with most of the action happening in the final 2 hours for me. I was quite grateful that the many photographers there that night were gracious and polite. I suppose we had a good bunch that night!

For my page 1 shot, I stood ahead of the direction the MP-elects were moving and basically stood my ground until they came. After that it was a matter of reaching in with the camera, outlasting the other photogs and hoping that the shots turn out well. But I escaped from the scrum before I could take any closer shots of Ms Lim, Mr Singh and Mr Faisal.

Despite the heat and fatigue, it was great to be a witness of history in the making.

I hope that Singapore will continue to do well whatever comes next.